Retirees rate OPM highly

The Office of Personnel Management received an overall 70 percent approval rating from federal retirees for the quality of its retirement and insurance programs, according to a new survey released Monday. Nearly half of the respondents in OPM's annual customer survey on the federal retirement program were "very satisfied" with the way the agency handled their retirement accounts. Among other things, OPM is responsible for changing federal tax withholding and making sure retirement payments are directly deposited into bank accounts at retirees' request. In February and March 2000, OPM sponsored its second series of discussions between federal employees and agency human resources personnel on the federal retirement system. According to the report, participants were most interested in improving access to information and customer service through pre-retirement seminars and securing personal information on the Internet. Although more than half of the survey's respondents have Internet access, most have not visited OPM's Web site. Most respondents preferred to contact OPM via phone for retirement and insurance questions. Respondents' recommendations for better service from OPM included:

• Simplify the process for changing state tax withholding.
• Provide specialized assistance over the phone.
• Provide more information on retirement benefits, Social Security and the Thrift Savings Plan.
• Reduce the waiting time to speak to customer service representatives.
• Improve the response time on OPM's local and toll-free phone lines.