RICE UNIVERSITY

Report of the Ad Hoc Faculty Advisory Committee on Retirement
August, 1998

IV. Faculty Retirement Survey Summary

Response Rates and Demographics

Survey respondents are somewhat representative of the faculty

• Surveys were delivered to faculty in a sealed envelope with stamped return envelope addressed to Towers Perrin (see Appendix F).
  
• Overall the response rate was 33%.
  
• Of 433 tenured and tenure-track faculty, 141 responded by the deadline.
  
• The percentage of respondents who are age 40 and under is considerably less than that of the faculty as a whole.
  
• The percentage of respondents who are age 60 or older is considerably greater than that of the faculty as a whole.
  
• The gender and schools of the respondents reflect the overall faculty population.

Reporting Methodology

• Results are presented for all 19 survey items and the 3 demographic questions.
• Analyses capture patterns and statistically significant differences.
• Questions 1 - 7 and 11 - 17 are reported as follows:

• Questions 8, 9 & 10 are fill-in-the-blank and 19 is multiple choice.
• Questions 18a-t are reported as follows:

Faculty satisfaction with retirement plans is mixed

• Faculty are not sufficiently aware of how Rice's plans compete with plans at other comparable universities.
• Communication with faculty about retiremet benefits is ineffective.

1.Overall, I am satisfied with the retirement benefits plans at Rice.

2.The University does a good job of communicating with faculty about retirement benefits.

3.The retirement plans (the TIAA-CREF University contribution plan and the SRA faculty contribution plan) at Rice are competitive with other universities where I could be on the faculty.

Faculty expect to complete their careers at Rice

• Older faculty (age 41 and older) are significantly more likely than younger faculty to expect to complete their careers at Rice.*
• This suggests that faculty who are tenured and settled view Rice as a good place to work and want to stay.
• Male faculty age 41 - 59 are significantly more likely than female faculty age 41 - 59 to expect to complete their careers at Rice.*
• The reasons for these gender differences bear further study.

4. I will most likely complete my career at Rice University.

All Respondents

By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By Gender

Male (Age 41-59)

Female (Age 41-59)

Financial and Retirement Planning. Faculty need assistance in financial and retirement planning.

Formal Planning

• Most faculty have not completed a formal financial and retirement plan, and this does not differ significantly by age or gender.

5. I have completed a formal financial retirement plan.

• Many faculty do not know what their financial needs will be when they retire through there are differences by age and gender.

6. I know what my financial needs (in today's dollars) will be when I retire.

All Respondents


By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By Gender

Male (Age 41-59)

Female (Age 41-59)

• Many faculty are not confident they will have enough income in retirement although there are significant differences by age and gender.

7. I am confident I will have enough income in retirement to meet my needs.

All Respondents

By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By Gender

Male (Age 41-59)

Female (Age 41-59)

• Many faculty are not comfortable with their ability to make investment decisions for retiremet.

11. I am comfortable with my abilty to make investment decisions for my retirement.

• Faculty want the University to offer independent workshops and consultations.

13. I would like to see the University offer independent financial and retirement planning workshops and consultations.

Forecasting Retirement Age and Replacement Income

Faculty like what they do and want to maintain active faculty status somewhat beyond the time at which they expect to be financially able to retire:

Most faculty see 65 as the age when they would expect to be financially able to retire. This may be influenced by 65 being the age at which they would be eligible for Medicare and full Social Security benefits.

 

According to a Towers Perrin analysis, typical income replacement ratios at Rice are on average somewhat higher than the mean/median response to question 10, and rank in, or very close to the top quartile in comparison with major private universities.

 

Survey Question	Range	Mean	Median	Mode*
8. At what age would you ideally like to retire?	55-75	67	67	70
9. At what age do you expect to be (or were you) financially able to retire?	40-75	66	65	65
10. When you retire, what percentage of your fiscal salary do you think will be replaced by the TIAA-CREF University contribution plan and Social Security?	7-120%	73%	75%	80%

* Mode is the number that occurs most frequently in the distribution.

Retirement Benefits Communication

• Faculty who need information about their retirement benefits have some difficulty getting assistance.

