Retirement ServicesOutreach

2013

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Outreach Overview

• Agenda• Retirement Services Strategy

• Review of Customer Services

• Overview of Retirement Services Online

• Explanation of Outreach Efforts

• Review of five important things to remember

Retirement Services Strategy

• Strategic Plan can be found at:

http://www.opm.gov/about-us/budget-performance/strategic-plans/retirement-strategic-plan.pdf

Strategy to eliminate the backlogs consists of 4 Pillars

• People• Productivity and Process Improvement• Partnering with Agencies• Partial, Progressive Information

Technology (IT) Improvements

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People

• Hired Additional LAS to adjudicate cases

• Brought Back Experienced, Retired LAS to help with the backlog

• Added additional staff to “complete” cases before they go to a LAS

• Pooled Additional Resources from other areas of OPM

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Productivity and Process Improvement

• Successfully completed the Lean / Six-Sigma White Belt Training

• Completed Adjudication Process Time Observation Simulation

• FERS Processing – 9.0 cases per day processed per LAS

• CSRS Processing – 8.3 cases per day processed per LAS

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Productivity and Process Improvement

• Support Operations

• Pre-Assembly Cell # 1

• Sub-Assembly Cell # 2

• Final Assembly Cell # 3

• Interim Pay Cell # 4

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Productivity and Process Improvement

• Case Development Cell # 5

• The single most important Cell to Future State operations

• Case Development process improvements define steady state process flow for improved customer service and business excellence

• Case Adjudication Cell # 6

• Case Review Cell # 7

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Partnering with Agencies

• Case Development Team: If the development team keeps a steady flow of fully developed cases needing no additional upfront information, the adjudicator could devote more of their day to coding the calculation and processing post development actions, which will greatly improve timeliness and reduce backlogs

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Partnering with Agencies

• Agency Audits/Outreach: Although RS is currently focused on reducing claims and the backlog we have also worked to increase the frequency of agency audits.

• Agency Access to Electronic Images / Records-This will allow agencies to have access to imaged records within RS, enabling them to provide a more complete estimate and timelier service to the perspective annuitant.

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Partnering with Agencies

• CHCO Council RS Working Group-This allows represented agencies and RS to work together to improve the speed and accuracy of Retirement Processing by:

1.Identify ways to decrease the time & cost to review & process retirement claims & to streamline other retirement procedures resulting in the elimination of the current retirement backlog;

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Partnering with Agencies

2.Discuss ways to leverage resources; identify & share/replicate best practices;

3.Increase the accuracy rate of audit results from application received by agencies & educating the workforce on ways to reduce documentation errors that negatively impact the retirement process.

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Partial, Progressive Information Technology (IT) Improvements

• Additional automation is vital to our success. Since previous efforts to automate the entire RS process have failed, automation of our process piece-by-piece will be the path to success of the initiative.

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Retirement Services Goal

• Increase monthly claims adjudication capacity by 2000 claims per month

• Eliminate Claims Backlog within 18 Months

• Adjudicate 90 percent of all new claims within 60 days of receipt from the agencies

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Retirement Services Statistics

• Current Stats can be found at

http://www.opm.gov/StrategicPlan/pdf/RetirementProcessingStatus.pdf

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Key Improvements

• Improve automated data feeds to reduce the percentage of cases requiring manual interim pay and to include data related to the annuity supplement benefit on FERS retirements

• Promote standardization among all HR and payroll providers

• Create task teams within HR and Payroll offices to expedite development issues relating to pending retirement claims

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Key Improvements

• Improve customer service by creating a first call resolution area and reduce the number of calls being misdirected to Operations (Tier 2 RIO)

• Process all clerical and development work on pending claims prior to being assigned to an adjudicator, keeping a steady supply of “complete cases” going to the adjudicators

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Key Improvements

• Reduce the percentage of cases needing a Full or Cursory review to increase output and reallocate those resources to process pending retirement claims

• Identify staffing outside Claims 1 & 2 that can adjudicate on regular time and overtime.

