Attachment to CPM 2009-01

Instructions for Completing the 2008 Report on Recruitment, Relocation, and Retention Incentives

Section 101(c) of the Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of 2004 (Public Law 108-411, October 30, 2004), requires the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to submit an annual report to Congress on agencies' use of the recruitment, relocation, and retention incentive authorities in 5 U.S.C. 5753 and 5754 during calendar years 2005-2009. Agency reports on the use of recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives in calendar year 2008 must be submitted to OPM by March 31, 2009. Each report must cover an entire department or independent agency. Therefore, departments must consolidate information from components or bureaus before forwarding a report to OPM. We encourage you to forward these instructions to any office that is providing data for your agency's report.

New Reporting Requirements for CY 2008

On November 16, 2007, OPM issued final regulations (72 FR 64523) that permit an agency to pay a retention incentive to an employee who would be likely to leave for a different position in the Federal service before the closure or relocation of the employee's office, facility, activity, or organization. (See 5 CFR 575.315.) Retention incentives paid under 5 CFR 575.315 must be reported separately from retention incentives paid to employees likely to leave the Federal service. The special reporting requirements for this new retention incentive flexibility are provided below.

What should be included?

Positive Reports

If your agency made use of the recruitment, relocation, and retention incentive authorities during calendar year 2008, your report must include two components - a data portion and a prose portion.

In addition, you may wish to comment on any barriers your agency is facing in using the recruitment, relocation, and retention incentive authorities as human capital management flexibilities.

Negative Reports

If your agency has not made use of the recruitment, relocation, or retention incentive authorities during calendar year 2008, please submit a report indicating this. You also may comment on whether there were any barriers to using the incentives.

What should not be included?

Agency reports should contain only information on recruitment, relocation, and retention incentives authorized under 5 U.S.C. 5753 and 5754 and 5 CFR part 575, subparts A, B, and C. Some agencies have separate authorities for making recruitment, relocation, or retention payments, and they should not include data on payments authorized under their own authorities in their reports to OPM.

For example, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has the authority to pay recruitment, redesignation, relocation, and retention bonuses under 5 U.S.C. 9804 and 9805. NASA does not include data on its use of these authorities in its report. NASA reports only on its use of incentives under 5 U.S.C. 5753 and 5754.

If your agency used only its own authority to issue recruitment, relocation, and retention payments during calendar year 2008, please submit a negative report. If you have any questions regarding about what to include prior to submitting the report, please call Tom Bustard at (202) 606-2858.

What format should be used?

Each agency report must-

• Provide, for each category of incentive (recruitment, relocation, and both types of retention separately), the total number and total dollar amount paid during calendar year 2008 by pay plan; occupational series; occupational series title; and grade, pay or work level, or other pay classification;
• For retention incentives paid under 5 CFR 575.315, provide the agency to which the employee is likely to leave, the employee's official worksite, and the employee's future potential worksite (in addition to the requirements in the previous bullet).
• Consolidate, for each category of incentive, the total number and dollar amounts paid to employees in the same pay plan, occupational series, and grade or work level; and
• Provide grand totals showing the total number of incentives and the total amount paid for each separate category of incentive (recruitment, relocation, and both types of retention separately).

Note: Please use the official OPM occupational series title from the Handbook of Occupational Groups and Families at http://www.opm.gov/fedclass/gshbkocc.pdf when listing an occupational series title. Do not use an agency-specific title. For example, the official occupational series title for a GS-0301 should be "Miscellaneous Administration and Program" not "Project Management Officer."

The following table shows the format which should be used to report the data portion for recruitment incentives under 575.113, relocation incentives under 5 CFR 575.213, and retention incentives under 5 CFR 575.313:

Type of Incentive	Pay Plan	Occ. Series	Occupational Series Title	Grade or Work Level	Total Number Paid	Total Amount Paid
Retention (575.313)	GS	0132	Intelligence	12	7	$49,007
Retention (575.313)	GS	0610	Nurse	10	11	$89,226
Retention (575.313)	GS	0662	Optometrist	12	1	$16,349
Retention (575.313)	GG	0830	Mechanical Engineering	09	2	$12,000
Retention (575.313)	AD	1320	Chemistry	00	2	$20,000
Retention (575.313)	ES	1320	Chemistry	00	2	$50,000
TOTAL RETENTION INCENTIVES (575.313)					25	$236,582

The following table shows the format which should be used to report the data portion for retention incentives under 5 CFR 575.315:

Type of Incentive	Pay Plan	Occ. Series	Occupational Series Title	Grade or Work Level	Total Number Paid	Total Amount Paid	Agency to which Employee Expected to Leave	Employee's Official Worksite Location	Future Potential Worksite Location
Retention (575.315)	GS	0132	Intelligence	12	1	$15,000	Justice	Washington, DC	Philadelphia, PA
Retention (575.315)	GS	0610	Nurse	10	1	$13,500	Veterans Affairs	Washington, DC	Washington, DC
Retention (575.315)	GS	0662	Optometrist	12	1	$18,350	Health and Human Services	San Francisco, CA	San Diego, CA
Retention (575.315)	GG	0830	Mechanical Engineering	09	1	$8,000	Defense	New York, NY	Washington, DC
Retention (575.315)	AD	1320	Chemistry	00	1	$20,000	Energy	Cleveland, OH	Houston, TX
TOTAL RETENTION INCENTIVES (575.315)					5	$74,850

Please provide the data portion of your report in an Excel spreadsheet, if possible. To make it easier to complete this report, we have created an Excel spreadsheet that is pre-formatted to accept the data we are requesting. The Excel spreadsheet can be transmitted by e-mail. You may request a copy of the Excel spreadsheet by sending an e-mail to pay-performance-policy@opm.gov addressed to the attention of Tom Bustard.

What incentive amounts should be included?

Agency reports should provide data on the total amounts that were paid for each category of incentive during calendar year 2008, not data on the total amounts that were authorized in 2008. The current recruitment, relocation, and retention incentive authorities allow incentives to be paid in a variety of ways-e.g., an incentive may be authorized in one calendar year, but not fully paid until a subsequent calendar year. Agencies should verify that their reports provide data on the total amounts paid in calendar year 2008.

The following table shows how the amount reported for an incentive in an agency's 2008 report might differ depending on the method of payment and the date or dates of payment:

Consider an agency that has authorized a recruitment incentive for a new hire. The recruitment incentive amount is set at $5,000, and the service agreement length is 1 year (26 pay periods). The incentive was approved on August 29, 2008, and the employee was brought on board on September 15, 2008.

Amount authorized	Method of payment	Examples of dates & amounts of payment	Amount to be included in CY 2008 report
$5,000	Initial lump-sum payment	Oct. 8, 2008: $5,000	$5,000
$5,000	Four quarterly installments of equal value	1. Dec. 17, 2008: $1,250 2. March 11, 2009: $1,250 3. May 20, 2009: $1,250 4. Sept. 23, 2009: $1,250	$1,250 (Dec. 17, 2008, payment)
$5,000	Final lump-sum payment	Sept. 23, 2009: $5,000	$0 (no payments in 2008)
$5,000	Three installments, not of equal value, paid at beginning, middle and end-of-service period	1. Oct. 8, 2008: $1,250 2. March 25, 2009: $2,500 3. Sept. 23, 2009: $1,250	$1,250 (Oct. 8, 2008, payment)