Our Story
It all started with three friends…
LAZ Parking is a parking management, transportation and mobility company founded by childhood friends Alan Lazowski, Jeff Karp and Michael Harth, who grew up in a small town outside of Hartford, CT. In 1981, in his senior year of college, Michael decided to start a valet parking business in San Diego, CA. He shared the idea with his two best friends who took hold of this opportunity and started their own valet businesses. Michael began by serving three beach-side restaurants, Alan with a single location at a restaurant in downtown Hartford and Jeff with a nightclub and surface lot in downtown Boston.
Two years later, Jeff and Alan merged their Hartford and Boston-based companies to form LAZ Parking, while Michael continued to operate independently on the West Coast under the brand of Sunset Parking. Over the years, the three friends consulted with each other and shared their many experiences and philosophies, growing their companies side-by-side into leaders in their respective markets.
Healthcare Benefits
Employee Assistance Programs
Wellness
Supplemental Benefits
Financing Assistance Programs
Commuter Benefits
401k Program
LAZ Family Events
How We Roll: The LAZ Way
We're people who care about people. We don't just say it, we do it. Our company's mission is to "create opportunities for our employees and value for our clients" and, as you can see, employees come first.
It's one thing to give people a job. It's another to focus on creating opportunities for personal growth once people are hired. We consider every new position an opportunity for someone to join our work family or, for someone who is already part of it, to grow. Many of our company's leaders started in entry-level positions - if you ask Alan Lazowski (aka "Al LAZ") for his title, he won't tell you that he's the company's CEO; he'll tell you he is LAZ Parking's first valet!
Oh, and that part about our clients in our mission statement? Well, we believe in nurturing long-term relationships based on building trust and creating value for our clients and customers. Our formula is simple: step into the shoes of our clients and protect their best interests. More clients and more customers creates more opportunities for people to grow within (or join!) the LAZ family!
Our people-first mindset and service-focused philosophy differentiates us from other parking companies. LAZ Parking's continued growth, success and service to our clients are the result of living this mission. We call all of this "The LAZ Way" and it includes our mission, our values and our daily practices.
Putting Your Career in Drive: LAZ University
At LAZ, investing in our employees is one of our highest priorities. That's why we offer learning programs and even scholarships to help people grow both professionally and personally. Topics vary and include everything from leadership development, to health and wellness, to safety, to technology and we're adding courses so often that there is never a lack of learning opportunities for LAZ employees. Our online university includes 100+ on-demand cutting-edge, interactive courses and that number continues to grow.
Our library of learning choices also includes live video and in-person classes, leadership and management programs and even industry certifications, such as the Certified Parking Professional (CPP). Basically, if employees want to learn, we want to give them the chance to do it! In fact, every employee also has access to sign up for FREE career coaching with some of our highest level, most talented LAZ leaders.
LAZ University was rated #38 on ELearning Magazine's top 100 list of companies for e-learning in 2014.
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LAZ Connected
Healthcare Benefits
We offer a very competitive benefits package for eligible employees that includes medical and dental benefits through Anthem BCBS. Our medical plans are comprehensive – they provide free preventative care and even have benefits for things like acupuncture and some naturopathic care. When you enroll, you’ll have 4 types of medical plans to choose from and 2 types of dental plans, so that you can choose the plans that best meet you and your dependents’ needs. We also provide options to save pre-tax earnings in a health savings account, a flexible spending account or a dependent care reimbursement account. These accounts let you save money for health or child-care costs directly from your paycheck and provide the added benefit of reducing your taxable income at the end of the year!
Employee Assistance Programs
Our EAP, or Employee Assistance Program, is coordinated through Anthem BCBS. Known as Resource Advisor, this free program provides services to support you and your household family members when you need it. You can get counseling sessions by phone, face-to-face or via video chat anytime (24/7) to talk with a licensed counselor. You and your family members are eligible for up to three counselor visits for each issue or concern, at no cost to you. You do not need to be enrolled in LAZ Benefits to take advantage of this program.
Wellness Programs
At LAZ, we know that the health and well-being of our employees has a direct impact on the well-being of the company. We approach employee wellness with the idea of “whole life” – wellness of the mind, body and spirit – and our wellness programs are designed with that in mind. We partner with WellSpark to help deliver the best health and wellness resources to our employees, including a dedicated Health Coach with a master's degree in nutrition and a certification in wellness coaching. Employees can participate in one-to-one sessions to create personalized programs to improve overall health, reduce stress, lose weight, manage disease, stop smoking and more. This is available for FREE to our employees, regardless of whether they are enrolled in our benefits programs.
Supplemental Benefits
To support your health and peace of mind, LAZ’s benefit package also offers life, disability, accident, and critical illness coverages through Anthem BCBS. When you enroll as a new hire, you can get some of these benefits as “guaranteed issue”, meaning you won’t have to fill out any health questionnaires for the insurance carrier.
Financing Assistance Programs
When life doesn’t go as planned, we offer two types of financing assistance programs. MedPut+ is available to benefit eligible employees who elect medical insurance, and can help you pay for things like healthcare, pet, auto and home bills. MedPut will negotiate the cost of your eligible bills and pay them on your behalf to help relieve your financial burden. You’ll repay the bills over time through small payroll deductions. Best of all, you never pay interest!
PayActiv is a financing program that provides you with on-demand access to up to 50% or a maximum of $500 of your already earned wages when you need money for that unanticipated emergency. No need for payday loans, overdrafts or late fees! You’ll have access to a convenient app to manage and access funds as well as tools to help you budget and save.
Commuter Benefits
Do you take public transportation to work? If so, our commuter benefits programs through PayFlex may be a big help. They allow you to pay for your qualified parking and/or mass transit commuting expenses by setting aside funds directly from your paycheck. The funds are deposited into your account and can be accessed either online or via a debit card. Since the payroll deductions are pre-tax, it also helps you save money by reducing your taxable income at the end of the year!
401k Program
With the LAZ Parking 401k program, eligible employees can contribute from 1% to 75% of the annual salary in pre or post-tax contributions. In addition, LAZ will match 50% up to the first 5% of your contribution. That’s FREE money! Eligibility begins after 1 year of employment, provided the employee has worked at least 1,000 hours within the year. Employees can change their contribution amount at any time and get to choose how they want their 401k funds allocated within our variety of investment options. You’ll also have access to tons of financial wellness and planning tools right within your participant account, to help you plan your best future.
LAZ Family Events
LAZ is more than a parking company – we’re a family! And as part of our fierce commitment to people, many of our locations offer employee lunches, holiday parties, summer picnics and lively "get connected" events. Occasionally, you may be joined by one (or ALL!) of our four founding partners: Al LAZ, Jeff Karp, Michael Harth and Mike Kuziak.
