Pension Clerk

University of British Columbia • Vancouver, BC

4d • Onsite

About The Position

The UBC Staff Pension Plan (SPP) is a target benefit pension plan with over 19,000 members and an asset value of approximately $2.9 billion. As a member of the SPP administration team, the Pension Clerk is responsible for organizing and coordinating pension related services for SPP members, including meeting with and conducting information sessions with Plan members. The Pension Clerk is also responsible for producing and verifying complex calculations for Plan members on termination, retirement and death. The Pension Clerk will be expected to interact with Plan members, various University departments/units, the Plan custodian, and outside financial institutions.

Requirements

• High School graduation, plus two years of post-secondary education, plus seven years of related experience, or an equivalent combination of education and experience.
• Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own
• Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion
• Strong customer service and interpersonal communication skills.
• Ability to exercise tact and discretion in dealing with confidential matters.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Strong organizational skills, ability to prioritize work and meet overlapping deadlines
• Must have good attention to detail and ability to maintain accuracy.
• Proficiency in Microsoft office; with advanced Excel skills.

Nice To Haves

• Experience working in pensions, particularly within a target benefit plan environment.
• Knowledge of pension plan administration, including approving pension payments within a pension administration system.
• Experience working with numbers and analyzing information.

Responsibilities

• Organizing, preparing and coordinating the daily, monthly and yearly work flow of pension services for members which includes verifying termination and retirement benefit calculations, options for Plan members, retroactive payment calculations and pre-retirement and post-retirement death benefits.
• Ensuring data integrity of the Pension Administration System (PAS) by performing duties such as coordinating regular audits, investigating and resolving anomalies, making corrections, and following up by collecting contributions as required.
• Responding verbally and in writing to general and complex inquiries from a variety of sources, including Plan members, University departments/units, Plan actuary, Plan custodian, financial planners, and financial institutions.
• Entering, updating, and retrieving data in pension and other information systems for processing Plan enrollments, downloading Plan member demographic data, and creating reports.
• Conducting personalized information sessions to guide members through Plan definitions, pension options, and administrative steps of the retirement process.
• Researching and analyzing employee job history to determine eligibility for pension enrollment, and ensuring compliance with compulsory enrollments.
• Identifying difficult or unusual payroll deduction problems as they relate to Plan contributions and advising payroll staff to ensure that proper deductions are taken.
• Performing duties related to auditing, verifying, and correcting data, which includes verifying Plan membership eligibility, auditing contribution accounts, and providing instruction for required corrections.
• Entering data to the Plan custodian payment system.
• Verifying all calculations processed by back up team member.
• Interpreting and applying rules associated with Plan text, Canada Revenue Agency, and provincial legislation and is able to explain complex concepts such as commuted values, special early retirement benefits, pre and post retirement indexing, retirement options, reciprocal agreements, locking-in and buy-back options.
• Coordinating multi-million dollar pension payments, refunds, and fund transfers by liaising with the University's finance department and the Plan custodian.
• Tracking retirees who have reduction or pension cease dates, verifying new pensioner payment and ensuring that monthly pension payments are adjusted accordingly.
• Reconciling pensioner payroll against details provided from Plan custodian.
• Preparing complex spreadsheets and maintaining statistical reports and summaries.
• Recommending and developing new procedures and policies in order to increase efficiencies and service to the membership.
• Performing other related duties.

Benefits

• Employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Associate degree