1. There’s a large latent pool of talent that can only do part time/flexible jobs but aren’t even looking because so few are available.
2. The total economic loss from such jobs being rarely offered is massive.
Consider women who stop working for a year or two due to having a child or children. Many are only able to return part time at first. There’s so few part time jobs in software that many choose not to return to the industry. By the time they can return full time they feel so out of touch, from just a few years away, that they never return at all.
Same happens with people who are injured, temporarily disabled etc. The demand of full time only (and often more hours on top again) means that the industry misses out on retaining a lot of skilled talent.
And yes chronic conditions and disabilities are also very disadvantaged by the requirement of full-time only work.
But as cool as the name sidequest is - I don’t think it’s quite right. Because for most people of the scenarios listed above this would not be a sidequest but a main quest.
Awesome work though. And good luck!