FY 1999 Performance Report
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Our customers said they were well-served in timeliness and fairness of payments and in the clarity and accuracy of information we provided them.
Maintained and Sustained
In addition to the priorities we established at the beginning of the year, we of course continued to work on ongoing responsibilities, and responded to new priorities established by the Administration. This section describes some of the highlights in these areas, as well as key accomplishments in our internal operations.
Serving Federal Retirees.
Customer satisfaction with the processing of retirement and survivor benefit claims, as measured by our annual satisfaction surveys, remained high during 1999. These results were confirmed independently by the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), an econometric index created by the University of Michigan that has been used by the private sector to measure customer satisfaction since 1994. Retirement Program annuitants, who had a transaction within the past year, were asked questions about:
- overall satisfaction with service
- timeliness of payments
- fairness of benefits
- accessibility, clarity, accuracy of information
- ease of use and convenience of the telecommunication system
- timeliness of responses to inquiries.
Our customers gave us an overall score of 75, on a scale of 0-100 points, a score that is 3 points above the overall ACSI — which is primarily made up of private sector companies — of 72. It is also 6 points above the national average for public sector organizations. Further, 64 percent of the survey respondents said that they were more satisfied with our services than they were two years ago.
Our customers said they were well-served in timeliness and fairness of payments and in the clarity and accuracy of information we provided them. In addition, we received high marks from customers on the timeliness of responses to inquiries. Customers did, however, say we could improve access to information, make our toll-free telephone system easier to use and more convenient, and improve how we handle complaints.
OPM held its first Strategic Leadership Summit March 9 and 10, 1999. This meeting of all OPM supervisors, managers, and executives was designed to improve communications across OPM and our ability to implement our Strategic and annual plans.
OPM Strategic Leadership Summit.
OPM held its first Strategic Leadership Summit March 9 and 10, 1999. This meeting of all OPM supervisors, managers, and executives was designed to improve communications across OPM and our ability to implement our Strategic and annual plans. The 1999 Summit featured workshops on each of OPM’s four external strategic goals and on its internally focused fifth strategic goal. Four internal areas were targeted for follow-up action – supervisory training and guidance, information sharing, streamlined staffing, and partnership. A series of internal improvement action plans were developed and shared throughout the year Feedback from the 1999 Summit attendees about the value of this meeting made it clear that it should become a regular event, and the second Summit was planned for March of 2000.
Y2K Readiness.
The Office of Personnel Management was fully prepared for Y2K. We achieved 100 percent Y2K compliance for our mission-critical systems before the Governmentwide target date of March 31, 1999. We also tested and verified our systems and demonstrated the readiness of our three High Impact Programs; Federal Retirement, Federal Employees Health Benefits, and Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance, well prior to the end of 1999, by conducting end-to-end testing with our partners. One hundred percent of our 107 mission critical systems were compliant, as were 100 percent of our 226 non-mission critical systems. During the Rollover Weekend, more than 300 OPM employees reported to work at our headquarters and outlying facilities to oversee the powering down and reactivation, evaluation and monitoring of IT systems. The very few problems that were found were quickly fixed prior to the return of the full workforce on January 3rd.
OPM’s 10-Point Hispanic Hiring Plan.
Based on the Governmentwide 9-Point plan, OPM developed its own internal Hispanic Employment plan — called the 10-Point plan — to improve the recruitment and development of Hispanics in the OPM workforce. Our plan encouraged OPM managers to recruit widely at all grade levels; nurtured our academic relationships with institutions who are part of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU); established an agency internship program; designated Hispanic Employment Program Managers to oversee and implement our efforts; and raised awareness among OPM supervisors of their responsibilities in ensuring a diverse workforce. We have increased our Hispanic representation in our career SES staff from 2.6 percent in 1998 to 10.5 percent in July 1999.
Welfare-to-Work.
As a participant in the Welfare-to-Work Hiring Initiative, we have hired 57 former welfare recipients–more than double our hiring commitment of 25.
Combined Federal Campaign (CFC).
OPM oversees the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) annual fund-raising drive–the largest workplace charity drive conducted in the world. Although 1999 figures are not yet available, in 1998 the CFC raised over $206 million from nearly 4 million Federal civilian and military employees. The campaign has experienced steady increases over the past four years, and early indications are that 1999 results will exceed 1998.
Federal Executive Boards (FEB).
We continued our oversight of the twenty-eight FEBs around the country. The Federal Executive Boards are interagency organizations that provide communication and coordination among local member agencies. FEBs develop partnerships with other public agencies at the Federal, State and local levels. In FY 1999, FEB contributions included:
- working with local agencies to update emergency preparedness and response procedures, some specific to natural disasters and terrorism;
- facilitating the donation of thousands of excess Government computers and printers to local schools and non-profit groups;
- developing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) consortiums to avert possible litigation matters saving taxpayer dollars;
- sponsoring interagency training opportunities to reduce single agency efforts and saving additional taxpayer dollars; and
- filling a critical role in the implementation of the Combined Federal Campaign nationwide.