PSPP is proud to be part of the retirement plans of over 90,000 members across Alberta and around the world. Our 27 employers include the Government of Alberta, provincial agencies, boards and commissions plus nine post-secondary education institutions around Alberta.
We asked our employers what PSPP means to them. Joanne Raycraft, Manager of Payroll and Benefits with Athabasca University, was delighted to chat with us!
Whether you’re a pension plan administrator, a retiree or an active member, do you have a story of your own to share? Visit us at https://www.pspp.ca/your-pension-plan/member-stories/ and tell us all about it!
How does PSPP support the overall goals and values of your organization?
At Athabasca University, our mission is to provide access to a university education for everyone. We need to recruit the right team members who can help us achieve that mission.
Having a pension plan as part of an employee’s overall compensation helps us to recruit those team members.
As part of every qualified job posting on our careers page, we have a section on the benefits that AU offers. Out of the ten or twelve items listed, the very first is PSPP’s defined benefit pension. We understand that it’s important and we want individuals who are considering applying to know that a pension plan is part of their compensation package.
PSPP offers a short paragraph promoting the PSPP defined benefit pension plan for employers to include in their job posting, available on our website.
How do you see PSPP impacting employee retention?
At some point, team members start to see retirement in their future. I think the pension plan plays a big part in encouraging them to stay. They know that they’re building that pension benefit and that their pension is going to be an important part of their retirement.
How does your organization communicate the value of PSPP to your employees?
Once an individual has accepted a position with Athabasca University, they receive a benefit orientation from our benefits team. This includes information about their pension plan. We include a link to the PSPP website – specifically there’s a great “Your PSPP Pension Plan” brochure. It provides the team member with an overview and introduction to the Plan and how they can access information beyond that overview.
For our existing employees, we have a retirement page on our intranet site. It provides an overview of PSPP, it describes a defined benefit pension plan, the current rates, and includes a link to the website.
What do you find employees misunderstand or question about PSPP?
It’s not unusual for us to get questions about deductions from their pay. It’s easy to explain to somebody who wears glasses or has a monthly prescription that their health coverage deduction is a small amount to pay for the service that they receive. When we talk about the pension plan deduction, it’s harder for them to envision what that deduction gives them because it could be something that’s 30 or 40 years out.
We can all admit that there was a time in our lives when we couldn’t see our lives in retirement because it was just too far away.
PSPP offers employers an easy one-page summary of the benefits of PSPP’s defined benefit pension plan, available for download on our website.
What advice would you give to other employers considering joining PSPP?
If an employer is looking for a way to add to their employee value proposition, having a compensation plan that includes retirement benefits is a good way to do that. PSPP has created a website and tools that make it easy for employers. The tools on the website – the videos, the brochures, the webinars, and the YPP where they can see their own pension benefit – are just amazing. It’s all there.
We know that when we send one of our team members to the site, they’ll get the answers that they need. If they can’t find them and they contact PSPP, they’ll get what they need from them. We have full confidence in that, so it’s a pleasure for us to say, “You have questions? Here’s where you can find the answers.”
If an employer doesn’t value a workplace pension, I would ask them to reconsider. I would ask them to talk to their employees about retirement. I would ask them to look in their community. Who has a pension plan in retirement? Who doesn’t?
What are the differences in how they live every day as retirees?
At Athabasca University, many of our former employees live in our community. That’s the powerful part of the pension plan. We can see that living example of the retiree who has a pension plan and security through retirement – and those who do not.
We want to thank Joanne Raycraft, Manager of Payroll and Benefits with Athabasca University, for her time and her candid answers to our questions about PSPP in the workplace. It is important to explore how a defined benefit pension plan benefits both employees and employers alike.
Do you have a story of your own to share? Visit us at https://www.pspp.ca/your-pension-plan/member-stories/.