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CalSTRS committee hears customer-experience plan to encourage earlier member engagement
Summary
CalSTRS staff and Accenture presented a customer experience (CX) initiative to the Benefits and Services Committee on Jan. 9, highlighting high point-of-service satisfaction but recommending broader, simpler communications, employer-facing improvements and data-driven personalization as next steps.
The California State Teachers' Retirement System Benefits and Services Committee heard a presentation on Jan. 9 about a customer-experience initiative intended to make it easier for members and employers to interact with CalSTRS and to encourage earlier retirement planning.
The presentation, led by Kate LeBlanc, director of retirement readiness, and consultants from Accenture, said CalSTRS already scores highly on point-of-service measures but can improve the overall member perception and earlier engagement through clearer communications, employer supports and better use of data.
LeBlanc told the committee that customer experience — which she abbreviated as “CX” — is broader than customer service and includes members’ overall perceptions of the system. “Customer service is 1 interaction, and CX is kind of the sum of them all and a little bit more than that,” she said. Accenture presenters said the project used interviews, surveys, journey mapping and benchmarking against nine organizations to identify high-value, implementable changes.
Committee members were shown findings that point-of-service satisfaction is very strong — staff noted that contact-center surveys show about 98% “extreme satisfaction” for individual interactions — while broader annual-member survey items on trust and organizational perception show more room for improvement. Presenters recommended three near-term emphases: simplify member-facing content into plain language, strengthen employer-facing processes so employers report accurately and encounter fewer adjustments, and develop a refined approach to customer data for more personalized outreach.
Accenture described a set of “quick wins” and a playbook of tools and templates to embed CX practices into CalSTRS’ strategic plan and existing initiatives, including Benefit Connect. Presenters said the work will focus on embedding CX into the coming three-year strategic plan and noted that recommendations and deliverables are being finalized to guide implementation.
Committee members asked for time to review materials; no formal action or vote on the initiative was recorded in the transcript. LeBlanc and Accenture said they will deliver final recommendations and implementation deliverables in coming months and that staff will determine timing and resourcing for next steps.
The committee did not receive any public comments on the item.
