This past November 30 was somewhat of a "magical" date for many in our industry. Due to interest rate increases and other financial rate variations, those choosing to leave a pension plan, such as the one NTCA offers, found it financially beneficial to finalize their employment status with their NTCA member employer by the end of November. For some, that meant months of planning. For others, it meant a frantic race to the finish line.
The team who makes up our Retirement & Security (R&S) Program is always busy serving our members, but this year they were on overdrive as they prepared well over 6,000 retirement illustrations for participants by the end of October and processed well over 620 retirees by the middle of November. This, as you can imagine, was exponentially more than usual. However, thanks to good planning and anticipation, the team was as ready and as cross trained as possible for the crunch. Still, I was amazed to see retirement requests continue to come in as the clock ticked down.
Even the National Telecommunications and Information Administration made special mention of our pension plan in their Workforce Guide, noting that the association offers an array of benefits to member companies and their employees. There was even a special shout out on the retirement and security front as a way to entice and retain critical staff in rural broadband markets.
NTCA, our R&S/Savings Trustees, and our amazing Member Relations Manager (MRM) teams all take seriously the responsibility we all collectively have to help ensure the right tools are in place for our providers. As employers, we all know that taking care of our teams is the top priority. Our MRMs spend much of their time counseling telco staff, boards, and executives on how to evaluate the right mix of benefits, while our trustees are always thinking about how best to present the right mix of those benefits to our member companies. This is feeling very top of mind traveling from our GHP trustee meeting as I type.
But more than numbers, investment vehicles, or decisions on annuities vs lump sums, there is the human factor of what this large retirement exodus truly means at a time when this industry is busier than ever building out networks to communities still awaiting robust, future-proof networks.
On a personal note, while I hope to have a continued way to work with a few folks from our own NTCA team who have recently departed as the clocked ticked down in November, having had amazing people like Lori Fischetti, Les Greer, and Noni Nicolaou among those walking out the door has me feeling a tad bereft having been partners with many of them for decades. We will always be grateful for their service, but their departure while young and healthy also highlights to the rest of our team what a powerful benefit it is to have our R&S as a defined benefit plan.