Survey Of Social Security Managers Shows Severe Staffing Shortages

The National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an association of Social Security management personnel, conducts an annual survey of its members. The report on this year's survey is a depressing account of an agency at its all time low, barely able to continue operating. Here are some highlights (or perhaps lowlights):

• Recent funding for SSA [Social Security Administration] has been inadequate to provide for the immediate needs of the public. Only 6.6% of respondents thought that the SSA budget was sufficient to provide good public service. An overwhelming 87.1% disagreed or strongly disagreed that the budget was sufficient. The effects of the budget restrictions are most directly related to service delivery through inadequate staffing of FO [Field Office] and TSC [Teleservice Center] facilities, the front-lines of SSA service delivery.
• There is presently insufficient staff to keep workloads current. 79.0% of managers report that they do not have adequate staff to keep up with the work. 78.0% of the respondents to the 2005 NCSSMA Survey of Management also reported that their office staffing was inadequate. On average, managers estimate that they would need a staffing increase of 16.7% to provide adequate public service.
• Telephone service in Field Offices is poor. 62.9% of FO managers report that prompt telephone service is provided in their office less than half of the time. When provided a choice of possible fixes for poor telephone service, 88.9% of FO managers reported that additional staffing would be the best remedy. NCSSMA believes that the public still wants and expects reliable telephone service from their local Social Security Administration Field Office.
• Public waiting times in Field Offices continue to increase. In the 2005 Survey, 72.0% of respondents said that their staffing was not sufficient to maintain reasonable waiting times. This year’s survey indicates that the situation is even worse now. 81.5% of FO managers report that waiting times in their offices are longer now than they were two years ago. When asked to identify the main causes of excessive waiting times in their offices, managers listed inadequate staffing and the high volume of walk-in traffic significantly more than any other causes.
• Field Office and Teleservice Center staffing levels are at a critical point. In the last year, 64.1% of FO and TSC managers report that staffing has declined and in many cases the decline has been dramatic. 36.4% percent report a decline in staffing of at least 10.0% in the last year alone. To compound the situation, over 50.0% of the managers report that at least 26.0% of their staff (excluding management) will be eligible to retire by 2010.
• Deferral of Field Office Workloads has had no effect on work backlogs. For the last two years, some FO workloads such as medical Continuing Disability Reviews (CDRs) and SSI redeterminations of eligibility have been deferred. The deferral of this work, which invariably will lead to more and larger overpayments and subsequently even more work when completed, has been cited as a justification for the extremely limited hiring in Field Offices during this period. Additional workloads, however, have more than taken up those resources made available through the deferrals of redeterminations and CDRs. 84.1% of FO management report that the deferrals have had no practical effect on other backlogs because the work hours have been redirected to other mandated workloads.
• Systems upgrades/maintenance, especially in recent months, has been problematic and has resulted in service delivery problems and wasted resources. Since late November, Field Offices and Teleservice Centers have been plagued by systems downtime and unacceptably slow systems response times. This results in work being done twice, first on paper and then via transmission when the processing systems are available. 63.5% of managers reported that processing systems in their components have been unavailable or unacceptably slow at least four times per month. 59.8% estimated that they lost, at a minimum, 25 hours per week of production time due to systems problems.
• There is great frustration among Field Office and Teleservice Center management regarding implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act. The resource demands of SSA’s involvement in administering the Medicare Modernization Act have been vastly underestimated. The ongoing confusion regarding payment of Part D premiums and the blurred lines of responsibility among SSA, CMS [Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services], and the insurance companies has both bewildered and angered the public and makes SSA appear to be powerless to correct problems.
• Job satisfaction among management remains high. The dedication of the SSA workforce has long been considered a strength of the agency. Despite severe public service challenges faced by FOs and TSCs, job satisfaction among management remains high. 63.7% of management report that their job satisfaction is good or very good. The commitment of FO and TSC managers to the mission of the agency is also evident in many of the comments that are included in this report. Managers believe in SSA’s mission and are committed to providing the best service possible with the resources available.