Measuring MPERS Performance

FY 2018

2

MoDOT and Patrol Employees’ Retirement System

To Our Stakeholders:

An often repeated business axiom is “what gets measured gets managed.” There is quite a bit of truth to that old saying.

This report is designed to provide our members and stakeholders with information on how we (MPERS staff) have performed during Fiscal Year 2018. We intend to issue this report each year.

Inside you will find information on our investment performance (which lends itself very well to measurement) and operations performance which is generally measured by member responses to our satisfaction surveys. We have several other measures to help us manage the system, but we have included the ones that we believe are the most relevant to the readers of this report. With that said, we continue to seek new ways to measure performance and those yet to be identified measures could appear in future versions of this report.

We hope you find the information contained in this report useful. Should you see anything in this report that raises a question, please do not hesitate to contact us at mpers@mpers.org.

Sincerely.

Scott SimonExecutive Director

Office Location: 1913 William St., Jefferson City, MO 65109 • Mailing Address: Post Office Box 1930, Jefferson City, MO 65102-1930Telephone Number: (573) 298-6080 • Toll Free: 1-800-270-1271 • Fax: (573) 522-6111

Website: www.mpers.org • E-Mail: mpers@mpers.org

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$1.219

 

$1.299

 

$1.548

 

$1.533

 

$1.652

  $1.938

 

$1.991

 

$1.983

 

$2.162

 

$2.307

 

 $‐

 $0.500

 $1.000

 $1.500

 $2.000

 $2.500

(in billions)

History of Asset Value

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

47.3%

42.2%

43.3%

46.3%

46.2%

49.2%

52.9% 55.5%

57.1%

57.0%

History of Funded Status

Asset Value

The mission of MPERS is “to provide a basic level of financial security to plan participants by delivering quality benefits and exceptional customer service through professional plan administration and prudent management of System assets.” Simply stated, MPERS must have sufficient assets to pay monthly benefits.

Purpose of Measure: To gauge the financial growth of the System and its ability to pay promised benefits.

Funded Status

A fully funded pension plan is one in which the market value of the plan’s assets is enough to cover 100% of current benefits earned by its members. Since 2006, the Board has adopted a number of funding policies intended to improve the system’s funded status.

Purpose of Measure: To determine the financial soundness of the System including any trends in the funding status.

Investment Performance Measures

‐25.0%‐20.0%‐15.0%‐10.0%‐5.0%0.0%5.0%

10.0%15.0%20.0%25.0%

‐24.7%

12.9%

21.8%

2.7%

13.4% 17.6%

6.6%

1.0%

11.2%

9.4%

‐16.0%

12.9% 21

.3%

1.2%

11.8%

15.5%

2.8%

0.4%

12.3%

7.6%

‐17.7%

14.6%

16.6%

3.1%

10.0% 14.5%

5.2%

1.9%

10.9%

7.7%

MPERS' Return vs. Peer Median vs. Policy Benchmark 

 MPERS  Peer Median  Policy Benchmark

MPERS’ Return vs. Peer Median vs. Policy Benchmark

Assets are invested in accordance with a structured allocation approved by the Board of Trustees. The best measure of the investment return is the policy benchmark, which is based on the asset allocation.

Purpose of Measure: To track and compare MPERS’ annual investment returns with the peer median and policy benchmark.

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0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

77% 76% 76% 77% 77% 77% 78% 81% 78% 75%

22% 23% 23% 22% 22% 22% 22% 19% 22% 24%

1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1% 1%

Pre‐Retirement Seminar Satisfaction

Excellent Good Fair

 ‐

 500

 1,000

 1,500

 2,000

 2,500

1,769  1,718 

2,084 1,906 

1,572  1,636  1,596  1,587 1,772 

1,608 

414

1,657 

Benefit Presentations

Pre‐Retirement Seminar Attendees Special Group Meeting Attendees

Benefit Presentations

MPERS’ staff conducts an average of 25 half-day Pre-Retirement Seminars annually, throughout the state, for MoDOT and MSHP employees. Employees who are eligible to retire or within five years of retirement are invited to the seminars, with empty seats then being offered to anyone wishing to attend two weeks prior to the seminar. We strongly encourage members to bring a spouse/guest. In addition, we complete various other basic benefit presentations (i.e., special) throughout the year in order to enhance member knowledge on the benefits we administer.

Purpose of Measure: By gauging attendance, MPERS staff can determine if the number of seminars should be adjusted.

Pre-Retirement Seminar Satisfaction

Attendees are asked to complete an evaluation form at the conclusion of each Pre-Retirement Seminar. The goal of the seminars is to provide information on several topics such as retirement benefits, medical insurance, and deferred compensation. The seminar presenters are rated on the presentation, material, value of information, and if it met the participants expectations. For purposes of this performance measure, we have focused on answers to the statement “how would you rate this seminar overall?”

Purpose of Measure: To determine the effectiveness of MPERS’ staff in explaining the retirement benefits to attendees of the Pre-Retirement Seminars.

