After the Office of Personnel Management’s workforce decreased by one-third last year, an agency watchdog says ripple effects are still being felt across key OPM components and services.
OPM’s Retirement Services division is also facing challenges, the report shows. OPM is still struggling with long-time customer service issues, despite relatively recent improvements to retirement processing times overall.
Federal employees and retirees often face difficulties connecting with representatives, while dealing with long wait times and unanswered calls, the report explains. The challenges have led to a surge in complaints from OPM customers.
“Addressing these customer service limitations is crucial for improving the annuitant and survivor annuitant experience during ongoing agency changes,” the OIG said.
At the same time, OPM has made progress in reducing the application inventory and claim processing times, largely due to the rollout of a digital retirement platform. Over the course of 2026, the retirement claims backlog decreased from more than 65,000 cases in February to roughly 15,000 in August.
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