In an ideal working environment, people who desire flexibility are able to work from home without any wage penalty. However, some industries such as healthcare simply do not allow for telecommuting which necessitates a job flexibility that is made available to workers in said sectors.

According to an article published by Bloomberg, shift-based jobs such as the ones found in the healthcare industry, transportation, as well as retail can offer a kind of flexibility that does not involve working from home (seeing as it is impossible to do so). With this type, a worker no longer needs to sacrifice his or her wage or incur a wage penalty in order to get the flexibility that is desired.

A research conducted by a Harvard economist found that these shift-based jobs or jobs with substitutability are not dependent on a worker's constant availability which is what makes the job flexible. In addition, they do not unreasonably cut back on pay.

The example used by the researcher, Claudia Goldin, involves pharmacists whose salaries are almost linear in an hour. While workers who clock in fewer hours receive wages that are proportionally less than those who work full-time, there is no part-time wage penalty being imposed on part-time workers.

She added that it is not a band-aid solution that offers flexibility while settling on a lower wage. Rather, it is a kind that allows workers to be flexible with their work hours while not losing out on their salary.

If working from home, however, is still the ideal arrangement for you due to certain home or family responsibilities, there are other industries that have begun offering work from home options to employees. From accounting to education, you can find a flexible job here.

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