Laurie Bienstock, a compensation analyst at business consultancy Watson Wyatt Worldwide, concurs. "The typical costs of turnover per employee -- without even realizing you have lost productivity and intellectual property -- can run one to two times employee salary," she says.

Improved retention and the associated savings aren't the only benefits of flexible work arrangements, says Janice Bartkowski, who supports IT as director of human resources at American Century Investments.

At her company, IT staffers can work condensed weeks (either 80 hours in nine days or 40 hours in four days) or nontraditional hours. They can also work part time, share jobs or telecommute.

One benefit of such flexibility is expanded coverage. One IT manager who has a farm, for example, works 7 a.m to 3:30 p.m. so he still has time to tend to things at home after work. Others work later shifts.

Bartkowski says flexible arrangements also help the company plan better for disaster recovery, a hot-button issue this year because of the danger of an avian flu pandemic.

"With people telecommuting, if you have a situation at your building, you have people who can still keep working," she says. "Because of avian-flu-type issues out there, the ability to have people working from home becomes more of a business need."

Another benefit is increased productivity. Keith Little, a network engineering adviser at American Century, says he telecommutes when he has projects that need his undivided attention. "If I have a bunch of documentation to do, it's more efficient for me to stay at home than to come in where there's a constant stream of interruptions," he says.

Highly committed

Studies confirm that companies with work/life programs, which can include on-site fitness centers, help with child care or paid time for community-based volunteer opportunities, provide an advantage, Bienstock says.

Each year, Watson Wyatt publishes a report called "The Strategic Rewards Study," which examines U.S. organizations with 1,000 employees or more. This year, it looked at top performers in 262 companies -- those workers who exceeded or far exceeded managers' expectations during their most recent review periods. It found that of those who reported having work/life balance, 45 percent considered themselves highly committed employees. Of top performers who did not have work/life balance, none described themselves as highly committed.

Finlay can attest to that. She says work/life options create "a very satisfied, hard-working group of employees. I know, and I've had to test this multiple times. When I need people to rally, I've never had a challenge. They're ready and willing to give."

Lisa Adragna has worked at Partners HealthCare for 21 of the 22 years she has been out of college. She started as a full-time programmer and progressed through various positions and schedules as she gained experience and expanded her family.

Adragna worked part time, shared a job with another mother, went back to full time when she was promoted to corporate IT manager, and then cut back her hours to work as a part-time senior project specialist after the birth of her third child in 2000. Adragna started working full time again in 2003, although she works from home one or two days a week.

With a solid knowledge of functional groups and institutions under the corporate umbrella and lots of experience with the older systems at the various hospitals, Adragna is clearly a valuable asset to Partners.

But she says she's particularly committed to being a standout employee because of the accommodations she has had over the years. "I feel like I want to prove myself even more because they've given me this flexibility," Adragna says. "I want to prove to them that this really works."