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Flexible work arrangements help a father to care for his toddler, a government lawyer to make her doctor’s appointments and a New York City worker to sleep in.

They all responded to Op-Talk’s call for stories of work schedules that accommodate employees’ lives. But others wrote in to say their schedules weren’t flexible at all. And while many saw adjustable hours and work locations as an enormous boon to those with access to them, others argued that such options are still far from the norm.

“I work at a nonprofit that has a 36-hour workweek with every other Friday off (you alternate between eight-hour and nine-hour days), as well as the ability to work from home,” said Robert, from Los Angeles.

“The flexibility is immensely helpful for balancing our home life with a toddler.” Robert also noted that his schedule allows “my spouse, whose job is not flexible, to take sometime for herself and pursue hobbies. This makes her happy, and the lack of a pressure-cooker lifestyle is good for our marriage and our health.”

“I might make more money elsewhere,” he concluded, “but to me, flexibility is worth its weight in gold.”

Gloria, from New York City, said: “I am a federal government lawyer, and apart from the fact that I find my work genuinely interesting, one of the biggest draws was the flexibility and reasonable hours. I have two kids and a chronic health condition that requires vigilance and frequent doctors’ appointments. My agency has truly embraced teleworking for those who choose it; we also have flexible schedules.”

“Once managers and supervisors can get comfortable with what productivity and accountability looks like in a telework/flexible schedule setting,” she added, “it can make work much more livable for everyone involved.”

“I work for the City of New York,” writes P.E., of Brooklyn. “We can arrive any time between 9-10 a.m., as long as we stay at the office for a full eight hours (minus lunch).”

This flexibility lets P.E. catch up on sleep: “I love this option as it enables me to stay out late some nights without being sleep deprived in the morning.”

The ability to work from home may also be a stress reliever. Robyn Greenspan tweeted:

@nytopinion I never realized how stressful it was commuting & being in an office all day until I had the ability to work FT at home #flex — Robyn Greenspan (@RobynGreenspan) February 12, 2015

Still, many noted that flexible scheduling didn’t necessarily solve all their work-life balance problems. S.J.H., from Madison, Wis., values the flexibility of her half-time job, which allows her to work from home (and which she supplements with freelancing): “I’m always home to meet the bus and can throw in a load of laundry over coffee break. I take little freelance work in the summer and play with my kids.” However, she wrote:

“The flip side of that flexibility is that when there’s a sick kid, orthodontics appointment or forgotten lunch, I’m the go-to parent. When a kid is home sick all week, my workload remains the same. I compensate by working into the wee hours. It’s often stressful and exhausting, especially when the two careers get busy at the same time (which happens without fail).”

Exhaustion notwithstanding, she feels lucky to have her schedule. “I hope that my kids look back and remember their childhoods as one where their mom was available for them and also kept her professional identity and contributed to family income.”

Elizabeth, of Arlington, Va., said that she works remotely full-time and has experienced the kind of “flexibility stigma” Rebecca J. Rosen described in a recent Atlantic story. For Elizabeth, that means “working to compensate for a ‘perceived’ performance drop.” She added that she likes “being able to work and manage personal life almost seamlessly” but that “despite having a home office and maintaining a structured regime, I often feel as though there is little delineation between the work life and the personal ‘home’ life. Checking email and working anytime means everyday is almost the same. I have to focus on creating some differences.”

Nidhi Chanani mentioned a similar effort:

@nytopinion small biz owners, wfh. very #flex but work all hours and weekends. try to balance with exercise & sit down breakfasts. — Nidhi Chanani (@nidhiart) February 12, 2015

A number of readers wrote to say that their jobs were severely inflexible. “It’s all lip service at my company,” said Doug, of Chicago. “You’ve got the option but if you use it, it’s assumed you are not working even if you split the atom on your couch.”

“As a teacher I have zero flexibility in my schedule,” said Jane, of Ridgefield, Conn. “I must be at school by 7:30, and I can’t leave until 4 at the earliest. I love my students, my colleagues, and my work, but it is impossible to make doctor’s appointments, or have repairs done at my house, or have anything delivered ever. Even making or receiving a phone call is often problematic.”

Lizcal of Princeton, N.J., wrote, “I currently work in a job with not a shred of flexibility. No sick days, no family sick days, limits on when paid time off can be taken (we are a small group), no working from home, and a nonnegotiable 9 to 5 day. I have three children and elderly parents. My husband travels, so I am often the responsible parent. I cringe when a kid wakes with a tummy ache or sniffles. Scheduling routine doctors or household repairs is a nightmare.” Still, she added, “I realize many working adults have a worse situation.”

And several readers reported that a lack of flexibility had caused them to leave their jobs. “I left my professional career mainly because of a lack of flexibility,” wrote Acd, of upstate New York. “As a construction manager many of my colleagues worked in excess of 60 hours a week, which I never subscribed to.”

“Once my wife took a promotion,” Acd explained, “it was an obvious move to exit my career to pursue other interests through becoming self-employed working with tools, a longtime hobby. At first it was stressful as the lack of structure took some getting used to, but after a few years of having time to take care of the house, run errands during the day, and the like, using the flexibility that came with self-employment, I feel as though I would not trade it for anything.”

And Sciencelady, of Parma, Ohio, wrote: “I left work in 1999 when I had my first child after working 25 years in engineering. The electric utility company I worked for did not offer any work-life flexibility whatsoever. Now I am home caring for my teens and my 91-year-old mom while partner (over)works (more than) full time. While I love my family and have no regrets, I am resentful about having to choose between family and profession.”

Several readers pointed out that commenters on the piece were by no means a representative sample of Americans. The comments, said Suzanne Wheat, of North Carolina, “apply to a minute segment of the population.”

“I agree with those noting that people responding to a Times Op-Ed piece don’t present a complete picture of the American work force and its condition,” said Jjewell6906, of Lincoln, Neb.

Some commenters saw that picture as pretty dire. As E.H.M. of Allentown, Pa., put it: “Does anyone with a full-time job and young children have work that fits their life? Not here. We still overwhelmingly have a model of one career-driven earner and one caregiver of children and the home — despite the fact that this is the reality for few modern American families.”

But for Julie, of the central coast of California, there’s no reason more companies can’t offer some flexibility: “If we work like grown-ups, and hire other grown-ups to work with us, flex time works for everyone. In today’s tech-savvy world, rare is the business that cannot be attended to remotely at least part of the time.”

And the experience of C., from Chicago, may suggest a potential benefit to employers who grant their workers schedules that work for them. “I find myself going above and beyond in my role because I value the flexibility, and ultimately, the trust my company and supervisors place in me as an employee,” C. wrote. “I was hired to do a job, not put in hours, and no matter what it takes, I do that job because I am incredibly lucky.”

Whether such flexibility will become more common, or whether it will always feel like luck to those who manage to find it, remains to be seen.