Pension and Benefits Specialist

**THE OPPORTUNITY**

Western Forest Products have a new opportunity for a **Pension and Benefits Specialist** in **Vancouver or Nanaimo, BC.**

**_This is a fixed-term contract position for an initial length of 12 months._**

**What You’ll Do**:Reporting to the Senior Payroll Specialist, the Pension and Benefits Specialist will be responsible for the administration of Western’s Canadian pension and benefit programs. This position provides exceptional support service to employees, retirees, and the payroll and human resources departments with respect to all benefit matters.

**Who You Are**: You work collaboratively with others with the common goal of driving positive results. Making meaningful contributions to your team to achieve organizational goals is a priority. You consider both internal and external stakeholders and demonstrate intent of understanding and putting the employee’s needs first. You advocate service excellence and work to deliver solutions that meet those needs.

**What We Offer**:

- Salary range of **$70,000 - $75,000** based on skill level, qualifications, and experience
- Extended health and dental benefits - _WFP pays for 100% of the employee monthly premiums_
- 3 weeks’ vacation to start
- Employee family assistance program

**Work Environment**: This role is to be performed out of either our **Vancouver or Nanaimo, BC** offices.

**RESPONSIBILITIES**
- Provides daily support on the administration of corporate pension and benefit plans, programs and systems.
- Ensures continuing correct enrolment of all employees and retirees in benefit plans;
- Monitors and ensures benefits data integrity in ADP Workforce Now and benefit carrier portals, working collaboratively with the HRIS Analyst;
- Responds to requests from authorized external parties for employee information such as details of employee loss of earnings due to illness or injury;
- Performs a variety of administrative duties relating to the administration of the short term and long term disability plans for union and salaried;
- Responds to employee inquiries related to their benefits;
- Supports HR in the onboarding and termination process and ensures all required documents, as they relate to benefits administration, are received on time;
- Responsible for Defined Contribution administration - including enrolments, terminations, retirements, pension amounts for leave of absence and data analytics;
- Contribution and data reconciliation;
- Communicates with external and internal service providers and business partners as well as active employees, terminated and retired members and spouses;
- Process invoice payments, reconcile accounts, and other support to department financial reporting;
- Work closely and collaboratively with other members of the payroll and HR team and give support as needed;
- Assists with duties as directed by the Senior Payroll Specialist.

**QUALIFICATIONS**

**Education and Experience**
- Minimum 5 years experience in benefits administration;
- Completion of post-secondary education is considered an asset;
- Education and/or work experience in group benefits;
- Experience and knowledge of retirement and savings plans - including Pension, RRSP and TFSA;
- GBA designation an asset.

**Skills, Knowledge, and Required Competencies**
- Intermediate to advanced Excel skills are required;
- Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills;
- Excellent written and communication skills;
- Strong team player who can work independently and take initiative.

**YOUR CAREER**

At Western Forest Products, we believe our most significant asset is our people. Investing in our people brings value and success to our business, ensuring a safe, engaged, productive and continuously improving workplace. We offer challenging opportunities working alongside the best in the industry to meet your career and professional development goals while providing competitive total rewards and recognition.

We provide a variety of **on-the-job training** and **continuing education** in many areas at Western to ensure you have the skills you need to succeed. Our **promote-from-within culture** recognizes high performance and we offer diverse career paths across the organization for those with the talent and will to advance.

**WESTERN OVERVIEW**

Western Forest Products is a leading forest products company that sustainably manages forests and manufactures high-quality wood products. Headquartered in Vancouver, British Columbia with operations in the coastal region of BC and Washington State, Western meets the needs of customers worldwide with a specialty wood products focus and diverse product offering.

Our commitment to health and safety, environmental stewardship and community engagement is core to how we do business at Western Forest Products.

Our approach to responsible business practices in all aspects of our business is multi-faceted. We adhere to and employ the most stringent environmental practices in the world. The step