Operations Performance Measures

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Office Visits

We define “customers” to be all-encompassing (employees, retirees, survivors, etc.). The critical decisions made during the retirement process are irrevocable and will affect the member for the rest of their life. One-on-one counseling is the most effective means of explaining the benefit provisions. Members can receive individual counseling at the MPERS office or by phone. If there is enough interest to justify the trip, staff will travel to the employer’s office for one-on-one counseling with members.

Purpose of Measure: To determine if those visiting our office were satisfied with the service they received. Staff is evaluated on knowledge, professionalism, and service.

Operations Performance Measures

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%

100% 93% 93% 94% 90%95% 95% 94% 92%

95% 98%

6% 7% 6% 10%5% 4% 5% 8% 5% 1%1% 1% 1% 1%

Customer Satisfaction ‐ Office Visits

 Excellent  Good  Fair Poor

183 175266 299

366465 496

421514 515

15  15  22  25  31  39  41  35  43  43 

0100200300400500600

Office Visits Per Year

Office Visits Avg. Per Month

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

43

32 3138

44

27

66

44

54 55

4536

2820 19 19

32

15

42

2736

30 2721

15 12 1219

12 12

2417 18

2518 15

FY 2018 Number of Office Visits Per Month

 Total  MoDOT  Patrol

(a) includes scheduled and unscheduled visits(b) responses received from members that visited MPERS

Office Visits

(a)

Responses Received

(b)FY 2009 183 63FY 2010 175 67FY 2011 266 95FY 2012 299 90FY 2013 366 102FY 2014 465 159FY 2015 496 161FY 2016 421 131FY 2017 514 109FY 2018 515 140

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History of Expenditures

There are a multitude of story lines and explanations connected to the historical cost of doing MPERS business. Those stories and explanations are much too detailed to include here. What may be surprising is the cost for our administrative unit today is lower relative to a decade ago. On the investment side, the increase reflects the fact that we have gone from a one-person shop to four employees, with more responsibility for internal management (including real savings on management fees) than would have been the case a decade or more ago.

Purpose of Measure: This information is intended to illustrate any trends that may be associated with the costs associated with operating the retirement system.

 $‐

 $1.000

 $2.000

 $3.000

 $4.000

 $5.000

 $6.000

(in m

illions)

10‐Year History of Actual Expenditures and Budget

Total Administrative Investment Budget

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

72%

92%84%

87%84%

90%94% 96% 97% 98%

Actual Expenditures vs. Budget

Actual Expenditures vs. Budget

Preparing an annual budget can be a daunting task. It requires precise planning of current budgetary items and consideration for the potential for unplanned expenses.

Purpose of Measure: This measurement provides an indicator of the degree to which budgeted expenditures are controlled.

FY 2018 Budget

Operations Performance Measures

Budget ActualAdministrative $2,654,404 $2,612,182Investments $2,114,426 $2,040,823Total $4,768,830 $4,653,005

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0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

30%

64% 66%

57%64% 67%

31%

70%

29% 27%

43%

36%33%

57%

7% 7%12%

Employee Satisfaction

Very Satisfied  Satisfied  Neutral

 $‐ $100 $200 $300 $400 $500 $600 $700

$156  $177  $182 $221  $235 

$277  $317 $338  $359 

$395 $443  $473 

$681 

Cost Per  M

embe

r

Peer Group

Lowest to Highest Cost Per Member

Cost Per Member Analysis

We perform our own very basic assessment of MPERS overall costs relative to systems similar in size. Our cost analysis takes the gross operating costs and divides it by the member population (active employees, retirees, and vested former members) to arrive at a “cost per member.” MPERS ranks sixth in this peer group at $277. The average for the peer group is $327 indicating that MPERS is a lower cost operation. There is an economies of scale factor that is worth noting in this analysis. That is, the more members a plan has (the denominator in the equation), the better the potential for being low cost. Montana, for example, has the second lowest cost per member but they also have the largest population in this analysis of over 66,000 members. MPERS is the third smallest plan in this analysis, meaning that most of the plans cover a considerably larger population, which solidifies the assertion that we are operating efficiently. Purpose of Measure: The purpose of this measure is to provide some context for how MPERS costs compare to other pension plans similar in size to MPERS.

Operations Performance Measures

Employee Satisfaction

Employees spend a large portion of their day at work. Our employees are a vital asset to MPERS. It is commonly known that performance can be linked to job satisfaction; therefore, it is imperative that employees enjoy coming to work, find satisfaction in their contribution to the system, and are offered a pleasant work environment.

Purpose of Measure: The purpose of this measure is to gauge the job satisfaction of MPERS’ employees.

With the transition of executive directors, no employee survey was conducted in FY2012.

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Phone Fax Email Website (800) 270-1271 (573) 522-6111 mpers@mpers.org www.mpers.org

Office Location:1913 William Street

Jefferson City, MO 65109

Mailing Address:PO Box 1930

Jefferson City, MO 65102-1930

Contact Information