Here at the east coast office of Brilliant Ink (a.k.a., my apartment), life is slowly getting back to normal. My family and I were very fortunate – we live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and were largely unaffected by Super Storm Sandy. We never lost power, and our neighborhood was spared the damage and flooding that others suffered. Last week was certainly a challenge – schools were closed all week, our sitter was unable to travel here from Brooklyn, and we had family members who lost power staying with us all week in our not-so-big New York apartment. But watching the images on TV and hearing stories from friends and family (many of whom are STILL without power), we count ourselves extremely lucky.The financial impact of this storm will take some time to measure, but there’s no doubt it will be extreme (some estimates are putting it as high as $50 billion). One major contributing factor to this figure is the fact that many workers in the densely populated NY/NJ region simply could not work for much of last week. Many businesses were without power, while others could not expect their employees to report to work when they were without power and reasonable transportation options.For most companies across the region, ensuring the safety of their employees was priority #1. But once employees’ well-being and safety had been confirmed, companies sought to maintain some level of “business-as-usual.” Organizations that fared best during this period were the ones that were already well-accustomed to employees working remote. A recent article cites Ernst & Young, a company that has long embraced workplace flexibility. As a result, its people were accustomed to supporting clients even when working under less-than-ideal circumstances. One impressive quote from the article: “It's when you have a crisis like this that you really see the importance of having workplace flexibility,” says Carolyn Slaski, a managing partner at Ernst & Young’s Iselin, New Jersey office. “Employees felt like they had the flexibility and support they needed to do their jobs and help their families. That's when you get the loyalty from your employee because they can see that you really mean it.” (Here’s another article that praises E&Y’s efforts.)Perhaps one silver lining of this awful storm will be that more companies will realize the benefits of workplace flexibility. A friend of mine works for a NYC-based company that has never been supportive of working remote. However, after Sandy hit last week, the company quickly shifted course and sent a number of messages encouraging employees to put their safety and comfort first, and inviting them to work from home as long as needed. In fact, even with the office open this week and public transportation in the city almost back to normal, the company is still encouraging employees commuting in from New Jersey and Long Island to continue to work from home. My friend is hopeful that a lasting culture-shift is underway – one that will certainly serve the company well in the future, natural disaster or not.How is your company responding to the storm? Were employees in affected areas able to continue working last week? What are the long-term implications for your organization? Share your thoughts in the Comments section below.Photo credit: New York Magazine