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Updates to Web Guidance on Recruitment, Relocation, and Retention Incentives

Dear CHCOs, Deputy CHCOs, and Human Resources Directors:

On December 15, 2025, OPM issued final regulations to provide agencies additional flexibility to pay recruitment and relocation incentives under 5 U.S.C. 5753 and 5 CFR part 575, subparts A and B. (See CPM 2025-22, December 19, 2025.) The final regulations expand the authority to approve waivers of the normal payment limitations for recruitment and relocation incentives.

This authority provides agencies with access to higher payment limitations for these incentives without requesting approval from OPM. Also, the regulations remove the 6-month minimum service period requirement for recruitment incentives to allow agencies to establish service agreements of any length, not to exceed 4 years, in line with relocation incentive service agreements.

The final regulations were effective on February 13, 2026. Therefore, we have updated OPM’s web guidance in numerous places to be consistent with the regulations. Also, we are taking this opportunity to make other revisions to the pages, such as updating the pay rates used in calculation examples. A list of the updated pages is below:

• Overview Page
• Memos Page
• Fact Sheet – Retention Incentives (Likely to Leave for a Different Federal Position)
• Fact Sheet – Retention Incentives (Likely to Leave the Federal Service)
• Fact Sheet – Group Retention Incentives (Likely to Leave for a Different Federal Position)
• Fact Sheet – Group Retention Incentives (Likely to Leave the Federal Service)
• Fact Sheet – Recruitment Incentives
• Fact Sheet – Relocation Incentives
• Fact Sheet – Recruitment and Relocation Incentive Payment and Termination Calculations
• Fact Sheet – Calculating Maximum Recruitment and Relocation Incentives for Service Periods of Various Lengths
• FAQs – Recruitment and Relocation Incentives
• Fact Sheet – Pay, Leave, and Workforce Flexibilities for Recruitment and Retention
• Recruitment Incentive Waiver Template
• Relocation Incentive Waiver Template

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to reach out to us at paypolicy@opm.gov.

OPM Office of Workforce Policy and Innovation

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