The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced last week that it will roll out a new “paperless” retirement application for use across the federal government next month. This initiative is part of OPM’s decades-long effort to modernize the retirement process. According to a memo from acting OPM Director Charles Ezell to agency heads, effective June 2, the federal government’s HR agency will require all new retirement applications to be submitted electronically via its new Online Retirement Application form.
OPM is coordinating with various agency payroll providers to prepare for the transition. Over the last several months, the Department of Government Efficiency has been closely working with the Retirement Services team at OPM to create an entirely digital process that dramatically reduces the time to process retirement applications, providing a more efficient and improved experience to federal employees,” Ezell wrote. “The federal workforce deserves a retirement process that matches the demands of the 21st century.”
Although the initiative is billed as stemming from the Department of Government Efficiency’s efforts, OPM has been working on digitizing the federal retirement process for years.
One official familiar with the agency’s recent work described this as the natural next step following a completed pilot program for the online retirement application.
Paperless federal retirement rollout
John Hatton, staff vice president for policy and programs at the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association, expressed cautious optimism about the new system’s potential benefits.
“We need to see how this system works in practice. Will it effectively cut down processing time, and by how much? Will it maintain accuracy in processing applications, so retirees receive their full benefits?” he said.
One major concern is the impact of the online application if most of an employee’s underlying employment and salary records remain on paper. During the pilot program, in cases where an online application came in for a retiree with paper records, employees needed to print out the online application and process it manually. Hatton also questioned how well HR staff are prepared to learn a new retirement application process, especially with an expected wave of retirements due to workforce reductions and early retirement programs.
Providing accurate and timely retirement benefits is the least the administration can do for those whose careers in public service have ended prematurely and unceremoniously,” he said.
