New York City Deferred Compensation Plan

When the New York City government’s staff started working virtually during the pandemic’s early days in March 2020, the New York City Deferred Compensation Plan had to quickly convert its NYCDCP Service Center to a virtual model.

“We have a full-service, walk-in client center within our New York City agency, the Office of Labor Relations,” NYCDCP Director Georgette Gestely says. “We jokingly say that people should be able to come and visit their money anytime they want. So this was a sea change for us, because we were no longer doing face-to-face meetings with participants.”

This big change happened as NYCDCP faced a huge uptick in participant calls. That’s largely because of two new federal laws: the SECURE Act, which had been signed into law in December 2019 and allowed 457(b) plan participants age 59.5 and older to take in-service distributions, and the CARES Act, which was signed in March 2020 and allowed a COVID-related in-service distribution of up to $100,000 of a participant’s balance. Calls to the NYCDCP Service Center more than doubled, from 128,618 in 2019 to 276,700 in 2020.

The NYCDCP Service Center developed new practices to operate more efficiently, many of which stemmed from its 2020 implementation of Genesys Workforce Management contact center software. That allowed the Service Center to take several helpful steps: extensive data analysis and modeling of key performance indicators such as peak call times and average hold times; development of training modules to address specific issues; and real-time adjustments of employee staffing.

“What we found is that 80% of the calls we received were either about distributions or loans,” Gestely says. “So we have tried to move as much of that online as we could.” For example, an employee getting ready to retire who wants to pay off an outstanding plan loan can now initiate a loan payoff request online. NYCDCP staff created animated, one-to-two-minute videos for the participant site, to help participants figure out how to do the newly online self-service functions.

And based on call center data, NYCDCP made changes to give participants more information in a simple format, so they don’t have to call as often. For example, since participants often called to get more information on their asset allocation and their Roth versus pre-tax activity, both the quarterly participant statement and the participant website are now broken down into four sections: overall asset allocation and balance by fund; Roth asset allocation and balance by fund; Roth account activity summary; and pre-tax account activity summary. The self-service steps helped: Total call volume dropped by 38% between 2020 and 2021, from 276,700 to 170,378.

At press time the NYCDCP intended to reopen the Service Center for in-person meetings as of May 1, subject to change based on mayoral directives. The agency will move forward with a hybrid approach that includes both in-person meetings and virtual meetings for groups and individuals. “I think that most people will still want that face-to-face experience at key times, such as when they are getting close to their retirement,” NYCDCP Deputy Director Beth Kushner says. “They like to come and sit with someone to talk then, because it is a very important transition in their lives.”

–Judy Ward