President & Chief Executive Officer
As HOOPP marked its 60th anniversary in 2020, delivering on our pension promise to members felt more vital than ever. Through an exceptionally challenging year, we remained committed to providing you with the pension you have earned and the peace of mind you deserve.
In my first year as CEO, I am pleased to report that despite global economic and market instability, our Plan remained well-positioned with a funded status of 119%. In other words, for every $1 we owe in pensions, the Plan has $1.19 in assets.
Here, you’ll find more details about our Plan performance along with highlights from across the organization. While there may be more economic uncertainty ahead in 2021, I want to assure you that the Plan is strong, and we will continue to be here for our members and employers.
On behalf of all HOOPP employees, I want to thank our members who have been, and continue to be, on the frontlines of this devastating COVID-19 pandemic. Your extraordinary efforts are seen and felt every day and are greatly appreciated. We are proud to be able to serve you.
Regards,
Jeff Wendling
President & Chief Executive Officer / Chief Investment Officer
Plan performance
We entered 2020 in a robust position and continued to perform well through a challenging year, thanks in part to our liability-driven investing (LDI) strategy, growing member and employer base, and ability to smoothly transition to a remote work environment. This success is reflected in our strong investment return and funded status, and increase in net assets, all of which help us continue delivering on our pension promise to members.
Funded status
119%
Net assets
104
billion
Rate of return for 2020
11.42%
10-year annualized rate of return
11.16%
All reported figures in this document are as at Dec. 31, 2020, unless otherwise noted.
Investments
By evolving our LDI approach and finding innovative ways to diversify and protect our portfolios, our investment team successfully navigated the shutdown of the global economy and, near the end of the first quarter of 2020, one of the biggest stock market declines in history. The result? A strong investment return and strategies that are well-positioned to face ongoing market uncertainty.
2020 highlights included:
Sustainable investing
We remain committed to sustainable growth by integrating environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors into our strategies and investment decisions. This allows us to deliver on our pension promise in a way that aligns with our values. Here are a few of our key accomplishments:
- We released a joint statement with eight of Canada’s leading pension plan investment managers, calling on companies to provide relevant and consistent ESG information that enables us to allocate capital to deliver long-term sustainable value.
- At the Reuters Events Responsible Business Awards 2020, HOOPP was recognized with a special mention for our transformative approach to embed climate change risk exposure assessment into the management of our real estate portfolio.
Members and employers
To help support our members and employers through an unprecedented year, we aimed to provide them with assurance and peace of mind related to their pension and the health of the Plan. While making the most of technology, we used our personal-service model to provide information, education, and support to our members and when they needed it.
We also made Plan changes to provide flexibility to our members as they dealt with challenges resulting from the pandemic. These included:
- providing service in the Plan, at no cost, for members on a new unpaid provincial emergency leave
- extending deadlines related to buybacks and disability benefits
- extending the timeline to make pension contributions following a leave of absence
In addition, we made a Plan change to how commuted values are calculated to help ensure our Plan’s long-term sustainability.
To help our retired and deferred members’ pensions keep up with inflation, we provided a cost-of-living adjustment that increased their pensions by 2.25% (which became effective April 1, 2020).
During the year, our membership and the number of employers that offer the Plan increased.
Total number of members:
398,324
(an increase of 17,243 from the end of 2019)
248,260
Active members
114,300
Retired members
35,764
Deferred members
Total number of employers:
614
(an increase of 20 from the end of 2019)
141
Hospitals
72
Foundations
65
Community health centres
85
Service providers
167
Small healthcare organizations
84
Family health
People and culture
We foster and maintain a diverse, high-performance workplace culture that inspires our employees to do their best in support of our members and employers. Our core values – professional, accountable, collaborative, compassionate, and trustworthy – are the foundation for the service we provide.
In 2020, we found ways to foster that culture while supporting the transition to a remote-work environment. We also proudly made progress on several initiatives related to diversity and inclusion that will help continue to strengthen our organization:
Diversity and inclusion highlights:
- Our CEO signed the BlackNorth Initiative pledge, which is dedicated to removing systemic barriers and increasing Black representation at senior management and executive levels in corporate Canada.
- We launched a range of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to help us connect, support and learn from staff members with shared interests and life experiences, toward fostering an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace.
- We continued to build on relationships with recruitment organizations that work with diverse communities.
Top employer award
HOOPP is proud to be recognized as one of Greater Toronto's Top Employers of 2021 by Canada’s Top 100 Employers.
We want to hear from you!
Your feedback helps us improve our website, member news articles, social media channels, and other communications. We encourage you to complete our online survey to tell us what you think of our 2020 Highlights. You could win your choice of an Oculus Quest 2 Advanced All-In-One Virtual Reality Headset (64 GB) or an iRobot Roomba 675 Vacuum.
Contest closes on June 30, 2021.