12. If I need information about Rice's retirement benefits, I can easily get the assistance I need.

All Respondents

By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By School

Social Sciences

Architecture/Management/Music (Grouped because of their smaller size and number of respondents)

Engineering

Humanities

Natural Sciences

Number of Faculty Retiring

Many faculty feel the University needs to increase the number of faculty retiring

• Those faculty age 60 or older are less likely to agree.*
• The School of Humanities faculty are significantly less positive about the need to increase the number of faculty retiring than are faculties of the Schools of Engineering, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences.*

*Differences are statistically significant.

14. To enhance our stature as a university in the long-term, we need to increase the number of faculty retiring so we can attract new talent to the University.

All Respondents

By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By School

Social Sciences

Engineering

Natural Sciences

Architecture/Management/Music (Grouped because of their smaller size and number of respondents)

Humanities

Retirement Processes and Practices

The University handles the retirement process ineffectively and this perception becomes only slightly more negative with increasing age

• Female faculty age 41 - 59 are more negative about the process than male faculty age 41 - 59.*
• Engineering faculty are the most negative about the process.*

*Differences are statistically significant.

15.Currently, Rice handles the faculty retirement process effectively.

All Respondents

By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By Gender

Male (Age 41-59)

Female (Age 41-59)

• Faculty want the retirement processes, practices and guidelines to be openly communicated.

16.The retirement processes, practices and guidelines should be clearly communicated to all faculty.

• The younger the faculty member the more likely she/he is to be positive about the Dean taking a more active role.*
• Engineering is significantly more positive than the other schools.*

*Differences are statistically significant.

17. I would like to see the Deans take a more active role in retirement discussions and processes.

All Respondents

By Age (Under 31 - Insufficient Data)

Ages 31-40

Ages 41-59

60 or Older

By School

Engineering

Architecture/Management/Music (Grouped because of their smaller size and number of respondents)

Humanities

Natural Sciences

Social Sciences

Factors Important to Faculty in Retirement

18.We want to understand what factors are important to you and what kind of role, if any, you would like to have at Rice following retirement.

m. Medical insurance (4.3)

c. Connection to Rice internet (4.2)

j. Income comparable to current (4.0)

f. Continuing research (3.8)

q. Relationships with faculty colleagues (3.7)

n. Office at University (3.6)

i. Financial/retirement planning assistance (3.5)

g. Emeritus rank (3.5)

l. Lump sum financial incentive (3.3)

o. Phasing in retirement over several years (3.2)

d. Continuing to seek external grant funding as a principal investigator (2.8)

e. Continuing to teach (2.7)

r. Secretarial support (2.7)

s. Scholarship allowance for travel, books and/or equipment (2.6)

p. Postage privileges for professional purposes (2.5)

a. Advising/directing graduate students (2.4)

k. Lab space (2.1)

b. Committee and service work (1.9)

h. Faculty voting privileges (1.7)

t. Scholarship named after you (1.6)

*Factors shown in rank rder by mean using a 5-point scale. The mean is shown in parentheses.

Connection to the University

Many faculty envision doing part-time teaching and part-time research when they retire

19. Which of the following best describes the type of arrangement you would envision for your retirement?

Please circle all that apply

a. Part-time teaching (67%)

b. Part-time research (80%)

c. Part-time University service (31%)

Faculty Comments

Representative Comments

• "It is too early in my career to think about retirement seriously. I receive a lot of information, but I can't judge this information as I don't consider it crucial at this point."
• "The University should attempt to encourage non-producing faculty to retire early. Active, producing faculty working in areas which the administration deems not to be 'thrust' areas should not be pressured into early retirement."
• "I feel I would have benefited from more financial planning assistance."
• "I think contributions to the retirement plan should not depend on age. The money is of more final worth when it goes in earlier and would be important in attracting and keeping younger employees. The current plan actually encourages older faculty not to retire."
• "The current situation of 'bargaining' for retirement benefits is unsatisfactory and somewhat demeaning. After many years of service to the University, that is no way to end a career."
• "Rice needs to offer specific retirement counseling services to faculty using Rice staff, rather than relying on TIAA-CREF."
• "The University's present contribution for faculty under age 50 (7%) is not adequate or competitive. The University is under funding retirement for younger faculty, and then keeping them around too long to catch-up."
• "The current system of secret deals for retirement is highly unsatisfactory. We need an open uniform program based on age and years of service."
• "The most important factor for retirees is medical insurance with substantial University support."
• "The medical insurance after retirement does not seem comparable to what other universities offer. If faculty have to pay large amounts for medical insurance after retirement, that is a strong disincentive to retire."

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