Retirement Benefits

Retirement Benefits - Smiling retired couple outside looking at a picture on camera.

All regular, benefit-eligible employees within the University System of Georgia, as a condition of employment must be enrolled in one of two available retirement plans. In addition to one of the required plans, USG offers supplemental retirement saving plans. 

Required Retirement Plans

All all regular, benefits eligible employees within the University System of Georgia, as a condition of employment, must be enrolled in one of the two available retirement plans.

All non-exempt employees are enrolled in the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) plan per USG policy.

Exempt employees can elect either the TRS or Optional Retirement Plan (ORP).

For all exempt employees who are eligible to make a retirement plan election, this election must be completed through the Retirement@Work portal. If an election is not completed within 60 days of your hire date, you will default to an irrevocable enrollment in the Teachers Retirement System plan (TRS).

  • If you elect the ORP plan there is a second required step to select a provider(s) and open an account. The three providers are AIG (previously VALIC), Fidelity and TIAA. If no selection is made the portal will automatically assign you to a TIAA default account, which can be changed at a future date, if desired.
  • If TRS is elected no further action is needed.

View this Mandatory Retirement Plan Election job aid for detailed instructions. 

Voluntary Supplemental Retirement Plans

Employees have the option to enroll in a supplemental retirement savings plan, in addition to their required retirement savings plan.

Retirement@Work is the only way to access and enroll in one of the plans, select or change a vendor, and start or change contributions.

These plan types are:

  •  403(b) - available for both pre-tax and after-tax contributions
  • 457(b) - available for both pre-tax and after-tax contributions

There is no employer contribution to the voluntary plans.

For additional information on the retirement and voluntary supplemental plans please visit the USG Retirement Site. You can also review the Retirement@Work User Guide.  

The site provides instructions for using the Retirement@Work portal for plan election, if eligible, and numerous resources. These resources include plan specific information, contribution limits and provider information and investment options.

If you should need additional retirement plan information or have any difficulty accessing the Retirement@Work portal, please submit an online request for support in ServiceNow.