The Federal Drive with Terry Gerton 'Deferred Resignation Program' leads to massive and unexpected surge in federal retirements
Dec 15, 2025
Drew Friedman, an investigative reporter for Federal News Network, dives into the Deferred Resignation Program that led to a staggering 150,000 federal employees leaving for paid leave. The surge in retirement applications overwhelmed government processing systems, revealing effects of HR understaffing and backlogs. Friedman also discusses challenges retirees faced, like application errors and delays causing financial hardship. Experts provide insights on how retirees can prepare for extended processing times amidst this unprecedented wave of retirements.
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DRP Caused Unprecedented Retirement Surge
- The Deferred Resignation Program (DRP) triggered thousands of unexpected early retirement applications this year.
- That surge has overwhelmed retirement processing and created record-high workload across OPM and agencies.
HR Staffing Shortfalls Worsen Backlogs
- Agency HR offices became understaffed while handling unusually high volumes of retirement paperwork.
- The staffing shortfall and high demand together are producing systemic backlogs and processing delays.
ORA Replaces Fragile Legacy Processes
- OPM launched the Online Retirement Application (ORA) to modernize a paper-based system.
- ORA is crucial to handle volumes that legacy systems weren't designed to process.