Benefits

• – Health and Insurance Benefits
• – Retirement Benefits
• – Educational Assistance Programs
• – Commuting Subsidy Benefit
• – Paid Time Off
• – Ombuds Services for Associates
• – Fringe Benefits
• – Attire
• – Location
• – Work-Life Balance

Health and Insurance Benefits

ASA inspires loyalty and commitment among our associates by providing a wide variety of excellent benefits.

• – Medical and Dental Insurance
  We offer a choice of 2 comprehensive Blue Cross/Blue Shield medical plans for Massachusetts residents, as well as a plan for out-of-state employees. For full-time regular associates, we subsidize 75% of the cost of HMO Blue and an equal dollar subsidy for the other 2 plans.
  
  These plans offer a variety of benefits, such as vision care and discounts on eyewear, fitness programs, fitness equipment, and weight loss programs. We have no pre-existing condition clauses in our contracts, and coverage begins on the first of the month following your date of hire.
• – Medical opt-out plan
  If you receive health insurance from another source and opt not to take our insurance, ASA will pay you a specific dollar amount per month in place of providing health insurance.
• – Term life insurance
  The company provides a term life insurance policy at no cost to associates in the amount of 2 times your annual base salary.
• – Voluntary term life and voluntary long-term care insurance
  As an ASA associate, you have the option of purchasing additional insurance for yourself and your dependents at a low group rate if you are a full-time or part-time employee who is regularly scheduled to work 20 hours per week or more.
• – Short- and long-term disability insurance
  This benefit provides both short- and long-term disability insurance to employees, and ASA pays 100% of the policies’ premiums. The short-term disability plan goes into effect after 2 full weeks of disability and pays 60% of your base salary for up to 3 months. If you remain disabled, the long-term disability coverage will pay 60% of your salary until you are no longer disabled or reach age 65.
• – Flexible spending accounts
  ASA offers 3 separate flexible spending accounts: Healthcare, Dependent Care, and Commuter Choice. This benefit allows you to set aside pre-tax income toward qualified expenses in these categories.

Retirement Benefits

ASA offers 3 forms of retirement savings:

• – 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan—Employee Contributory Retirement Savings Plan
  Associates may defer on a tax-exempt basis an amount not exceeding the IRS-indexed employee deferral limit. From date of hire, associates may begin contributing a pre-tax, bi-weekly payroll deduction.
• – 401(a) Retirement Incentive Plan—Employer Contributory Retirement Savings Plan
  Based upon its financial performance, ASA may make an annual discretionary contribution to the 401(a) accounts of eligible associates. ASA aims to contribute a minimum of 2% of an associate’s gross annual earnings, all company paid. Associates are vested in this plan at the rate of 20% per year and are fully vested after 5 years of service.
• – Pension Plan
  After 5 years of service, ASA associates are fully vested in the ASA-sponsored, defined benefit plan that pays a fixed pension benefit upon retirement at no cost to you.

Educational Assistance Programs

We deeply believe in the value of education. As a learning organization we help associates finance their education in 2 ways:

• – Tuition Reimbursement Program
  ASA may reimburse undergraduate, graduate, and certificate program courses taken at an accredited or other approved institution. The benefit is up to $5,250 per calendar year, with no limit on the number of courses you may take. Associates become eligible for this program when they complete 6 months of service, meet program eligibility requirements, and receive prior approval of coursework from their supervisors and the Human Resources department.
• – Student Loan Reimbursement Program
  ASA provides funds to help associates repay their federal education loans that are in current repayment status—up to $2,400 per calendar year. Associates are eligible for this program once they have completed 6 months of service. Part-time employees are also eligible for this benefit on a prorated basis.

Commuting Subsidy Benefit

ASA pays associates a monthly benefit equal to the cost of an MBTA bus or subway pass, LinkPass, or commuter check for public commuting expenses.

Paid Time Off

All full-time regular associates are allowed 5 personal days and 8 sick days per calendar year. Depending on your position, you may be eligible for the following vacation time:

• – Non-exempt associates—2 weeks*
• – Exempt associates—3 weeks
• – Directors and above—4 weeks
• – We also offer our associates an extra vacation day for each year of service until they reach the maximum 4-week vacation allowance, with certain restrictions.

*Non-exempt employees may become eligible for up to 4 more personal days per year by having perfect attendance, measured on a quarterly basis.

Associates enjoy 9 paid holidays per year. Other types of paid time off include jury duty, bereavement, and 2 weeks of company-paid maternity/paternity leave.

Ombuds Services for Associates

As part of our commitment to training, we encourage our associates to develop their negotiation skills and to apply the principles of mutual gains bargaining to resolve problems. However, certain situations may require the assistance of an intermediary, and for those times, ASA has engaged an independent and confidential Ombuds, who is on hand to assist associates with any problems they may have. Associates can always speak to a member of management or to someone in the Human Resources department, or they can take advantage of our confidential Employee Assistance Program (EAP) provided by LifeWorks. The Ombuds provides another alternative when associates need help resolving a complex, long-standing, or out-of-the-ordinary problem.

Fringe Benefits

Sometimes it’s the little things that matter most to our associates. Our fringe benefits offer something for everyone and reflect the basic philosophy of ASA toward associates: We’re the employer that cares. These benefits include phone rooms, where employees can enjoy privacy when they need to make important personal calls, and a mother’s room, which ensures privacy for the special needs of new moms. Other extras include our regular ice cream sundae afternoons; festive free pizza lunches; discounted movie tickets and retail merchandise; Halloween Boo Bags, which provide a chance to make a coworker smile by buying them a small bag of candy, with all proceeds benefiting UNICEF; complimentary chair massages; regular Red Sox ticket giveaways throughout the baseball season—always a big hit; and many, many more.

Attire

Although we take our work seriously, we relax a bit when it comes to dressing for work. Business casual attire is the norm.

Location

Centrally located at 100 Cambridge Street in the heart of Boston, ASA is just minutes from Faneuil Hall, Downtown Crossing, and Beacon Hill. Our office is within walking distance of stations on every MBTA line, as well as the North Station Commuter Rail hub.

Work-Life Balance

Finding work-life balance in today’s fast-paced world is no simple task. If you spend more time at work than at home, you’ll miss out on a rewarding personal life. Some people face challenges in their personal life such as caring for an aging parent or coping with marital or financial problems, making concentrating on their job difficult. Whether the problem is too much focus on work or too little, when your work life and your personal life feel out of balance, stress is the result.

ASA actively encourages associates to evaluate their relationship to their jobs and find a healthy balance.