Jennifer Swanberg, a professor at University of Kentucky’s Institute for Workplace Innovation, has studied the flex work model extensively and says the trend will continue to grow, especially as the U.S. economy becomes less reliant on manufacturing and more dependent on so-called knowledge-based industries (law, marketing, finance, etc.). An assembly line doesn’t work unless everyone’s there at the same time, but a programmer can write code just as easily at two in the morning as he can in the afternoon, surrounded by co-workers.
Other long-term factors are contributing to the trend as well—the globalization of the economy, for instance, is making “quitting time” an increasingly relative term—but Swanberg says the most immediate force driving the shift toward flex schedules is the recession. Beleaguered companies looking to staff management positions on tight budgets are finding that forsaking 9-to-5 may be the key. Many of the companies Momentum has worked with are finding qualified managers who are only willing to work part-time if they are allowed flexible hours.
Folsom says the results have been overwhelmingly positive. As she puts it, “I don’t think you’ll see anyone more efficient than a working mother who needs to be at daycare pickup at 5 p.m.”
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