Atlas Distributing pays for karate
PHOTO/COURTESY
When Chris Lloyd started working at Auburn beverage distribution company Atlas Distributing Inc., he was a young, single guy who didn't much care about the company's benefits. More than a decade later, he said, they're a big reason he wouldn't think of working anywhere else.
Lloyd is now married with three kids, ages 2, 5 and 7. For a week this fall, he said, the whole family got hit with a bug that was going around.
“I've gone to the pharmacy five times in the past week for different people for prescriptions,” he said. “One prescription was $300. I think I paid $10.”
Jack Lepore, vice president of finance and operations at Atlas, said the company knows how important benefits packages are to workers, so it strives to keep them strong.
“We really try to buck the trend that we're seeing with employers shifting costs and deductibles toward employees,” he said. “We've really tried not to do that.”
Lepore said Atlas pays 75-80 percent of employees' health insurance premiums, keeps deductibles as low as possible and provides a health reimbursement plan that subsidizes 80 percent of the deductibles they do pay. It also has a full array of dental, disability and life insurance, as well as retirement and college savings account plans.
Beyond just offering good programs, Lepore said, Atlas also tries to keep up strong communication about its benefits with employees. It's been making a push recently to let workers know about retail clinics and urgent care centers that can offer quicker, less expensive care than emergency rooms in many cases.
The company holds annual meetings where workers can learn about their plans, bringing in representatives from its health insurance company – Worcester-based Fallon Community Health Plan – and its other benefits providers. After hearing about the available benefits, employees can arrange one-on-one meetings with the reps to talk about their specific situations.
“We're trying to communicate, be open with the employees,” Lepore said. “It's not just, 'Here's the health plan, good luck.'”
Lloyd said he's taken advantage of the individual meetings with benefits representatives, which has helped him make sure his family is making good use of their plans. A few years ago, he and his wife bought a treadmill and were able to get the purchase reimbursed through their health plan. And today, he said, when his children take part in activities such as baseball and karate, he can get his insurance to help pay the fees.
“It would be tough on a family of five to afford that,” he said.
Lloyd said the strong benefits at Atlas help keep employees loyal, not just because the packages are good but because management is obviously working hard to make sure they meet workers' needs.
“They're very, very good at listening to what our personal needs are,” he said. “Seeing how they can get better.”
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