Federal Retirement Benefits

As a U.S. government employee, you have high-quality federal retirement benefits. Your federal benefits are different from private-sector employment benefits in a number of ways. Unlike private-sector workers, many federal employees have access to pensions as well as 401(k) like plans for their retirement futures, for instance.

The specific benefits you receive will depend on the government retirement system to which you belong. Depending on when you came into service as a federal employee, you may fall under one of two retirement systems: the Federal Employees’ Retirement System (FERS), or the grandfathered Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS).

Most of the federal civilian workforce will be FERS employees, but some will be designated as CSRS employees.