GovernmentExecutive.com

I'm back at Excellence in Government. I listened to a group of managers this morning talk about retirement and career planning issues, and it became clearer than ever that government is heading for, as one participant put it, "chaos." A whole crop of Civil Service Retirement System employees are reaching retirement age, and debating when to break out of the golden handcuffs that system provides. (In many cases, managers and executives are desperately trying to hold on to these experienced workers even as they reach retirement eligibility, out of concern for brain drain issues.) Meanwhile, Federal Employees Retirement System employees are beginning to contemplate retirement, too, and they have a whole different set of financial planning issues to weigh. While all this is going on, agencies are cutting the ranks of HR staffers who have traditionally provided, or at least arranged for, retirement planning guidance. And on top of this, most, if not all, of the government, is on a path toward implementing entirely new personnel systems. It sure looks like a prescription for confusion and turmoil on a massive scale.