November 2013 | Colorado PERA

According to a new study conducted by Brightwork Partners in conjunction with MassMutual Retirement, 71 percent of retirement plan participants use various social media sites. Of that group, more and more are turning to social media not just for social communication, but to learn about their retirement plan and options. In addition, a recent study by Cogent Research determined that 26 percent of U.S. adults use social media for personal finance and investing purposes.

Luckily, Colorado PERA has already spent a significant amount of time building up a social media presence to speak to plan members about these subject matters on platforms they are already using – through a blog, Facebook, two Twitter accounts, a Google+ account, and a Pinterest account.

In November 2012, PERA launched a blog aptly named The Dime Colorado. The blog was designed to speak to members on subjects that pertained to where they currently are in their lives, tackling issues like buying a car, saving for a house, and, of course, getting on track with a retirement savings plan. In addition, the goal was also to touch on subject matter that related directly to life as a public employee.

Yet, building the blog – its own lesson in thinking outside the box – wasn’t enough to spur the conversation and ensure that the PERA membership would continue reading what was being posted. A survey of PERA members revealed what social media channels the membership was using, with significantly more on Facebook than Twitter for example, and the survey also informed PERA where conversations should be created.

Since that time, PERA has tailored unique content to each social media channel, becoming an active member in conversations about the challenges facing public employees, personal finance practices, and life in the great state of Colorado. We are still sharing PERA news, but we’re doing so in a way that interacts with those who might see retirement as something that they can’t relate to at this point in their lives.

The way our world communicates is constantly changing – it no longer works to speak at people and expect them to be invested in your message. Through PERA’s use of social media we’ve learned that our members want to be engaged with us, but they also want information that they can use right now in their day-to-day lives.

PERA’s mission is to promote long-term financial security for our membership. We know that a holistic retirement plan is about more than just having a stable pension on which to rely, it’s also about the health of our membership’s entire financial picture. We hope that by broadening the conversation and utilizing these social media platforms PERA can connect with members in new and profound ways.

Take part in the conversation!

Each year for the last decade, Colorado PERA has opened its operations to an international benchmarking firm that evaluates and compares the performance of retirement systems from around the globe. CEM Benchmarking is a global leader in evaluating the customer service performance and management costs of large pension funds like PERA.

PERA provides CEM with extensive information about its management, administration, and budgeting on an annual basis, allowing for comparisons to other retirement funds around the globe.

Typically, PERA members only interact with one pension system—PERA. Some members may be eligible for Social Security, but the federal program does not lend itself to an apples-to-apples comparison to PERA. Members cannot easily evaluate PERA’s service delivery and management costs with other retirement systems. PERA strives to provide an exceptional customer service experience for its members while operating at a low cost (thus leaving more investment funds for the benefit of members and retirees), so measurement and evaluation from an external consultant like CEM gives PERA’s Board, and its management, members, and retirees an outside perspective on its performance.

CEM evaluates 68 pension funds from Canada, Denmark, United Arab Emirates, the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the U.S., providing a diverse array of retirement systems from which it can identify best practices and establish benchmarks against which PERA can be measured.

As part of its assessment, CEM compares PERA to 13 U.S. funds that are similar in membership size. For 2012, PERA’s administrative costs were well below the average of both the 13 funds in its peer group and the 68 pension funds evaluated across the globe. PERA’s annual pension administration costs were $45 per active member, inactive member, and retiree, or $12 below the peer average of $57. The average cost across all 68 funds was $94.

Source: CEM Benchmarking presentation to the Colorado PERA Board of Trustees, September 2013.

The reasons for PERA’s lower than average costs included higher employee productivity and lower costs for “back office” activities like information technology and financial control. CEM noted that PERA has a long history of using Internet-based applications for service delivery like applying for retirement online and calculating a future retirement benefit using PERA account information, and that also helped to lower costs.

PERA’s overall service score, measuring the customer service PERA provides its members and retirees, was 86 out of 100—notably higher than the median score of 77 for all 68 plans as well as higher than the median score of 82 for PERA’s 13 peer retirement funds. Only six funds out of the 68 measured had higher service scores than PERA.

Source: CEM Benchmarking presentation to the Colorado PERA Board of Trustees, September 2013.

PERA members have played an integral role in the successful ranking of PERA against other retirement plans by giving PERA staff valuable feedback on the services they receive. Information such as this CEM report is shared with the PERA Board of Trustees to keep them aware of PERA staff’s performance.

Just as it has in years past, CEM found that PERA is a retirement fund providing its members and retirees exceptional service at a low cost. And PERA constantly seeks out better ways to provide retirement services for its membership. That’s good for PERA and it’s good for Colorado.

Month: November 2013

Colorado PERA Ranked Low Cost/High Service Provider by CEM Benchmarking