And just like that, the last few weeks of 2019 are upon us. And what a year it’s been.

Your Pension Services team spent much of the year enriching our digital features to improve your online experience. We have refreshed myOMERS to make it easier for you to update your beneficiary, address and banking information online. You can also communicate with us directly and securely through our improved portal. At our contact centre, additional channels and focused teams are helping us work faster. There’s a lot more in the works and we know our job is never done in serving our members, but we hope you are noticing the continuous improvements.

Benjamin Franklin had it right when he said, “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” We couldn’t agree more. I am happy to report that over 26,000 of you participated in the Member Engagement Survey, sharing what you value most and what you want to learn about your plan. Thanks again for your thoughtful feedback.

Why does it matter? And why have we been so proactive in asking for your feedback? Because of our unique relationship with you and the long time we will spend together.

Earlier this year we launched three initiatives to help us learn even more:

Rethinking Retirement
We’re diving deep into the life-defining moment that is retirement. Several recently retired or about-to-retire members volunteered to speak with us in their homes about their expectations, experiences and myths. Their candid thoughts are helping us improve your experience in the years leading up to and following retirement.

University partnerships
What do university students think about pensions? A lot, actually. We are working with several of our universities in Ontario to see how the next generation is feeling about their future, their pensions and their financial well-being. We want to know what they would need to get them thinking about their pension and to have OMERS play into their employment decisions.

CoCreate program
Spanning all of our members, we have developed a program to have members work with us to craft their personalized pension experience in workshops, focus groups and digital prototyping sessions. So far, over 3,200 members have signed up! They have already shared great insights on everything from online security to onboarding new members into the Plan.

We really are trying to get it right for you!

This holiday season, I am looking forward to spending time with family and friends, and hope you can do the same. The New Year brings a sense of optimism and an opportunity to reinvent ourselves. In the meantime, it is an honour to work for each and every one of you. Here’s to a healthy and prosperous completion of 2019 and New Year!

Blake Hutcheson
President and Chief Pension Officer, OMERS