Flexible work is something that I’ve followed closely since the pandemic. Remote work exploded, then was rolled back. The tantalizing idea of a four-day workweek has become a reality in pockets of the country.
But through all this reporting, seldom do I hear about flexibility in a blue-collar job. In fact, I often hear quite the opposite. In 2022, freight railroad workers nearly went on strike as they protested strict attendance policies that kept them away from family events and even doctors' visits. United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain’s pitch for a four-day workweek for assembly workers was brushed aside as a pipe dream.
So I was intrigued when I heard from folks at GE Appliances that they had opened the doors to part-time, flexible work at a couple of their plants. It sounded so unusual that I had to go see it myself. I traveled to the company’s kitchen appliance plant in LaFayette, Georgia.
Tony Gabbert, director of manufacturing operations, told me the idea began during COVID when workers were staying home just as demand for ovens and ranges was soaring. Some days, Gabbert himself had to work on the line to keep things moving. Amid this crunch, he learned about a staffing company called MyWorkChoice, which recruits part-time workers who could fill in as needed, picking their own shifts through an app.
His boss thought the idea was crazy. Letting outside folks just drop in for a few hours at a time was unheard of in an industry that runs on consistency. But it paid off. Today, about 450 flexible workers join full-time employees on the assembly line each week. Together, they keep the factory humming.
Gabbert says they’ve discovered that there’s an entire population of people out there who don’t want to work the traditional 40-hour workweek and don’t need or don’t care about the benefits that come with full-time jobs. They're often retirees, mothers with young children and people with other jobs or passion projects.
With a push to bring more manufacturing back to the U.S., the workers have to come from somewhere. For GE Appliances, this has proven to be a viable solution. | 
