How TCDRS Welcomes New Members

Here is an overview of how TCDRS welcomes your new employees and helps get them up to speed on their benefits after you enroll them in the system.

When new employees first become TCDRS members, we usually find that they have a lot of questions about who we are and how they earn benefits.

Since it’s important to connect with new members as quickly as possible to educate them about their benefits, we have implemented a number of processes to get members plugged in from Day 1 of their employment.

Here are a few ways we do that:

Meaningful Communications Right from the Start

If you are in charge of helping employees with their TCDRS accounts, you may remember our request for help capturing email addresses — either during enrollment or later through the TCDRS Employer Portal.

The best practice is to provide us with new employees’ email addresses as you enroll them. This way, we can immediately reach out to start their TCDRS education, set expectations to be on the lookout for their welcome kit and encourage them to register online.

Then, once members claim their TCDRS.org account, we send them a series of three emails to help them understand their benefits and remind them to take important steps, such as designating beneficiaries.

• The first email in this series invites members to watch our “Introduction to Your Member Benefits” video and explore the account management tools available in their online account.

• The second email provides information about TCDRS’ Proportionate Retirement Program. Through this program, members with prior service for specific employers can have that time added to their TCDRS account to help them reach eligibility milestones sooner.

• And finally, the third email invites members to connect with TCDRS online through our social media channels.

Additionally, once employees register online, they will also begin receiving member newsletters according to their career stage.

Sent with Care

Capturing email addresses helps us connect with your new employees as quickly as possible. This is especially important for letting them know to be on the lookout for a physical “Guide to Your TCDRS Benefits” mailer to arrive in the mail from TCDRS.

This welcome mailer contains an overview of your plan information, a description of how benefits work and, most importantly, the member account number your employees will need to register online at TCDRS.org.

Online Resources for New Hires

Speaking of our website, we maintain a robust online library of resources to assist members at all career stages.

You can direct new employees to visit our New Hire webpage and watch our “An Introduction to Your Member Benefits” video. Both of these resources provide information specifically tailored to new members who are just starting out with their accounts.

We also recommend that members of all career stages sign up for a TCDRS Online Counseling session to discuss their benefits and retirement goals, run benefit estimates and more with a friendly TCDRS Member Services Field Representative.

Members can also tune into our member webinars and engage with us on Facebook and Instagram. Our social media accounts offer account education, upcoming registration for career-stage webinars and financial literacy tips.

Plan Administration