Island couple has oil patch jobs without Alberta commute

An Island couple is working in the oil patch, but not making the long airline flight that tears apart many Island families for weeks at a time.Brian and Jill Burridge managed to convince their employer to let them move home and provide the company with a critical advantage.

"When we get in it's five o'clock in the morning out there, by the time they're getting inat eight o'clock, we've already got that three hour jump," said Brian Burridge.

Midwest Surveys has crews working in the field in Fort McMurray and the information they gather is sent to the P.E.I. office three time zones away. The engineers take the information,interpret what it means and sendit back to the Calgary offices.

The fresh information is waiting when staff there arrivefor the day giving them an advantage over some other survey firms that have towait for local staff to crunch the numbers.

'A step in a different direction'

The Burridges made the pitch to locate an office in P.E.I. as their family started to grow, and home seemed like a better option.

"Kids starting coming along, and the strings started pulling for home," said Jill. "So we decided to approach our boss and see if there was something we could do."

Management saw the competitive advantage of providing data quickly. Other survey companies in the west have also recently opened offices on the east coast too. A series of government of P.E.I.financial incentives for creating jobs didn't hurt either.

The Burridgessay theydid have to sacrifice.They're not making the money they used to, and both Jill and Brian know climbing the corporate ladderis more challengingwhen you move out of head office.

"I did take a paycut," said Jill. "But at the end of the day it's all worth it. I still make a really good living, do what I love and I'm where I want to be."

"I wouldn't say it's a step back," adds Brian. "It's a step in a different direction."

Midwest hopes to create 12 positions in the Stratford, P.E.I. office. The company recently added two more employees to jointhe Burridges.