A New Guide to the Retirement Process Could Help Feds Avoid Pitfalls, Manage Expectations

Office of Personnel Management officials hope a new document for federal employees planning their retirement will reduce frustration with the complicated and often lengthy process—and maybe help reduce the agency’s backlog as well.

OPM on Monday published a new three-page guide to navigating the three- to five-month period between when a federal employee retires and when they begin receiving their full defined benefit annuity through the Federal Employee Retirement System or the Civil Service Retirement System. The document includes a breakdown of what agencies are responsible for which phase of the process, as well as a checklist of items feds can take to ensure their retirement claim is processed as quickly and painlessly as possible.