OPM and the Future – Weekly Newsletter
~~NEWSLETTER WEEKLY-OPM AND THE FUTURE
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has a number of projects under way that could bring about changes in the way federal employees view their retirement options. The federal government seems to have double and competing goals – right size the federal workforce and anticipate future drains on institutional knowledge.
In that vein some federal agencies have announced that they have sought and received permission from OPM to offer voluntary early retirement via the Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) to those federal employees who meet eligibility criteria. The period for employees to make a decision as to whether they want to take the early out is generally short. Currently, employees in participating agencies must retire by April 4, 2014.
That time is very close at hand for those employees contemplating retirement. It is also a critical time for those employees to weigh the financial consequences of their decision. Individuals and families must ask how will taking the early retirement impact their annuity payments and how will that possible change, factor into their overall financial as well as emotional plans for retirement.
VERA is a way of helping agencies reorganize, restructure, or right-size staff with the least amount of interruption to the workforce by amending certain retirement eligibility criteria such as lowering age and service requirements. This strategy increases the number of employees eligible to retire and helps the agency accomplish its goal.
OPM is the gatekeeper of personnel administration and operations for the federal service. Agencies must both request and receive permission from OPM to implement VERA and may not intimate that such a program is available until the go-ahead is received from OPM. The period of time by which this opportunity is open varies according to the provisions and directives given by the Office of Personnel Management to the agencies.
Once permission has been granted to implement VERA, agencies may offer as an additional stimulus or reward Voluntary Separation Incentive Payment (VSIP). VSIP is in most cases the lower of an employee’s gross salary or a $25,000 cap. The VSIP is subject to federal and state taxes, another factor that must be carefully examined when contemplating a voluntary early retirement.
The Office of Personnel Management is also very aggressively anticipating the roll-out of a phased retirement program. The regulations are still being written for this program but no date has been set as to when the implementation phase will start. The core concept of phased retirement is the allowance of seasoned employees to work part-time and receive in essence if you will part of their annuity in order to act as a resource for less seasoned employees stepping into their jobs. It is an excellent way to protect and preserve institutional knowledge and to pass it on.
It is a concept way past its time. However, the strategy that would really help the federal service and keep the service from having to create yet another program would be to employ a tag-along program throughout the entire federal service as a standing strategy for federal operations. Every person in a leadership position with invaluable institutional knowledge must pass that information on through role-modeling, mentoring, teaching, instructing and assessing. After all, is that not the role of a leader? The greatest joy any leader should feel is that when he or she takes a vacation, be it for a few weeks or retirement, is the assurance that the fires are still burning even brighter than they left them.
P. S. Always Remember to Share What You Know
Dianna Tafazoli
