|
© Copyright 2000 Rogers Media. The following article first appeared in the March 2000 edition of
BENEFITS CANADA magazine.
Q & A
"What types of pre-retirement counselling do you offer employees?"
"We do not offer actual pre-retirement counselling as a program. We will provide on occasion consultation
with our outside actuary relative to pension matters.
We are, however, in the process of rolling out financial planning seminars to all employees, which would
include those close to retirement. These programs are geared toward employees of all ages and income levels
and will be offered on a continuing basis.
That came out of employee surveys and what they said their needs were. We provide employees with either a
defined contribution or a defined benefit plan, as well as a savings plan, so we have a fairly
sophisticated group of investments available to employees. In an organization where employees are more
inclined to take normal retirement, which would be somewhere in the age of 60 to 65, there might be more of
a need for pre-retirement planning if the employees haven't availed themselves of that on their own.
But in many organizations, employees avail themselves of the early retirement provisions and there seems to
be less need for pre-retirement counselling because they already have a plan for what they'll do from age
55 to 65.
I think we're dealing with quite a sophisticated work force in that regard, to the extent that they're able
to access the information when they think they need it."
Ian MacLeod,
manager, employee
compensation and benefits,
Canadian Occidental Petroleum Limited,
Calgary
"We don't really do any pre-retirement planning here. We've never delved into that unless we have a program
offering early retirement incentives.
Part of it is that people just don't retire that way anymore. The workforce is changing. When we did run
those programs people would come once a week for six weeks. Your spouse would come with you to talk about
what you wanted to do lifestyle-wise and how much money you needed. Someone would talk to you about your
estate and someone else would talk to you about your pension plan.
I think people need financial wellness seminars. I think that's probably more relevant today than
pre-retirement counselling."
Barbara Hanchard,
manager,
staff benefits,
University of Manitoba,
Winnipeg
|
News
News
