Manager, Statement Operations and Pension Payroll M1

Why you'll love working here:

• high-performance, people-focused culture

• our commitment that equity, diversity, and inclusion are fundamental to our work environment and business success, which helps employees feel valued and empowered to be their authentic selves

• learning and development initiatives, including workshops, Speaker Series events and access to LinkedIn Learning, that support employees' career growth

• membership in HOOPP's world class defined benefit pension plan, which can serve as an important part of your retirement security

• competitive, 100% company-paid extended health and dental benefits for permanent employees, including coverage supporting our team's diversity and mental health (e.g., gender affirmation, fertility and drug treatment, psychological support benefits of $2,500 per year, parental leave top-up, and a health spending account).

• optional post-retirement health and dental benefits subsidized at 50%

• yoga classes, meditation workshops, nutritional consultations, and wellness seminars

• the opportunity to make a difference and help take care of those who care for us, by providing a financially secure retirement for Ontario healthcare workers

Job Summary:

Reporting directly to the Director, Pension Operations, the Manager is primarily responsible for ensuring the comprehensive oversight and execution and of policies and processes related to identifying, designing, recalibrating, executing, and monitoring all cyclical strategies.  The Manager is also accountable for status and reconciliation reporting to executive stakeholders. Under Pension Operations, the Statement Operations and Pension Payroll Teams have multiple responsibilities across many elements of supporting the Plan Operations Division and the skill sets involved are accordingly very diverse. The Manager can distinguish themselves as having established a superior understanding and mastery in all processes related to cyclical events and in addition will have insights into all the elements needed to ensure success for the team members, providing guidance and, if necessary, hands-on training to bring success to the team. 

Comprehensive oversight, executive stakeholder management and providing innovative solutions for all cyclical processes will be the Manager's primary responsibility. Other major responsibilities include organizing and guiding the team through successful completion of all cyclical processes such as: (1), regulatory mailings and financial analysis; (2) Regulatory reporting and submissions for Tax Slips, PSPAs, PARs including project management, execution and delivery to regulatory authorities; (3) Annual statements and rate application oversight for over 400,000 HOOPP members including validation of process outputs to ensure the overall accuracy and quality of member information; (4) Planning and coordination with internal business partners (IT PSG, Product Development, Member and Client Services, Policy, Finance, Actuarial Services ) and external business partners (print vendors, provincial and federal regulators) to ensure successful execution of team 'cyclical' processes; (5) Ensuring adherence to production schedules, HOOPP quality standards and Regulatory quality standards and deadlines; and (6) Responsible for promoting, planning and organizing workloads, consulting on the relationships between cyclical processes and other areas of Plan Operations (Actuarial, Data, Calculations, and Member Services) and supporting the overall effectiveness of cyclical processes.

In addition to providing leadership to their team, the Manager is also responsible for establishing and maintaining strong business relationships within Plan Operations and with other divisions, in the delivery of member services. The Manager is expected to be able to inform and educate Member and Client Services, Employer Services, and Product Development and Service Experience areas with respect to all items to ensure proper calculations and communication with members and employers. As well, the Manager needs to be able to collaborate with Product Development and PSG - Pension Core Team as to the effect that certain changes related to the monitoring and execution of Cyclical activities.

The Statement Operations and Pension Payroll Manager will be responsible for people management within the team. The manager will have direct reports and be responsible for coaching, developing, providing work assignments and oversight of the staff. 

The ideal candidate is someone who has a passion for service and uses an active management style.  They are comfortable with change and have experience leading an operations service team with a view to continuous improvement.

What you will do:

Point of Contact and Authority in the Cyclical Processes Specialized Field

As the authority in this specialized field, act as a point of contact for Operations Support by partnering with various departments within and outside Plan Operations to provide decisions and clarity on how to direct changes to the processes, review results, and resolve any issues related to Issue Management for operational issues. This also includes acting as a sounding board and business expert for divisional management to resolve issues and plan initiatives to help with the overall improved functionality of the system.

