Employer News - September 2019

The Bulletin Board

Welcome to The Bulletin Board, a regular feature that we’re adding to Employer News. Here’s where you’ll find reminders, the latest updates, and a sneak peek at what’s coming up.

Administration updates

Age 71 pension reminder letters: We have mailed letters to all members turning age 71 this year, with instructions that explain what is required of them. A friendly reminder that members can contribute to the Plan until Nov. 30 of the year in which they turn 71. They can continue working for you, but you will need to stop deducting HOOPP contributions from them. To ensure that monthly pensions start promptly, submit retirement notices to HOOPP as soon as you receive them.

Contributory leave for part-time employees: It is important to provide HOOPP with leave of absence information for your part-time employees. For members to receive the pension they are entitled to, our records need to be accurate and complete. If a part-time employee takes a leave of absence but does not make contributions, this period will reduce their eligibility service, which is used to determine early retirement reductions that may apply to their monthly pension.

We recently updated The Learning Centre on HOOPP Insight to include more detailed information about part-time members on contributory leave. To learn more, please visit The Learning Centre or speak with your Regional Manager.

Webinars: Our webinars are a great way to learn more about your pension plan, daily and annual administration, and HOOPP initiatives. Look for upcoming In the loop with HOOPP sessions being held in November; registration will begin soon. In the meantime, be sure to check out the archive for previous webinars that you may have missed. Go to The Learning Centre to get started.

hoopp.com update: To continue enhancing our online presence, we’ve launched an updated version of the Employers section. The revised section has improved and more intuitive navigation, making it easier for you to find exactly what you need. 

Coming soon

Administration improvements

As part of our ongoing efforts to improve your administration experience, we are happy to let you know about a few upcoming enhancements planned for HOOPP Insight:

• Improved effectiveness and ease of managing disability administration. Updates to the Disability Report will allow you to quickly identify changes made to member applications for disability benefits and provide you with the information you need to manage this process.
• Transparency and improved tracking of processes you perform on HOOPP Insight. You will be able to see which of your team members processed a member event, data collection, or remittance.
• Supporting inclusiveness for members. We are adding unspecified as a gender option when enrolling members or updating existing member information.

Partners in the pension promise

How we support your Plan administration activities

We are always pleased to welcome new employers to HOOPP. What does it mean to be an employer that offers HOOPP? It means your organization can take pride in providing your employees with a world-class pension that will offer them a secure and stable income when they retire. It also means we are partners in the pension promise. The HOOPP team is here to support your Plan administration responsibilities and to help you and your employees make the most of the Plan experience.

HOOPP manages all aspects of the Plan, from its design and regulatory compliance to investments, ensuring that pensions can be paid now and in the future. We offer deep expertise along with member service, engagement and support.

Just as we’re here for members, we’re also dedicated to supporting our employers. As a HOOPP participating employer, you have important responsibilities related to the Plan – we’re here to help you meet them.

We want to ensure that you understand all of your responsibilities, as well as how we support your administration. Here are some examples: 

Protecting value for members

Remitting timely and accurate contributions to HOOPP is vital to the financial health of the Fund: it helps ensure that all monies are being invested and delivering strong investment returns. Likewise, the member information that you provide is a cornerstone of the excellent service that Plan members have come to expect. Here are a few examples of services that depend on accurate and up-to-date member information:

• welcoming new members to the Plan 
• active engagement with members and supporting them through life events
• helping members maximize their benefits by buying back service 
• annual pension statements 
• pension projections to help with retirement planning 

By working together as partners, both in the administration of the Plan and in the delivery of our pension promise, we can ensure that your employees get the most out of this very valuable benefit.

Want to learn more about your responsibilities as a HOOPP partner and how we support you? Contact your Regional Manager, or visit The Learning Centre for more information. 

How to attract and retain the best employees – and keep them happy

A Burlington healthcare provider talks about the value of HOOPP

HOOPP has a long history of helping Ontario healthcare workers secure their future with a stable retirement income. We are always thrilled to welcome new employers to the Plan. So far in 2019, 25 employers and approximately 9,400 new members from these organizations have joined HOOPP.

As the number of employers offering the Plan grows, so does the flexibility members have to build their pension during their working years. This is why offering HOOPP to your employees can help you attract and retain the best people for your organization.

Don’t just take our word for it. We asked Burlington Family Health Team (FHT) about the benefits of becoming a HOOPP employer. Burlington FHT is a comprehensive, collaborative primary care provider that has approximately 9,500 patients. It also serves as a teaching site for McMaster University’s Department of Family Medicine.

Executive Director Joanne Pearson recently shared her thoughts on why her organization joined the Plan in 2018, what the benefits have been, and how the staff have responded.  

Q: What were the key business drivers for making the decision to join the HOOPP Plan?  

A: We recognized that to attract and retain skilled and experienced team members, we had to be able to compete with other organizations that are offering HOOPP. 

Q: What do you see as being the greatest value that a Plan like HOOPP brings to your employees and to your organization overall?

A: HOOPP provides our team members with a safe and secure pension plan. With their contributions and the organization’s, their pension plan grows at a rate that would be hard to equal in other retirement plans such as RRSPs. Shortly after introducing HOOPP, we were recruiting for 10 new positions and HOOPP was a major factor in being able to attract a high-calibre team.

Q: What has been the general response from your staff about being eligible to participate in HOOPP?

A: The team was extremely pleased that we implemented HOOPP. All but one person signed on and the most resounding comment from those that did was “Finally!”, said with a huge smile on their face.

Q: How would you describe the support that your organization has received from HOOPP?

A: It has been really good. The administration of HOOPP is different from the way we would administer our own plan, so we had a bit of a learning curve. Our Regional Manager did a site visit to do a review of data. Our admin staff have said that the support has been amazing and very responsive.

We are pleased that Burlington FHT decided to join HOOPP, and we look forward to delivering on our pension promise together.

We would also like to wish all our new employers a very warm welcome to the HOOPP family!