By Julia Boyle
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

It’s 10:30 on a Wednesday morning, and Jeri Mullinix has already made 15 phone calls. She’s coordinating the next gathering for the Red Hot Mamas, her local chapter of the Red Hats Society. But that’s not the only item on her to-do list.

Work-life balance
Mullinix also plans luncheons for the Lighthouses of Prayer group, volunteers for the Charlestown Resident Advisory Council, organizes socials for new  residents, appears on the in-house TV station, and chairs the Charlestown cookbook committee.

And she does it all from the office conveniently located in her Charlestown home.

Mullinix and her husband Norman have been involved in the Charlestown community for nearly ten years. “I’ve been here for nine and a half years, and I’ve been active for nine and a half years,” she says. “And Norman’s my secretary and my support.”

Telecommuting trendsetters
As such an active couple, they’ve been ahead of the telecommuting trend, which has seen tremendous growth in recent years. ABC News reported that 79 of Fortune magazine’s Best Places to Work offered work-from-home opportunities in 2006, compared with just 18 in 1999.

Employers benefit from increased employee satisfaction, which leads to increased productivity and, ultimately, to a rise in the number of telecommuters.

But Jeri Mullinix didn’t need experts to tell her that—she’s known it for years. “I do all my work from my desk in our bedroom [and] I make a lot of phone calls, so I can get everything done easily and efficiently from my home,” she says.

Their one bedroom home doubles as their office, and the Mullinixes say they wouldn’t have it any other way.