Service Employees Pension Fund Case StudyI chose to write this article about the organization I work for, the Fund Upstate New York Service Employees' Retirement Fund (SEPF/fund). I focused my article on the main office located in Syracuse, New York. I am employed at the Albany site. This gave me the opportunity to view the office as a stranger since I only travel to Syracuse a few times a year. Interviewing the fund manager also helped me get a sense of what she thinks of the fund and how she thinks others perceive it. The SEPF was founded in 1965; it was created to provide a 6-year retirement benefit. It now offers a lifetime monthly benefit to members who meet the eligibility requirements. The plan also provides disability benefits to eligible members. The plan is sponsored by the Service Employees International Union. The board of directors is made up of three union representatives and three employer representatives. Members of this plan do not contribute their own money. Employers are responsible for contributing a negotiated amount based on the hours worked by their employees enrolled in this plan. This money is held in a trust fund and invested; This money is what the fund uses to pay monthly benefits. The plan serves just over 7,000 members in New York State. There are two offices, one located in Syracuse, New York, which is the main office, and a smaller office located in Albany, New York. The staff at the Syracuse office are the fund manager, accountant, IT specialist, contingency fund specialist and receptionist. The Albany office where I am located is staffed by two benefits coordinators. The staff is made up of men and women of different ages and races. I consider a diverse staff important to our organization because we serve members of different ages, races, and genders; In my opinion, this helps provide a certain level of comfort to members. The goal of the SEPF is to provide union members with a monthly retirement benefit for life upon retirement. Following the events of September 11, 2001, the fund suffered a loss on its investments, like so many other plans. This loss forced the fund to make changes, including the inability to give retirees annual increases in their monthly retirement benefits and a 20% reduction in how the plan calculates future benefits...