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About ORS

About ORS


The Michigan Office of Retirement Services (ORS) administers retirement programs for Michigan's state employees, public school employees, judges, state police, and National Guard members. ORS serves more than 598,000 customers (approximately 288,000 active and 310,000 retired), representing 1 of every 13 Michigan adults. ORS customers live in approximately 1 of every 8 Michigan households.

Within these systems, ORS administers five defined benefit pension plans, four defined benefit retiree healthcare plans, and two defined contribution plans, managing combined net assets of over $108.8 billion. ORS is responsible for the 21st largest public pension system in the U.S. and the 49th largest pension system in the world. In fiscal year 2021, ORS paid out more than $7.8 billion in pension and healthcare benefits.

ORS is a division of Michigan's Department of Technology, Management and Budget.

Honors


Public Pension Standards Award 

ORS was awarded the 2019 Standards Award from the Public Pension Coordinating Councils Standards Program (PPCC) for both funding and administration. ORS has received this award every year since 2004. The PPCC Standards reflect expectations for public retirement system management and administration and serve as a benchmark for all defined benefit public plans to be measured.

Government Finance Officers Association Award 

The Government Finance Officers Association of the U.S. and Canada awarded the retirement system with the Certificate of Achievement for Excellence in Financial Reporting for our fiscal year 2018 comprehensive annual financial report. This marks the 28th consecutive year ORS has received this prestigious award.

Signature Award Winner

ORS with Voya Financial won a 2019 Signature Award from the Plan Sponsor Council of America. We took first place in the Overcoming Obstacles category for our MPSERS outreach campaign. An annual review of plan data revealed that the approximately 72,000 participants in the Defined Contribution Plan in the public school population did not engage with their accounts or online tools as much as their State of Michigan employee counterparts. The outreach campaign used a variety of communication methods to reach public school employees and human resources administrators. These methods included publications, a telephone campaign, meetings for public school employees, emails, and an innovative social media campaign on LinkedIn. Member behaviors exceeded expectations and surpassed industry benchmarks for both click-through rate and engagement rate. The Plan Sponsor Council of America, which is part of the American Retirement Association, is the leading association for sponsors of voluntary, employer-based retirement plans in the U.S.