OPM automates retirement process, cutting processing time by half
The Office of Personnel Management has eliminated paper processing for federal retirements, reducing turnaround times by more than 50%. The agency aims to cut annual HR spending from $2 billion to $40 million through system consolidation.
The Office of Personnel Management has fully automated the federal retirement application process, eliminating the use of physical paper. Previously, retirement paperwork was mailed to an underground limestone mine in Boyers, Pennsylvania, where 800 employees manually processed files, resulting in processing times ranging from three to 12 months. The new digital system, developed in partnership with Joe Jebbia, co-founder of Airbnb and head of the Snappler Design Studio, has reduced processing time by more than 50% in its first iteration. OPM declared the "last day of paper" in the mine on June 30, 2026. The agency is currently digitizing 400 million existing physical documents, some dating to the 1950s, using large-scale scanning equipment. This initiative is part of a broader effort to consolidate 120 different HR and IT systems into a single platform. The goal is to reduce annual spending from $2 billion to $40 million, representing a 95% savings. Director Scott Cooper views the automation as a necessary correction to a decades-old inefficiency that persisted due to a government culture that penalizes risk-taking and innovation.