When Contessia Hart started working as a fry-station crew member at her local McDonald’s in Slidell, LA, she didn’t plan to stay there for long. “I thought fast food work was just for teenagers,” recalls the 34-year-old mother of two.

But five years (and a promotion to swing shift manager) later, Contessia says she’s found a work-life balance behind the counter that she never imagined possible. Even better, her schedule changes throughout the year as her needs do: During the school year, Contessia works part-time so she can take sons Devin, 9, and Jaden, 4, to afterschool and church activities, but come summertime, when her mom and grandma can watch the boys, she switches to full-time. Plus, Contessia finds the fast-paced environment well suited to multitasking mothers; because managers train at every food station and work in pairs, there’s always someone to sub if a crew member gets called away for a family need.

 Wait, did Contessia just say she’s found family-friendly benefits by the fryer? Yes. In fact, McDonald’s USA, the restaurant giant based in Oak Brook, IL, is one of six companies Working Mother is honoring with placement on its first-ever Best Companies for Hourly Workers list. And not a moment too soon: In an economy still struggling to right itself, it’s likely that the only significant job growth on the horizon will be in a sector where women have long been overly represented. “With significant job growth taking place in low-wage jobs, increasing the productivity and retention of entry-level and hourly employees will be vital for U.S. employers,” says Ellen Galinsky, president of Families and Work Institute, a New York City–based nonprofit group that has studied the positive impact flexibility has on hourly workers.

The Working Mother Best Companies for Hourly Workers already get this concept. These employers all offer their hourly workers (who are paid an hourly wage for their services, as opposed to a fixed salary) benefits including health insurance and company-matching 401(k)s, as well as paid vacation and sick time. Even more impressive, the winning companies also offer flexibility—a family-friendly benefit hourly workers typically do not receive. Five of the six winning companies give workers advance notice on monthly schedules, while four allow employees to trade shifts. One third of the winners allow workers to make up missed hours within a pay period. And, aware that working moms can’t avoid emergencies, half offer backup child care.

Such family-friendly benefits are known to increase productivity and decrease turnover in white-collar workers, but only a few companies have begun to consider that same equation for hourly employees, says Donna Klein, executive chair and president of Corporate Voices for Working Families, a Washington, DC–based nonprofit that researches best practices for hourly workers and served as knowledge partner on the Best Companies initiative. For employers that do the math, the upside is significant. “Our research shows flexibility has the same, or even greater, impact on productivity for hourly workers as it does for managers,” notes Klein. Indeed, in a 2009 report studying companies’ implementation of flexibility options over 12 months, Corporate Voices found engagement was 55 percent higher for hourly employees with flexibility than for those without, while turnover was cut in half.

No Punch-a-Clock Mentality
Some 75 million U.S. workers are paid by the hour, and 61 percent of them are women earning a median wage of $11.49 per hour, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Simply put, most of these women face a disheartening combination of rigid shift hours coupled with unpredictable scheduling—both of which can take a toll on family life, says Susan Lambert, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Chicago who studies these issues. “It’s very difficult to line up consistent child care, participate in family activities or even do simple things like cook family meals when you aren’t sure when and how much you’re going to work,” she notes.

It’s no wonder, then, that Best Companies for Hourly Workers winner CCLC, a Portland, OR–based chain of 112 child-care centers in 25 states, reports just 18 percent annual turnover versus its own industry standard of 40 percent. At CCLC, anyone working 30 hours per week (as 85 percent of its hourly employees do) accrues five paid personal days and five paid vacation days per year; staffers can also apply for up to $1,500 in annual tuition assistance to cover college costs. “Our people are valuable,” says Melinda Rogers, CCLC’s vice president of human resources. “Just because the compensation is on an hourly basis doesn’t mean the job comes with a punch-a-clock mentality.”

For Amy Sanctuary, 33, an infant teacher at CCLC’s school in Folsom, CA, it’s about more than just paid vacation days. To her, the company’s culture allowing for spontaneous flexibility is invaluable. Her son Nicholas, 6, is in elementary school, but Benjamin, 4, attends CCLC at a 50 percent tuition discount. If he’s missing Mom, her coworkers don’t mind if she pops out of her classroom to give him a quick hug. She also knows her school has her back: Last year when she was sick but Benjamin wasn’t, her center director allowed her to drop him off for a care day. “I’ve only had to do it once, but it made such a difference to me on that day,” she recalls. A previous employer barred staffers’ children from attending when a parent called in sick—and Amy still squirms at the memory of throwing up in front of her worried boys. Thanks to CCLC, though, “I could actually recuperate.”

Flex Drives Advancement
Our winning companies know that for many hourly workers, it’s not just about offering coveted family-friendly benefits—it’s also about giving employees the schedules they need to actually be able to take advantage of those benefits. Take education. All our winning companies reimburse tuition for workers pursuing degrees, but each also helps employees find the time for school.

