OPM Turns to Chatbot to Boost Retirement Services

As agencies and HR teams wrestle with how to harness the potential of artificial intelligence in the workplace (AI), one government agency is starting small, with bigger plans in store.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is piloting a chatbot that answers retirement-related questions from federal employees and retirees at www.opm.gov, according to the agency’s chief information officer, who shared an overview of the chatbot’s role at a recent event.

Speaking at the Government Information Technology Executive Council Conference in Annapolis, Md., OPM CIO Guy Cavallo told attendees the chatbot “focuses on answering basic retirement questions,” Federal Computer Week recently reported. “The initial goal isn’t to deliver precise answers, but rather to work in conjunction with existing customer service channels to help point information seekers in the right direction.”

The agency launched the pilot in March, with the short-term goal of having the chatbot answer straightforward questions for federal employees and retirees, while freeing up OPM call center employees to deal with more complex queries.

As Federal Computer Week reported, OPM does intend to expand on its use of chatbots to eventually include four areas: answering retirement questions, steering would-be job applicants toward employment opportunities, helping federal HR officials navigate the OPM policy document library and helping federal employees manage their benefits.

Improving the Federal Retiree Experience

At the Government Information Technology Executive Council event in Annapolis, Cavallo noted Capitol Hill lawmakers’ keen interest in “knowing what OPM is doing to improve a retiree or a soon-to-be retired federal employee’s experience,” Federal Times reported.

At a House Committee on Oversight and Accountability hearing in March, for instance, Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Az.) addressed concerns among his constituents, particularly retirees, that their inquiries to OPM were going unresolved.

“When retirees contact their members of Congress, our staff is directed to submit casework to a congressional portal, which might as well be a blackbox,” said Biggs. “Requests for updates on actual cases by email and phone go unreturned and out constituents feel like no one can help them.”

At that same hearing, OPM Director Kiran Ahuja acknowledged the agency’s challenges in this area, saying that “we absolutely can do better. We are working through those processes. … I made a commitment to focus on retirement services.”

The agency is hopeful that its chatbot pilot program is one step toward improving customer service.

“Supporting federal employees, retirees and their families is the most important mission we have,” OPM Spokesperson Erikka Knutti said in a statement to Federal Computer Week. “Piloting this early version of a retirement services chatbot is an opportunity to test and learn new service technology to improve our customer experience.”

While the agency does plan to ultimately employ chatbots for other purposes, the immediate goal is to effectively manage OPM call center resources, Knutti said.

“As customers are able to find more answers to common questions on our website, it will give our call center and other [retirement services] employees more time to focus on complex questions that require their expertise.”