Comprehensive Oversight

The Manager prevents HOOPP from having financial and reputational loss through the ability to explain in simple terms to executive stakeholders how the team reconciles and conducts a comprehensive analysis of the different member groups, how incomplete or incorrect annual updates may increase the risk of a bad experience and incorrect benefits to members.

Innovative Enhancements to Cyclical Processes

Direct divisional strategy by establishing and continuously improving processes, procedures, and policies for key annual activities to ensure achievement of appropriate business service levels and results.

• Scope enhancements/changes of annual activities and assesses short- and longer-term impact of changes, including impacts to other areas in the process.

• Review analysis and trends identify the impact on Business, and provide root cause analysis.

• Monitors critical linkages with other areas to ensure all processes are running smoothly and effectively.

• Identifies issues and areas of risk, maps out business solutions and works with department leads to implement change

• Partner with business leads to understand needs, design new processes based on best practice methodologies and create an implementation plan for changes. 

• Remove, or escalate as necessary, any roadblocks/constraints that impede the progress of a process.

• Engage in continuous improvement exercises for the work being done in Cyclical Management to improve execution times and simplify work as system development allows.

Team Oversight and Professional Development

Provide management to the team by recruiting, mentoring, and providing coaching, development, and direction.

• Measure the team's individual performance through the Performance Management process.

• Monitor workflow, establish and reorganize the work, and develop resource plans to effectively meet performance goals and service standards.

• Develop individual plans in accordance with division business plans and objectives, reporting and monitoring team statistics.

Oversight of Business Process: Pension Payroll

• Oversees the Payroll team on execution of pension payroll and troublingshooting when issues arise.

• Keeps the payroll current and is current with Legislative changes as related to pension payroll and Tax related implications

• Responsible for timely and accurate Monthly and Weekly Payroll, cheque and EFT approvals

• Responsible for coordination with Finance and Client Services to schedule payrolls, design and document reconciliation and control processes

• Oversight of COLA related work and validation of the transfer into member's pensions records for payment

• Oversight of T4a and other tax slip production work.

• Responsible for report design to support payroll functions for added analytics

• Responsible for ensuring the Client Services is kept informed on changes or other items as they impact members.

• Responsible for monitoring the effectiveness and productivity of the team and providing feedback; implement corrective action as required

• Collaborate with other teams to be coordinated and consistent in meeting all team objectives (i.e. coordinate corrections with Pension Accounting)

• Support building a best-in-class team through leading the onboarding of new team members and provide continuous learning support.

• Responsible for providing continuous knowledge support to the team, including identifying training/knowledge gaps across the team or per individual, providing support in the introduction of new products or plan knowledge.

• Support the leadership in change management activities pertaining to the implementation work, as well as changes and new systems/processes within the team.

• Stay current with any changes being implemented to support communication to the staff in a timely manner.

• Keep team members informed of department/Division changes and reinforce why the changes are being made and impact on the team and individuals.

• Promote an environment of continuous improvement that will enhance controls.

• Collaborate with other business units within Plan Operations to help identify the impacts of issues and/or enhanced functionality; raise awareness related to their areas of expertise on behalf of Operations Support.

• Work closely with other leads to share information and ideas and to ensure consistency in service expectations (Payroll Calendar planning).

• Communicate clearly and effectively across stakeholders; serve as a resource of subject matter expertise on Pension Payroll for Operations Support and across Plan Operations, ensuring the timely and appropriate dissemination of knowledge and information to key stakeholders.

• Perform additional tasks, within the scope of the position, as required.

Oversight to Business Process: Statements and Rate Application

The Manager will:

• Be the informed opinion leader and go-to person for creating and sharing the most effective strategies to support the process.

• Direct the Cyclical team through annual procedures to ensure proper updates, overall accuracy and quality of member files.

• Manage the team with diverse skill sets and multiple complex responsibilities daily, ensuring work is done within legislative and internal SLA guidelines taking accountability for all workflow metrics and results.

• Manage execution to ensure overall accuracy and quality of member files, making certain proper procedures and data integrity are met, keeping in mind certain compliances when necessary to support the overall complete execution of work.

