Service Employees Pension Fund Case Study
I chose to write this paper on the organization that I am employed with, the Service Employees Pension Fund of Upstate New York (SEPF/fund). I focused my paper on the main office which is located in Syracuse, NY. I am employed at the Albany location. This gave me the opportunity to look at the office as an outsider seeing as I only make a trip to Syracuse a couple times a year. Interviewing with the fund manager also helped me to get an idea of how she feels about the fund and how she believes others view it.
The SEPF was founded in 1965; it was created to provide a 6 year retirement benefit. It now provides a monthly lifetime benefit for members that meet the eligibility requirements. The plan also offers disability benefits for members that are eligible. The plan is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union. The board of trustees is made up of three union and three employer representatives. The members of this plan do not contribute any of their own money. The employers are responsible for contributing a negotiated dollar amount based on the hours worked by their employees enrolled in this plan. That money is held in a trust fund and invested; this money is what the fund uses to pay out monthly benefits. The plan serves just over 7,000 members within New York State. There are two offices, one located in Syracuse, NY which is the main office and a smaller office located in Albany, NY. The staff in the Syracuse office is the fund manager, bookkeeper, computer tech., benefit fund specialist and receptionist. The Albany office where I am located is staffed by two benefit coordinators. The staff is comprised of both men and woman varying in age and race. A diverse staff I feel is important to our organization as we service members of many different age, race and gender; this I feel helps to give the members a level of comfort.
The objective of the SEPF is to provide union members with a lifetime monthly pension benefit upon retirement. With the events that took place on September 11, 2001, the fund has suffered a loss from their investments, like so many other plans have. This loss resulted in the fund having to make changes including the inability to give retirees annual increases in their monthly pension benefit and a 20% reduction in the way the plan calculates future benefits.
Can We Keep Our Promises? The purpose of this paper is to provide a summary of the article called “Can We Keep Our Promises?” by Robert D. Arnott, and to help better understand the three key risks facing each investor. Robert Arnott describes risk and return as “having two sides of the same coin” meaning risk is inseparable from return. Arnott points out the most important risks that are faced by managers of company pension plans: underperforming other corporate pension funds (their peers), losing money (mostly associated with portfolio standard deviation or volatility), and underperforming the values of pension obligations and therefore losing actuarial ground.
For this assignment I been asked by the manager to produce a formal report for two contrasting organisations Tesco and Cancer Research UK.
The push for Congress to pass legislation protecting the rights of employees and their retirement was inevitable. Retirement plans are extremely important for all working individuals. Having funds to keep or exceed ones current standard of living and to enjoy one’s life beyond expectations after retire...
This third case study takes place within the organization called TechnoloComm. The main character in this story is named Jessica Martinez, she was hired by TechnoloComm to work in the human resources department. Specifically, she is working on internal newsletters and publicity for the organization. Peter and Alex, are two men who are a part of her team that works together on the newsletter, communication training, maintaining the company’s website and organization publicity. Their boss’ name is Tom, he is there to check in on their progress and make sure everything is running smoothly.
In America’s early days before the kickoff of industry, there was little need for retirement savings for a few key reasons. First of all, people were dying at a much earlier age; most people didn’t live past 38, whereas in 1900, 60 years of age was common for about 40 percent of the population and 15 percent experienced 80 years of life. Another reason for the irrelevance of social security in the 19th century and earlier was that people were usually living rurally on farms with extended families to take care of them. Furthermore, the Civil War also didn’t allow the government much economic room to consider providing a service such as social security. However, after the Civil War, pensions were a form of social security for civil war veterans that carried into their retirement. Unfortunately these pensions provided support for only a very small portion of the population; not even one percent of Americans received these pensions. Despite a much lower need for social security in the 18th ...
Politics or politicking is a game that is more ostensible and reserved for the political arena; however, metaphorically, much of the political discourse can also be found within organizations. Politics in organizations, then, is design for groups to reconcile differences between interests, conflicts, and power (Morgan, 2006). The case study to be analyze (Cutting Back at City Hall) is one that illustrates all three aspects of interests, conflicts, and power as the City of Smithville, the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), the International Association of Firefighters (IAF), and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) deliberate the city’s proposed budget.
Social Security Administration, Social Security Programmes Throughout the World, Washington, 2008/2009; Heymann, J. et all, 2007.
