"Hidden Workloads"

From a June 13, 2008 letter from the National Council of Social Security Management Associations (NCSSMA), an organization of Social Security management personnel, to Linda McMahon, Social Security's Deputy Commissioner for Operations (emphasis added):

In the last two months, NCSSMA has asked our members their opinions twice on the state of operations in their offices. ...

A myriad of workloads that do not appear on any of our many lists and databases were reported as “hidden” workloads. [And NCSSMA gives a list of 46 such types of "hidden workloads", including] ...

4. Congressional inquiries ...

5. Death Reports received from funeral homes (721s)
6. Direct Deposit requests or changes received by fax or mail (1199s)
7. Email—reading and/or responding
8. Explanations for overpayments and notices ...

11. Fraud referrals ...

30. Rep. Payee misuse allegations ...

39. Training employees
40. Unanswered telephone calls
41. Voicemail messages ...

There are a number of workloads that are not being done timely and some are not being done at all. [And NCSSMA gives a list of 30 such types of workloads that are either not being done at all or not being done timely, including.] ...

8. Earnings corrections ...

15. Overpayments in the Field Offices and Program Service Centers including waivers and personal conferences ...

19. Representative payee accountings and exceptions ...

Perhaps the greatest opportunity cost is the mounting cost from medical CDRs [Continuing Disability Reviews] and SSI redeterminations that have not been done in recent years. The deferral of this work has certainly been useful in responding to the short-term challenges that field offices are facing and perhaps to address workloads that would otherwise remain hidden. The grim reality, however, is that the cost of delaying these workloads is one that still must be dealt with. ... These deferrals will ultimately produce a new volume of work that will need to be processed in addition to the mounting overpayments that will be a direct result of deferring this work ...

The competing objectives of production and quality are a common and very real dilemma that FO/TSC [Field Office/Teleservice Center] managers face on a daily basis. ... As one manager stated, “However, we can only speculate how much and how often interviewers ignore information or shape it to fit within the responses available in the system. Workload shortcuts most common are ignoring more complicated or involved responses to questions that would require development. Who is to know if the applicant was vague in a response or wanted to check on an answer when the easiest thing for the CR to do is answer “no” and ignore any potential issue or delay claims processing waiting for evidence?” ...

Field managers spend much of their time answering the telephones that would otherwise continue ringing and working the reception area to keep waiting times down. We get monthly, weekly, and daily reports related to productivity; but rarely do we hear when our quality reviews are not getting done or our training schedule is inadequate. The agency priorities are clear to us. Quality is indeed a “hidden workload.” Any change in that organizational culture must come from the top down, but it must be accompanied by a strong dose of reality and a clearer understanding of realistic expectations.