From a loosening to a lockdown

Call it the latest round in the workplace power struggle – and score it for employers.

By cutting jobs, many US companies have boosted productivity. For many employees, that has meant heavier workloads and more pressure to perform.

Lean economic times have also given firms just cause to pull back on some of the flashier perks of the go-go '90s, such as concierge services at the office.

And what about that bedrock practice of the New Economy, worker flexibility? Firms actually have good reason not to rescind it.

"[The recession] really accelerated the shift in how corporate America gets work done," says Ed Jensen, an Atlanta-based partner in consulting firm Accenture's Human Performance Practice.

But the terms of that work/life compact – in which many employees earn some freedoms during "normal hours" in exchange for making themselves more available at oddball times – appear now to be up for renegotiation.

And in a climate of cutbacks, workers may not have much bargaining power. The question some workplace watchers now ask: How much ground might employees be asked to give up?

Consider that connectedness-for-freedom tradeoff. The use of electronic "leashes" by workers shows no sign of waning, with the pressure to stay connected even extending to vacations, according to John Challenger, head of outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.

"People who are needed and who consistently respond to those needs are far down the list of candidates for downsizing," Mr. Challenger says. "If you want to be missed a lot, do not disconnect."

But at the same time, scrutiny of employees while at the office has intensified, experts say.

A Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll found that slightly more than half of workers say their bosses have asked them to work beyond normal work hours and remain reachable when they're off. And 39 percent say their employers' expectations have significantly increased in the past six months. Many feel pressured to comply.

"One-half of American workers believe that working over and above normal work hours is essential to their job security," says Raghavan Mayur, president of TIPP, a unit of TechnoMetrica Market Intelligence, which conducted the poll.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the proportion of managers working more than 50 hours a week continues to rise. Meanwhile, lower level employees are finding there's more scrutiny on how much they produce. Some employers, looking to weed out nonperformers, for example, are taking a closer look at down time.

Firms are stepping up their use of software and devices that monitor electronic communications, including "instant messaging" and Internet discussion groups.

"We're finding more organizations relying more heavily on technological tools," says Nancy Flynn, executive director of the e-Policy Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

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