For many workers and managers the downturn has quashed such luxuries as vacations and two-day weekends. Flexible working arrangements, wellness initiatives and telecommuting are becoming things of the past.

And parents are putting on the back burner the possibility of cutting back to part-time work hours, staying home with the kids, or taking a sabbatical.

“Holding onto your job right now is more important for many than getting more work/life balance,” says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a global outplacement firm. “This is not the right time to be negotiating those sorts of things.”

During the past decade, firms embraced changes, launching new initiatives to keep talent. Accounting firms began offering flex time to appeal to Generation X workers. Law firms promoted partners who worked part-time schedules. And companies adopted family-friendly policies that landed them on the list of Best Companies for Working Mothers. The economy, of course, will determine where things head from here.

For now, “people are working longer, harder and turning themselves into a jack of all trades,” Challenger says.

Many workers already are resigned to new work hours. In Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Jason Kobrin puts in 50-hour weeks “to be there for clients.” Theoretically, no one is putting pressure on him or his staff, says Kobrin, area manager for placement firm Manpower Professional.

There’s just the understanding that in the current climate, everyone needs to outwork the competition, he says. From his vantage point, Kobrin views longer hours and heavier workloads as inevitable as corporations combine positions and hire one person with multiple skills to fill the job.

Small-business owners, too, are asking whether balance is a pipe dream as they readjust to new workplace realities.

Miami advertising agency owner Len Dugow always has required his staff to work hard. But now, he says, it’s all about survival. “You have to run faster and be more available to clients.” For Dugow and his 19 employees at LGD Communications, that means working longer hours and responding quickly. “We’re not exactly physicians on call but it feels that way.”

Dugow is spending more time with department heads, looking at whether staff and the workflow system is as productive as possible, “not just staying later but trying to work as smart as we can.”

Meanwhile, Dugow still tries to muster a personal life. “You find your downtime with family and friends where you can.” Instead of making vacation plans, he says, “it’s easier to sneak away for short weekends.”

These new rules have dazed young workers who entered workplaces with high expectations for balance. “You can’t phone it in anymore,” Dugow insists, adding that what we are facing now is a “sobering up quickly for those who had swung too far in accommodating the younger generation.”