Retirement Services Outreach 2013

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

Hired Additional LAS to adjudicate cases 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 People  Bring “all hands on deck” to add claims production capacity immediately  Hire 56 new Legal Administrative Specialists (LAS)  Hire 20 new Customer Service Specialists (CSS) Hiring Additional LAS to adjudicate cases Bringing Back Experienced, Retired LAS to help with the backlog Less than 10 retirees coming back Boyers has 20+ current employees returning to LAS duties (temp) DC has 20+ current employees that return to LAS duties needs bargaining Adding additional staff to “complete” cases before they go to a LAS Case development team-hiring an additional 20 people to do the front-end administrative work needed to complete cases so the cases can go straight to adjudication Pooling Additional Resources from other areas of OPM

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 II. Productivity and Process Improvement  Establish higher production standards and consider production bonuses  Expand work hours and effective use of overtime  Complete Lean/Six-Sigma review of the claims process  Ensure LAS have complete cases and more time to process claims This simulation provided baseline data for “complete case” adjudication Future State operations and surge capacity design Numbers are not reflective of steady state conditions

Productivity and Process Improvement Support Operations Pre-Assembly Cell # 1 Sub-Assembly Cell # 2 Final Assembly Cell # 3 Interim Pay Cell # 4

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

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 III. Partnering with Agencies  Improve accuracy and completeness of incoming claims  Involve Chief Human Capital Officers  Provide more frequent feedback to agencies on claims deficiencies

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.

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;

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.

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. IV. Partial, Progressive Information Technology (IT) Improvements  Pursue long-term data flow strategy  Explore short-term strategy to leverage work agencies do now  Review and upgrade systems used by LAS In the interim, OPM’s RS and CIO are working with agencies and data providers on implementing an iterative solution that harnesses the agencies work that positions OPM to get out of the paper-pushing business to focus on quality, timeliness, and customer service.

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 We believe that this four pillar strategy will increase monthly claims adjudication capacity by as much as 2,000 claims per month and by as much as 5,000 claims when new staff members are fully trained. This will eliminate the claims backlog within 18 months and allow RS to adjudicate 90 percent of all new claims within 60 days of receipt from the agencies.

Retirement Services Statistics Current Stats can be found at http://www.opm.gov/StrategicPlan/pdf/Reti rementProcessingStatus.pdf Currently we, along with most of the government, are in a hiring freeze. We have completed the first year (calendar year 2012) of our strategic plan, highlights include 55% reduction in pending claims workload 50% reduction in lump sum workload 49% reduction in service credit/redeposit workload 17% reduction in COB workload We have experienced an unusually large beginning of year surge this year due to the USPS early out offerings. January –March 2013 we received 52,000 retirements as opposed to 35,000 during the same time frame in 2012. Our staff is doing an amazing job working through the surge putting in any overtime hours to get cases completed timely. RS has completed 15,000 cases in each of the last 2 months, as well as 12,500 in January. We have also been working with agencies to improve the quality of retirement application submissions through our monthly Agency Audit. Audit information and processing updates are posted on the 5th of each month to the OPM website Average Processing Timeframes Retirement Claims: CSRS – 16-18 weeks FERS – 24-26 weeks Interim Pay – 10-15 days Survivor Claims: CSRS – 4-6 weeks FERS – 8-10 Weeks Survivor Express/Interim Pay – 10-15 days E-mail: 6-7 weeks Correspondence/Mail 4-5 weeks

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

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

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

Key Improvements Implement Rapid Improvement Events (REI’s) from lean 6 sigma continuous improvement initiative Successful completion of Lean / Six-Sigma White Belt Training OPM Team has adapted to this learning very well and has shown open willingness to apply CPI concepts on a daily basis 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 This simulation provided baseline data for “complete case” adjudication Future State operations and surge capacity design Numbers are not reflective of steady state conditions Support Operations Future State Design Pilot Pre-Assembly Cell # 1 Sub-Assembly Cell # 2 Final Assembly Cell # 3 Interim Pay Cell # 4 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

Retirement Services 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 These numbers represent Retirement Services workloads $6 Billion paid out a month in retirements and survivor annuities

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

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

Customer Services Our strategy Provide multiple channels Telephone Email Fax Website One contact resolution Proactive informative service

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

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 Will be adding this year the option to receive your password by email and status viewer so that those retiring can see the status of their retirement package. Will also be adding Life Insurance information in the future.

Services Online Home Page www.servicesonline.opm.gov Draw Users attention to system message.

Services Online Customer Log In Claim Number A12345670 PIN/Password 13208995 Make sure you emphasize the 4 things about this page. Payment Schedule 02/01/2011 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

Retirement Services Outreach 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)

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. Although OPM is not prepared to send all information to annuitants via email at this time, we want to begin the process of capturing the email addresses to ensure we have as many on record as possible when the time comes to make the change to using email as an alternative form of transmitting information to the annuitant.

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/ U.S. Treasury Requires Electronic Federal Benefit Payments If you still receive a paper check for your Social Security or other federal benefit payments, you are out of compliance with the law. The Treasury Department requires federal benefit payments to be made electronically. Switch to Electronic Payments Today! You can choose to get your payments by direct deposit to a bank or credit union account or to a Direct Express® Debit MasterCard® card account. Sign up by contacting the U.S. Treasury Electronic Payment Solution Center at (800) 333-1795. You may also sign up for direct deposit online or at your local bank or credit union. If you do not comply, the Treasury Department will contact you directly and may send you a Direct Express® card. Exceptions will be granted in rare circumstances. Find out if you qualify. If you already receive your federal benefit payments electronically, you do not need to take any action. Direct Express Card   Contact Information Have not enrolled for a Direct Express® Card yet? To sign up for the Direct Express® card, please contact the enrollment center between the hours of 7:00 AM CST to 7:00 PM CST Monday thru Friday. Card Enrollment Center: 1-800-333-1795 Already have a Direct Express® card? For all questions related to the Direct Express® card, cardholders should call: Customer Service: 1-888-741-1115 Hearing impaired: 1-866-569-0447 International: 1-765-778-6290 (Collect) Enroll Now - Visit www.USDirectExpress.com  An overview, common questions, and more information about the Direct Express Card is available at the Financial Management Service (FMS) website. FMS is a bureau of the U.S. Treasury.

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)

Five Important Things to Remember Keep your mailing address and e-mail address updated with OPM Keep your designations of beneficiary updated

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

Five Important Things to Remember 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

Contact Us Web: www.opm.gov/retire www.servicesonline.gov Email: retire@opm.gov Telephone 1-888-767-6738 TTY 1-800-878-5707

Manager, Benefits Officers Liaison and Development Contact Information Sharon K. Appel Manager, Benefits Officers Liaison and Development Retirement Services 724-794-2005 ext 3127 Sharon.Appel@opm.gov