• Work with and mentor the Cyclical Processes Lead to develop leadership qualities and empower the Lead to take responsibility for the work of the team.

• Identify gaps and issues and work with team to provide coaching to address knowledge gaps.

• Lead identification of specifications for projects relating to quality assurance system processes and controls.

• Maintain detailed knowledge regarding all annual events and workflow procedures.

• Liaise with Payroll, Calculation and Actuarial teams to handle escalated member event issues.

The Manager will lead the team through the following ongoing procedures:

• Annual statement execution, delivery, reconciliation – electronic and paper mailing – for all active, retired and deferred members

• COLA execution for retired and deferred members and Salary Rate Indexation execution for all suspended and disabled members

• Historical data reviews to ensure all members are covered and executed through the annual processes

Oversight to Business Process: Tax Slip Management - Plan Operations

The Manager will:

• Share expertise with the broader audience (executive management, product development, finance team) for educating, improving, and adding value to the process

• Direct a team with enhanced skill sets and multiple complex monthly responsibilities to deliver results within internal and external SLAs, taking accountability for all workflow measures and results

• Work with and mentor Sr. Analysts to develop leadership qualities and empower them to take responsibility for the work of the team

• Able to explain in simple terms the complexity of projects and how they can impact other areas of the members entitlements, where applicable and the ability to reconcile and present this information to others

• Represent Plan Operations and the Cyclical Team at cross-functional meetings

• Direct the Cyclical Team through the operational analysis and readiness to produce regulatory tax slips, PSPAs and PARs.

• Advance the team members to develop a deep understanding of the required filings, the way the data is stored in the system (Ariel DB and Ariel Payroll) and knowledge of what changes will affect different parts of the process.

• Ensure team gains confidence and knowledge to gain attention to detail and knowledge of the systems, the way they are integrated, off-system tools used to verify and produce calculations if required and the time sensitive nature of the filings as penalties can arise if not submitted on time

What you bring: ​

• Demonstrated ability and experience of 3-5 years in a leadership role

• Extensive experience in the pension industry with at least seven to ten years as a pension benefits senior analyst or similar professional level

• University degree and/or a combination of equivalent training, education, and experience in the pension industry either in pension administration or pension consulting

• Pension Plan Administration Certificate (PPAC) and/or Certified Employee Benefit Specialist Program (CEBS) would be an asset

• Solid and up-to-date knowledge of pension plan administration and governing legislation and regulations including HOOPP plan text and policies, Pension Benefits Act, Income Tax Act, Family Law Act, Employment Standards Act and other general pension principles.

• Practical experience and sound understanding of Microsoft applications (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and relevant HOOPP or external administration software applications

• Commitment to the broader Actuarial Services team including willingness to take on additional roles and responsibilities as determined for special projects as identified by the Director, Operations Support

• Demonstrated leadership and management excellence including hiring, performance management and employee development

• Ability to see the big picture concurrent with managing the details

• Ability to delegate, identify strengths and opportunities for training, and identify how changes in the organization affect the quality review team

• Excellent communication (verbal and report writing) and presentation skills

• Strong interpersonal skills with the ability to influence across multiple levels and effectively deal with sensitive client situations

• Mentoring and leadership development skills to allow team members to grow and become responsible for their own work as well as the ability to seek assistance from others to encourage ownership and empowerment of employees

• Dependable/reliable team player with the ability to influence, negotiate, and develop win-win solutions

• Ability to exercise sound judgement, skilled problem solver and decision maker and ability to adapt to changing situations

• Ability to make complex decisions independently in a professional confident manner

• Excellent time management change readiness and organization skills

• Superior knowledge of data storage system to effectively represent the division in discussions about changes needed

• Superior knowledge of pension business, products and services

• Knowledge of HOOPP tools and systems is an advantage

• Ability to follow, analyze and understand spreadsheet calculations/tools is imperative

• Excellent mathematical, analytical, data mining, trend recognition, modelling and problem-solving skills

• Excellent organizational skills with a high degree of independence, self-motivation and initiative

• Effective verbal and report writing communication skills