'It's been working very smoothly,' Usnik said. Because the paper is covering the news of the strike, many workers, including reporters and editors, must get into the office and into the city to do their jobs.

'Managers have been as accommodating and flexible as they can be,' Usnik said.

Mark Martin, chief financial officer at Makovsky & Co., a 40-person public relations and investor relations firm in midtown Manhattan, said the company's management talked to employees as the transit strike loomed so they would know their options to do their jobs.

'It's imperative for employees to know where they stand,' Martin said. 'Our policy was if you live in the outer boroughs, it was definitely OK for you to work from home.'

The company took lessons learned from the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and provided remote access capabilities for workers to obtain access to their work e-mail and other systems in the event of emergencies, such as the transit strike.