For 20 years, we have heard all about the business case for offering workers maternity leaves, flexible schedules, and other benefits. But those discussions virtually always focus on the business benefits of keeping high-human capital workers – managers and professionals. The Project on Attorney Retention (PAR), for example, has made headway with employers by publicizing estimates that losing a second-year associate costs law firms in excess of $200,000.

Much less work has been done on how offering family-friendly benefits helps the bottom line of businesses that employ low-wage workers. So I want to make sure that people notice the story on the front page of The New York Times Sunday Business section. Attracted by the picture of Mick Jaggar on the cover, I noticed a story about Steven T. Bigari, who runs a string of McDonald’s franchises in Colorado Springs and spends a lot of time thinking about how to make life easier for his employees.