(From Forbes) -- In all her destruction and fury, Hurricane Sandy has shed light on an unlikely bedfellow in the midst of churning chaos. Workplace flexibility.

In between shots of devastation, we’ve seen the images of a sea of cars on the Long Island Expressway, headed at a painstakingly slow pace into New York City. New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo has taken note of it in numerous press conferences, urging commuters to take mass transit.

Governor Cuomo issued a compelling plea to New Yorkers to be patient and tolerant as New York faces the daunting task of repairing a city and suburban transportation system that had come to a complete standstill. It crippled big business for days. With that, he called upon commuters to do their part to help avoid gridlock. And he offered a solution. He implored workers to speak with employers about flexible working arrangements and changing work hours.

WorkFlex Front & Center

Mr. Cuomo brought workplace flexibility or Workflex front and center. I have been reporting on this topic for nearly 15 years and its clear that this strategy is gaining momentum in the challenges presented by what I refer to, as the work-life merge. We shouldn’t suffer Sandy in vain on this issue.

Our 24/7, hi-tech, fast-paced and “always-on” marketplace is screaming for better ways to enhance employee productivity and improve morale. Cutting down on commuting is going to give any hard worker a boost of happiness and calm. It’s an eerily timely topic.

Last week, the Society for Human Resource Management and the Families and Work Institute held a conference on the topic in Chicago. Under the umbrella of their joint project, When Work Works, they released the WorkFlex Employee Toolkit. It’s designed to help supervisors and employers develop flexibility options that are a win-win for managers and workers.

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