Another victim of the recession — flex time.
About 8.1 million people worked exclusively from home in 2005.but there was a “significant decrease” in those numbers after the summer of 2008, according to Sylvia Ann Hewlett, president of the Center for Work-Life Policy.
Flex time employees work an alternative schedule, such as one created around a child’s school hours, or at an alternative location, such as their own home.
The drop in flex time that Hewlett observed came in the recession that began in December 2007. The unemployment rate was 10 percent in December 2009, compared with 4.9 percent at the end of 2005.
People felt “they really had to be at their desks. They needed to demonstrate that they were indispensable,” Hewlett said of workers who eschewed flex time.
Associated Press
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