At UNM Hospitals, a major health-care provider in Albuquerque, NM, Nicole Weimer got the flexibility she needed to earn two degrees (bachelor’s and master’s) and start a family because her supervisors agreed to schedule her shifts around her classes and her family needs. From full-time to part-time to weekend shifts, it took an array of schedules to make all the pieces fit during those years, says Nicole. The payoff? The woman who started at the hospital as an 18-year-old unskilled clerk now oversees training and development for up to 90 nurses each year. “I could not have done it without the hospital’s support,” says the 32-year-old mother of Nico, 8, and Santino, 5. “They put me through school, paying a hundred percent for both of my degrees, while giving me the hours I needed.” Nicole also received several scholarships for books, funded by proceeds from the hospital’s coffee cart.

Best Companies for Hourly Workers: In Pictures

For UNM Hospitals, the benefit of helping hourly workers like Nicole is more than a feel-good perk. “It benefits the entire community to have a better-educated workforce,” observes Cindy Paulsen, director of compensation and benefits at UNM Hospitals, who notes that as many as 90 nurses graduate with bachelor’s or master’s degrees each year. “We offer tuition reimbursement with no [minimum-hour] work commitment,” she says, adding that the only requirement is that employees remain on staff. “Most stay, and those who do leave become big advocates for others to come work for us.”

Kristin Kunz, human resources program manager for University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics (UWHC), concurs. The Madison heath-care provider reimburses 100 percent for 15 university credits annually—not just in medicine but across a wide variety of subjects including cooking, finance, social service and more. “We’re trying to get people to explore different areas and make both lateral and upward moves,” explains Kunz. “We see it as important to developing careers, not just having jobs.” For UWHC, the payoff comes in employee engagement scores that are high and keep climbing. “It makes it very easy to recruit,” she says. “We’re getting our pick of the best people out there.”

Benefits Beget Loyalty
There’s also the deeper loyalty that such benefits engender. At McDonald’s USA, for example, Contessia Hart’s career trajectory isn’t unusual—about half the company’s corporate employees and 70 percent of restaurant managers started as crew members. In fact, Danitra Barnett, U.S. vice president of human resource operations for McDonald’s, ranks flexibility ahead of compensation in importance for hourly workers who are mothers. And that’s not just research talking: She and husband Edgar, parents of two daughters and a son, both started as hourly crew members and worked opposing shifts to avoid paying for child care. “We’d work weekends, midnight shifts—everything so one of us could be home,” recalls the 49-year-old mom. “Our managers were very supportive. At McDonald’s an hourly crew member always has a chance to tell a manager what her situation is and what her schedule should be, and they are very flexible.”

That loyalty can lead straight to the bottom line, notes Shawn Boyer, president and CEO of SnagAJob.com, a job-placement website focused solely on hourly workers, and author of Help Wanted & Help Found: The Insider’s Guide to Recruiting and Training Hourly Workers. “Generally, hourly workers have three and a half times the turnover of salaried workers,” he says. “At a minimum, it costs a thousand dollars to replace an hourly worker, so if you have a large population of workers and can reduce turnover by ten or fifteen percent, you can get to significant savings pretty quickly.”

Meet some of the Moms at these Best Companies

For Marriott International, the Bethesda, MD–based global hotel operator, annually tracking to gauge employee satisfaction, loyalty and engagement among its 100,000-member hourly workforce has reaped even better results. “We’ve seen, over time, increases in things like job satisfaction actually precede increases in financial performance,” explains David Rodriguez, executive vice president, global human resources. “When you treat people right, it absolutely has a connection to the bottom line.” For instance, when the company gave call-center workers new flexibility options—including compressed workweeks, shift guarantees for working parents and even flex coupons allowing workers to take a few hours of paid time off for errands instead of burning a whole day—turnover dropped from 150 percent a decade ago to 50 percent today. (Productivity rose, too, as call response time dropped 30 percent.)

Best Benefits for Hourly Workers

For many hourly workers, family-friendly benefits lead to new horizons. Take, for example, Marriott customer-care associate and single mother Lucinda Taylor, 22, who is getting a bachelor’s degree while raising son Blakely, 22 months, who suffers from hydrocephalus. Between doctor’s appointments and surgeries to relieve the fluid buildup on his brain typical of his condition, Lucinda estimates she’s used 60 days off through the Family and Medical Leave Act. Still, she says, her managers haven’t marginalized her. On the contrary, Lucinda says she has been able to make up missed hours when possible, has regular conversations about her career goals and is given shifts that accommodate her school exam schedule. In return, even though her degree will open opportunities down the road, Lucinda has no plan to leave Marriott. “They would have to kick me out the door,” she jokes. “They have worked so well with me that hopefully I can be with them for a long time. My goal is to progress further each day to better provide for my son.”