zero drag
adj. Relating to a highly motivated employee who has few personal responsibilities and so can work long hours, travel frequently, or be called in to work with little notice.
Other Forms
Examples
2001
The ideal zero-drag employee is young, unmarried and childless with no responsibilities and an eagerness to do well.
—Diane E. Lewis, “Wedded to workplace,” The Boston Globe, March 11, 2001
1999 (earliest)
Everything is faster. Zero drag is optimal. For a while, new applicants would jokingly be asked about their 'drag coefficient.' Since the office is a full hour's commute from San Francisco, an apartment in the city was a full unit of drag. A spouse? Drag coefficient of one. Kids? A half point per.
—Po Bronson, “Instant Company,” The New York Times, July 11, 1999
Notes
In physics, drag refers to the resistance experienced by an object moving through a fluid medium (such as air). Zero drag is an ideal state where the object experiences no resistance at all, much like an eager, no-spouse, no-kids, no-pets employee.
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