Complaints include an inability to reach a representative through Retirement Services’ customer service line to delays or mistakes in processing retirements. Image: Tyler Olson/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffProcessing of retirement applications, customer service to retirees and preventing improper payments remain among the major management challenges to the OPM.
An inspector general report notes that OPM has set a goal of “creating a human-centered customer experience to enhance the Retirement Services customer experience” and improve customer satisfaction ratings. However, satisfaction scores dropped by 0.3 points to 3.5 out of 5 in 2023 and “OPM continues to be at risk of not meeting its performance objectives.”
“GAO, Congress, and other independent third-party organizations, such as our office, have identified challenges for Retirement Services, including the need to fund and modernize legacy systems to move from paper-based applications and manual case processing to electronic systems, insufficient staff capacity, and incomplete retirement applications from federal agencies,” it says, noting that in hearings and letters to OPM, members of Congress have expressed concerns with “delays with processing and delivering federal retirement benefits to federal employees.”
The IG said that its own hotline “continues to receive a large number of contacts that are related to Retirement Services’ customer service. These include complaints about an inability to reach a representative through Retirement Services’ customer service line to delays or mistakes in processing retirements.”
While the number in 2024 was smaller compared with 2023, those complaints still account for four-tenths of all contacts to that hotline, it said.
“OPM, at times, receives too many customer service callers and email queries for its customer service representative staffing levels. Future efforts to improve customer service and bolster Retirement Services’ customer service experts may require more funding, as well as overall stakeholder support to improve their results,” it says.
Modernizing the systems underlying the retirement program “has been a longstanding challenge for the agency,” it added, with consequences including continued difficulty in preventing and detecting improper payments. However, “OPM has not been able to secure the funding needed to achieve its IT modernization goals through the traditional appropriations process.”
OPM has obtained some funding through other sources such as the government-wide Technology Modernization Fund, but “While these are positive steps, dedicated funding for IT modernization is needed to ensure that OPM reaches its IT modernization goals,” it said.
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