Cross-posted from the Washington Work and Family Coalition:

One of many Grand Central Bakery locations in Portland, OR and Seattle, WA. Grand Central has provided paid sick days for workers for over 20 years!

In the recent dust-up over a local coffee shop’s signs about (and surcharge for) paid sick days, you might have missed this, from the owners of Grand Central Bakery:

…paid sick leave amounts to a relatively small thing for an employer translating to a relatively huge thing for a sick employee. For more than 20 years, we have provided paid sick days to our employees (along with health and dental insurance and vacation time). From that vantage point, we can say the benefits are many – high morale, healthier employees and customers, low employee turnover. Most significantly it creates a culture of trust.

Employees who feel supported by ownership find ways to improve the operations in that restaurant, they are willing to work harder during crunch times and they conduct themselves in the workplace with honesty and integrity. And we venture to guess that employee theft and giving out free product is a much bigger threat to the financial health of a restaurant than the impact of paid sick leave. As Matt Dillon says, you build it into the cost of running a restaurant. And we do so happily, because it’s the right thing to do. ~Leslie Cole, Grand Central Bakery communications manager

Today would be a great day to stop by your local Grand Central Bakery – there are several locations in Seattle and Portland. Grab a loaf of fresh bread (or a sandwich, pastry, salad…you get the idea) and let the manager know how much you appreciate Grand Central’s great business model.