Duncan Baird's Message to Members - May 11, 2020
As we closely monitor this public health emergency, APERS continues to follow the recommendations of the Governor and his task force. Our offices remain closed to the public, and most of our employees are working from home. Nonetheless, we have adapted to these changes and remain dedicated to providing excellent service to our membership and fulfilling our responsibilities to you in a timely manner.
May 1st marked the second "payday" for retirement benefits since the majority of APERS’ staff began working remotely from home. During this time, we've answered hundreds of calls and emails from members, continued providing retirement estimates and counseling, and processed our normal volume of retirement applications.
We realize that some interactions work a little differently now, but we are encouraged by the positive responses and support from our members. For example, we are currently taking messages and returning calls from those who contact our call center. This allows us to efficiently distribute and respond to the requests from our members, while working remotely. We are working hard each day to respond to everyone as quickly and effectively as possible, and we appreciate how well our members have adapted to this new process. Thank you all.
In striving to meet the current challenges, we've had one major advantage -- our new online pension administration system (COMPASS). Since it became fully operational last year, it has greatly enhanced our efficiency and flexibility. Your member's portal (MSS) can do the same for you. It will allow you to manage your own account and do many routine tasks for yourself. Active members can review their contributions, estimate their benefits, apply to retire, and much more. Retirees can print copies of their 1099s, change their tax withholding, switch direct deposit accounts, and more as well.
If you haven't already, we encourage you to set up your MSS account. Use the member's login link at the top of our website to create an account, or to enter your existing username and password. If it's your first time, you will need your APERS ID number, which you can find on any correspondence we've sent to you that is about your specific account. If you can't locate it, call us and we'll provide it.
As always, our first concern is the safety and welfare of our members and our staff. We hope all our members and the community at large remains safe and healthy. We will continue to keep our membership informed, both here and on Facebook and Twitter as things progress
For help getting access to the online member's portal, view our blog on Setting Up Your Online APERS Account.
