IMRF investment returns are the largest driver of changes in employer contribution rates from year to year. IMRF assumes its investment portfolio will earn 7.25% over the long-term. When IMRF exceeds that return assumption, employer contribution rates go down in future years. When IMRF falls below that return assumption, employer contribution rates go up in future years. 

Because investment returns vary widely each year, IMRF uses an industry-standard best practice called “smoothing” to limit employer rate volatility. As is common in the pension industry, each year IMRF only recognizes 20%—or 1/5th—of its investment gain or loss for employer rate-setting purposes. So, it takes five years for IMRF to fully recognize the investment gains or losses from any one year on employer rates. 

For more information

Read more about how smoothing will keep employer rates fairly steady despite the market’s volatility on imrf.org.

The IMRF 2023-2025 Strategic Plan provides a road map for meeting the challenges and opportunities in providing the highest quality retirement services to our members, their beneficiaries, and employers. 

IMRF received the 2019 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, which not only recognized our organizational excellence, but also provided a comprehensive feedback report to continue our efforts toward fulfilling our Vision. The Baldrige Framework helps shape the development of our Strategic Plan, which aligns our objectives with IMRF’s Key Result Areas:

• Financial Health
• Customer Engagement
• Workforce Engagement
• Operational Excellence

The Board of Trustees and staff completed a validation of our Mission, Vision, and Values in early 2022. We completed an overview of our external environment, as well as an analysis of our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. These analyses resulted in a list of strategic advantages, challenges, and opportunities that guided the development of key strategies to meet the Strategic Objectives established across IMRF’s four Key Result Areas.

Learn more

Our four Strategic Objectives provide the basis for our 2023-2025 Strategic Plan. Staff developed action plans, including milestones and timelines, for the Key Strategies associated with each of these objectives.

On Friday, December 16, 2022, the IMRF Board of Trustees:

• Appointed new Board officers for 2023:

• President - Tom Kuehne
• Vice President - Peter Stefan
• Secretary - Louis Kosiba



• Certified the results of the Executive Trustee election. Tom Kuehne has been re-elected, running unopposed. He has served on the IMRF Board since 2013 and is the Finance Director/Treasurer for the Village of Arlington Heights.
• Approved a report documenting IMRF’s use of investment-management firms and brokers owned by minorities, women, or persons with disabilities.

For more information

You can read the full report in the December 2022 Board Meeting Highlights. See the full 2023 Board schedule here.

The next Board meeting will be held Friday, February 3, at 9 AM.

To ensure that IMRF practices its mission to provide the highest quality retirement services to you and your members, we conduct periodic surveys to gather your feedback. Your input is important to us, as it helps us learn what we are doing well and identify opportunities for improvement.

Topic of survey

Earlier this week, Authorized Agents and Web Assistants received IMRF's 2023 Employer Survey. The survey centers on overall engagement and should take less than five minutes to complete.

Survey due

Please take a few minutes to complete the survey by Friday, January 20.

Thank you for helping us improve the services we provide you through your ongoing participation in our employer surveys.

We offer these online webinars for Authorized Agents to learn more about IMRF procedures and how to administer IMRF. Register today!

January 2023

• Module 2: IMRF Benefits, Employer Rates, and Legislation – January 24

February 2023

• Module 1: Introduction, Enrollment, Wage Reporting, and Termination – February 7
• Module 2: IMRF Benefits, Employer Rates, and Legislation – February 28

All sessions run 9:00 AM to 10:30 AM.

Webinar structure

This 2-part webinar series prepares IMRF Authorized Agents to perform common IMRF tasks. Note: to receive a completion certificate, you must attend the session live, not watch a recording.

Together, these two 90-minute webinars cover the topics included in the former one-day workshop. Each webinar stands alone, and you can attend them in either order. You are unable to cancel registration from a single module.