Michael Jones worked his whole life. At the age of 15 he started as a dishwasher at a restaurant a mile away from his house. He never graduated high school because he had to quit school to help his single mom support a family of six. There were many times in his life where he worked two jobs, but at minimum-wage, if that, 80 hours a week still did not go far. By the age of 20 he was married, and soon began to have a family of his own. Michael is a simple man but a hard workingman. Michael rarely took vacations, worked 60+ hours a week, and raised four daughters of his own. After about 25 years of marriage Michael and his wife divorced. Recently Michael turned 65, and against his desire to keep working, his doctor suggested that he retire, due to suffering from two heart attacks, one when he was 50, the other when he was 62. For 50 years Michael has worked many jobs, unfortunately, due to his limited education, he often worked minimum paying jobs. During the first half of this working life he was supporting his family, and Michael was only able to save for retirement after his children had graduated college. Only his latest employer offered pension plan. Now after working his whole life, Michael is left with $305 a month from his pension, and $742 from Social Security. Social Security has become his major source of sustainment. The Social Security Administration (SSA), has become a lifesaver for Michael and most retirees. This paper will attempt to answer how the Social Security Administration came to be, and what it does for the country and its hard working citizens. It will give a brief overview on the history of the administration; what statutes give the agency its authorities; ...
Social Security is on the verge of taking care of the baby boomers generation. This means that it will be paying more benefits than taxes it receives. In lay-man’s terms it means it will be spending more money than it is making. I think that you should pay into your own private retirement account for you to reap the benefits in the future. Not for you to pay into a cluster of workers money for current elders to benefit from. You need to take care of your own future and not rely on other people’s responsibility. “…people began to think retirement funding as a right…and so…started saving less” (Klay & Steen). That being said, people of a certain age should be “grandfathered” into this meaning, people of the age of say 40, still get the normal social security retirement money but anyone younger must start abiding this new reform. If you get married, keep paying into your own unless your spouse is not working. If that is the case then pay the same amount BUT put half into your own and half into your spouses. If the other spouse is working however, they should pay into their own account and you into your own.
Social Security has played a major role in supporting the elderly as well as sick and disabled financially for many years. However, we do not know how long this will last their are many problems facing social security and the funding of it with the population continuing to grow more and more people are taking advantage of social security. The main problem is people who do not really need the help and free income of social security abusing it making the government actually spend more than they actually putting into the social security fund. In this paper I will not only discuss the problems surrounding social security but also solutions in which could not only help better social security but also make it available for generations to come.
Social Security was established in 1935 by the Social Security Act and is the largest social welfare program in the United Sates. It is a mandatory insurance system that holds a FICA tax on worker payrolls and matches these funds with employer contributions that are kept in a trust fund that pays retirement pensions based on prior earnings in the labor market. The social security system was designed to supplement private saving and pensions. When each worker reaches retirement age, currently 66 for those born 1943-1954, the monthly pensions from Social Security fund to be paid. Over 90% of retired workers receive retirement pensions under this
Third Star Financial Services is an “un-banked” business that was built from a foundation of several money transfer operations that can be transact through an agent or an online facility since 1996. Third Star’s goal and objective is to develop and implement an enterprise architecture platform for the organization that is more streamlined and leaned with consistent policies and procedures throughout the company. A consolidated, centralized and standardized single version of the business structure and a modernize technology that can provide ease and flexibilities to their new and existing customers, in addition to their support staff and management teams.
The purpose of this case study is to investigate and bring new insight to situations and behaviors within an organization. Case studies are learning tools which utilize social science research to identify and resolve individual and organizational challenges (K. Mariama-Arthur Esq., 2015).
Consultation - seeks input from employee groups on the development, implementation and revision of our Employment Equity plan.
Retirement comes early for most people. Early meaning that we are not ready for what comes with it. Most people would love to retire today, but unfortunately it is nearly impossible. It takes a lifetime for a person to become financial stable and adequately equip with assets that have been gained throughout someone’s life. Everyone must start young, in fact the sooner the better. Any money, or savings that can be applied today will always come with an enhanced future. So is it worth it to work harder and save now in order to possibly access a pleasant retirement? With out effort now we will be dependent on other sources in our retirement years, sources that may not come through for everyone who needs it. There are three ways to help Americans be better prepared now. These methods include saving money now, and investing in sources with returns. Do not become one of the millions of Americans who fall into government assisted retirement plans by lack of preparation and planning.