The Office of Personnel Management announced plans to reorganize itself into five branches:

• Employee Services, led by Nancy Kichak.

• Retirement and Benefits, led by Kathy McGettigan.

• Merit System Audit and Compliance, led by Jeff Sumberg.

• Federal Investigative Services, led by Kathy Dillaman.

• Human Resources Solutions, led by Kay Ely.

"OPM is more streamlined and better able to give a clear understanding of its services and products," OPM Director John Berry and Michelle Tolson, president of American Federation of Government Employees Local 32, said in a joint e-mail to all agency employees. "Now, all of OPM's customers — both internal and external — will know exactly where to go for answers."

Berry said in November that the planned Retirement and Benefits division will be charged with setting a new strategy for modernizing the government's outdated retirement systems, which now take several months to accurately calculate a retiree's pension.

The Employee Services division will be in charge of recruitment and diversity, pay and leave, employee development, labor relations and veterans support. The HR Solutions division will oversee leadership and talent management systems and help develop and spread HR innovations. Federal Investigative Services will oversee the background check and security clearance process, and the Merit System division will help provide oversight to ensure federal employees are hired and promoted based on their qualifications. The Merit System division will also oversee the Combined Federal Campaign.

The reorganization means retiree issues will no longer be buried in the current Office of Modernization and Human Resources Line of Business or the Human Resources Products and Services Division. The current Office of Modernization will be dissolved and its duties — such as retirement systems modernization, development of HR systems, and shared HR services — will be parceled out among the new offices.

The current Management Services Division, which contains OPM's chief human capital officer, chief information officer, equal employment opportunity specialists, and facilities, security and contracting management specialists will be dissolved. OPM's own HR services will fall under the new Employee Services division, and the rest of the former Management Services personnel will report directly to Berry's office.

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