CTTRANSIT: AARP Best Employers 2008

Winning Year: 2008

Industry: Transportation Services

Location: Hartford, Conn.

URL: www.cttransit.com

2008 Rank: 46

 

 

CTTRANSIT retirees receive the special benefit riding the bus free for life. Forty-seven percent of the company’s employees are age 50+, with the average tenure being 19 years.

 

Additional Policies and Practices:

 

Workplace Culture/Continued Opportunities: CTTRANSIT offers learning and development programs to its full- and part-time employees, including in-house classroom training and online training. In addition, the company offers tuition reimbursement exclusively to employees working 40 hours per week. During the past 12 months, 30 percent of CTTRANSIT employees participated in at least one of its training opportunities, with an average of four hours spent in training.

 

The company celebrates long-service anniversaries with announcements. Employees gain experience and develop new skills by working on team projects, and also have access to formal job-rotation programs. Examples of accommodations made for employees with disabilities include providing a special parking space for an employee in a wheelchair, equipping doors with automatic door openers, providing special chairs, offering flexible-work schedules, and making job reassignments if necessary.

 

Benefits/Health: Employees (with no minimum weekly work hours required) receive individual and family medical and prescription-drug coverage, and individual and family vision and dental coverage. The company offers short-term disability exclusively to employees working 40 hours per week. Health benefits for retirees under age 65 and 65+ include individual and spousal medical and prescription-drug coverage, individual and spousal vision coverage, and individual life insurance or other death-benefit coverage. New hires are eligible for all of the above benefits upon retirement.

 

The company offers employees a flexible-spending account to help cover out-of-pocket health care costs.

 

Benefits/Financial: CTTRANSIT offers a 401(k) and a defined-benefit plan to its full- and part-time employees. Employees may choose to invest in lifecycle funds, and employees age 50+ can make catch-up contributions to their 401(k)s. Employees receive financial-planning information from staff members and from the firm that administers their 401(k) plan.

 

CTTRANSIT offers short-term time off without pay, and long-term leaves of absence without pay, to allow for caregiving. The following wellness programs are available to full- and part-time employees: flu shots, health screenings, health-risk appraisals, health club discounts, physical activity and exercise programs, weight loss programs, stress-management training, and wellness programs (topics have included coronary artery, asthma, diabetes-management, and birth expectations). Seventy-seven percent of the company’s employees have used at least one of its wellness benefits during the past 12 months. The company offers referral services to assist with care for children and grandchildren and with eldercare, to its full- and part-time employees.

 

Benefits/Alternative Work Arrangements: CTTRANSIT offers flextime as an alternative work arrangement to its full- and part-time employees. Compressed work schedules are an additional option for full-time employees. Full-time employees are eligible to move to part-time work on a permanent or temporary basis.

 

Opportunities for Retirees: The company currently has 423 retirees and a person directly responsible for retiree relations. The company stays connected with its retirees by communicating regularly, inviting retirees to organization events and celebrations, and formally acknowledging employees when they retire. CTTTRANSIT offers retirees temporary work assignments and part-time work options.

 

Age of Workforce: Forty-seven percent of the company’s employees are 50+. The average tenure of employees age 50+ is 19 years.