Jennifer Owens is Senior Director, Editorial Research & Initiatives and Editor of Working Mother 100 Best Companies for Working Mothers 2009.

In “Stand Up for Flex,” our lead story in this year’s 100 Best Companies package, writer Paul Nyhan asks a disturbing question: Will the economic crisis roll back decades of progress on flexible work options?

Certainly, despite a brief flurry of economic stories a few months back that told us “The Recession Is Over!”  it’s still tough out there. Unemployment is up, company budgets are down and who isn’t afraid that they’ll stand out—and not in a good way—if they spend any time away from the office?

But here’s the scoop: Across the country, employers aren’t retreating on workplace flexibility. Paul reports that according to a June survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, the percentage of companies offering flextime, telecommuting and compressed workweeks remain unchanged from a year ago.

Certainly, there’s always the case of a unyielding company or manager who refuses to allow any flexibility—and yes, this makes for great press. But the truth is that flexibility is a cheap and powerful benefit employers can use to help employees succeed, especially when salary raises are no longer in the offering. As Paul writes: “Flexibility help execs save money on overhead, retain talent and create mobile workforces capable of working wherever and whenever.”

Execs at our 100 Best Companies tell us over and over again that flexibility is essential to their business strategy. Simply put, says Stacey Gibson, senior director of work-life and employee relations at 2009 winner Bristol-Myers Squibb:

“I do it because it drives my business. There is not necessarily a huge cost associated with flexibility if the employee is going to be more productive and it’s going to help the business grow.”

So yes, fellow working moms, flexibility is alive and well, but here’s the kicker from Paul’s story: We can’t take it for granted. If we let fear of flex keep us from asking for what we need from our employers to be the best and most productive employees we can be, then we may just end up creating a legacy of more rigid workplaces that will far outlast the recession itself. As Heather Boushey, Ph.D, a senior economist, for the Center for American Progress, a progressive think tank in Washington, DC, warns: With high unemployment expected to last past the recession, “my guess is employers will not feel a lot of pressure to accommodate people.”

So go ahead, make the case for flexibility and make it work for you. And stand up for flex!