When an employee leaves your organization, it’s essential to update their status in the Common Wealth Employer Dashboard. This ensures accurate reporting and allows us to promptly reach out via email to former employees, guiding them through their next steps.
One of the unique features of the Common Wealth Plan is its portability, which allows members to retain control of their retirement savings even after leaving their employer.
How to report an employee termination
You can notify us of an employee’s departure by uploading an updated employee file to the Employer Dashboard to change their status. For detailed instructions on how to submit terminations, please refer to our step-by-step guide linked below.
Timely and accurate reporting helps ensure a smooth transition for your employees, empowering them to make informed decisions about their retirement savings. Prompt reporting allows our Customer Success team to contact former employees within five business days (if we have a personal email on file). If an employee's plan is linked only to their work email, please help us streamline our outreach by providing their personal email address. You can do this by contacting support@commonwealthretirement.com.
Feel free to provide the PDF brochure attached to this article as a part of your off-boarding package.
How to remove terminated employees from your plan
Continuing employee benefits beyond employment
One of the key benefits of the Common Wealth Plan is that employees can keep their plan even after they leave your organization. This provides a lifelong advantage that extends beyond employment:
- Lower fees: Employees enjoy low fees, which help them retain more of their investment earnings.
- Personalized planning tools: Our tools enable employees to track their retirement readiness and receive personalized advice on maximizing their savings.
- Automatic investing: Contributions are automatically invested according to the employee’s selected strategy, keeping them aligned with their financial goals.
Employee options after leaving your organization
When an employee leaves, they have several options regarding their Common Wealth Plan:
- Continue contributing: Members can keep their accounts and set up direct contributions from their bank accounts, allowing them to continue growing their retirement savings independently.
- Transfer or withdraw funds: Members can choose to withdraw from their RRSP/TFSA or transfer their funds to another institution. Withdrawals can be initiated through the desktop version of the plan, and transfers out must be arranged through the receiving institution.
If I leave my employer, can I continue to contribute to the plan in the future?
Encourage employees to update their login email
Encourage current, active employees to update their login email to a personal address to ensure they continue receiving important updates after leaving. This change does not affect the email used for payroll uploads, as the original email remains the unique identifier for connecting payroll contributions. For instructions on updating their email, refer to the link below.
How do I change the email address for my account?
Supporting your employees’ financial future
Managing terminations accurately and providing guidance to employees on their next steps offers long-term value. By supporting their financial future, you help them maintain and grow their retirement savings even after they’ve moved on from your company.