Continual improvement has long been a core principle of the ASRS. It's woven into foundational agency elements such as our mission, vision, and goals, and it drives our strategic plan.
To improve, it is important to measure. We continually evaluate hundreds of aspects of our agency. One company that has been key in providing independent, outside evaluation is CEM Benchmarking.
CEM Benchmarking gathers information from participating pension systems across the globe to evaluate and score (primarily) service levels and cost efficiency. They look at everything from how systems communicate to members to the timeliness of pension payments and the size of a system’s staff.
After collecting roughly 600 data points from the ASRS, we receive scoring that measures us against pension systems of similar size (our Peer Group) as well as all the pension systems they analyze across the globe (the Universe Group.)
We participate in this evaluation annually, and results are typically published in late spring or early summer for the previous fiscal year.
Top Level of Service
The ASRS has a top level of service in the entire CEM universe.
2nd Lowest Cost
ASRS ‘cost per active member and annuitant’ is $48 lower than our peer average.
2% Annual Cost Decrease
Total pension administration cost per active member and annuitant has decrease by 2% each year from 2016 – 2023.
Service
We pride ourselves on continually striving to provide top levels of service. Service is measured by analyzing such things as turnaround times for member requests, availability and choices of services, website functions, promptness of depositing retirement checks after retirement, and call center efficiency.
Service scores are measured on a scale of 0 - 100. The ASRS has consistently been above the peer and universe group averages since 2008, and was recently measured as having a top service score in both our peer group and the CEM universe.
Below are our service scores for FY 2023, with additional historical information included in the graph below:
Note: A change in methodology by CEM Benchmarking led to a shift in scoring for all systems in 2023.
- ASRS: 91
- Peer Median: 82
- Universe Median: 79
Cost
“Cost” is important to keep in mind when looking at the quality of service provided. Amazing service is easiest with an unlimited budget, but we operate as strategically and fiscally responsibly as we are able.
Included in the Cost evaluation are items that directly relate to pension administration. These costs are evaluated and compared against the number of members we have to produce final numbers on a “per member” metric. This makes it easier to contextualize how much a pension system spends versus the size of its member base.
Below are our cost levels for FY 2023, with additional historical information included in the graph below:
- ASRS: $68 per Member & Annuitant
- Peer Median: $116 per Member & Annuitant
- Universe Median: $107 per Member & Annuitant
Peer Group for the ASRS
- Peers include 14 pension systems of similar size across the US, as determined by CEM Benchmarking.
Universe Group
The CEM Pension Adminitration Universe includes:
- 31 systems from around the US
- 11 systems from Canada
- 6 systems from the rest of the world