• Contact retirees that have retired in the last year to be re-employed and have an immediate impact without training ramp up time

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Key Improvements

• Implement Rapid Improvement Events (REI’s) from lean 6 sigma continuous improvement initiative

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Retirement Services Workloads

Workloads

Retirement Claims 95,000

Survivor Claims 80,000

Refund and Deposit Claims 24,000

Phone Calls (RIOs) 1,800,000

Email 287,000

Written Correspondence 281,000

Address Change Requests 276,000

Post Retirement Change Requests 135,000

Retirement File Services 900,000

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$6 Billion paid out a month in retirements and survivor annuities

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Customer Services

• Customer services• Phone calls (RIOs) 1,800,000• Email

287,000• Written correspondence 281,000• Address Changes 276,000• Walk-in service 3,000

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Customer Services

• Retirement Information Office (Call Center)

• Customer Walk-in Area located in the Theodore Roosevelt Building in Washington, DC

• Correspondence Office• Written letters• Emails• Faxes

• Refund/Deposit Office

Customer Services

• Staff- 155 (Hiring an additional 27)• Retirement Information Office - 83• Correspondence - 45 • Refund/Deposit – 17• Management - 10

• Contractor Staff (overflow)• 36 employees

• Hours of Operation are 7:30am until 8:00pm Eastern Time

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Customer Services

• Our strategy• Provide multiple channels

• Telephone

• Email

• Fax

• Website

• One contact resolution

• Proactive informative service

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Customer Services

• Improvement actions• Hired and trained additional staff• Purchased and implemented new

quality assurance technology• Updated the call messaging

system to provide a longest waiting call message

• Provided informational messages through the phone system

• Evaluated performance goals

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Retirement Services Online Visit https://www.servicesonline.opm.gov

• Get your personalized retirement information and make changes online

• All you need is a computer, your Claim number, and Password

• To request a Password, please call us at 1-888-767-6738, email us at retire@opm.gov or use Retirement Services Online to make your request

Retirement Services Online Visit https://www.servicesonline.opm.gov

• What can you do?• View annuity statement • Change mailing address • Sign up for direct deposit of your payment • Update email address • Change Federal and State Income Tax

withholding • View/Print/Request a duplicate Form 1099-R

for the current tax year and two previous years • Change Password • Request a new password • Establish an allotment to an organization • Set up a checking or savings allotment

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Services Online Home Pagewww.servicesonline.opm.gov

Services Online Customer Log In

Claim Number

A12345670

13208995

PIN/Password

Payment Schedule02/01/2011

Forgot Claim Number or Password

Services Online Main Menu

Annuity Statement

Services Online

Three ways to Access Services Online

• Main OPM web site: www.opm.gov

• Main Retirement Information and Services web site --- Quick Links section: www.opm.gov/retire

• Direct web address: www.servicesonline.opm.gov

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• Attend NARFE Conferences/Chapter Meetings

• Focus groups with retirees

• Pamphlets available• RI 83-21 - Take control of your retirement

• RI 38-126 – Life Events and Your Retirement and Insurance Benefits (For Annuitants)

Retirement Services Outreach

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Going Green

• In an effort to “go-green” and reduce paper consumption, OPM started two initiatives• In 2009, we began collecting annuitants’ email

addresses. • In 2010, you received an open season

notification which included a web site and telephone number to request health plan brochures, make enrollment changes, perform other open season transactions and obtain other health benefits information.

Going Green

• United States Department of the Treasury implemented “Go Direct” effective March 1, 2013

• You can find more information about this initiative at:

• http://www.godirect.org/

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Going Green

• Everyone getting the following federal benefits by paper check were switched to electronic payments – direct deposit to a bank or credit union account or to the Direct Express® Debit MasterCard® card:• Social Security • Supplemental Security Income • Veterans Affairs • Railroad Retirement Board • Office of Personnel Management • Department of Labor (Black Lung)

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Five Important Things to Remember

• Keep your mailing address and e-mail address updated with OPM

• Keep your designations of beneficiary updated

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Retirement Operations Center Boyers, PA

• Houses the files of our retirees and survivors

• Piled one on top the other, our 21,000+ filing cabinets, would be more than four times the height of Mount Everest

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• Report the death of your spouse to OPM

• Report a marriage after retirement to OPM

• Make sure your family knows who to contact in the event of your death

Five Important Things to Remember

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Contact Us

• Web:

• www.opm.gov/retire

• www.servicesonline.gov

• Email: retire@opm.gov

• Telephone 1-888-767-6738

• TTY 1-800-878-5707

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Contact Information

Sharon K. AppelManager, Benefits Officers Liaison and Development

Retirement Services

724-794-2005 ext 3127

Sharon.Appel@opm.gov