A Message To All SSA and DDS Employees
Subject: New Social Security Field Office Hours
Given the tight budget situation, we must continue to make tough choices. The latest decision is that, beginning August 15, 2011, we will close Social Security field offices to the public 30 minutes early each day. For example, a field office that is usually open to the public Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm will now close daily at 3:30 pm.
Reducing hours will allow field office employees, who will continue to work their regular hours, to complete interviews without using overtime. That's essential because Congress provided us with nearly $1 billion less than the President requested for our budget this fiscal year, which makes it very hard to provide the amount of overtime that our usual business process requires.
Field offices have lost nearly 1,600 workers over the past nine months, and we cannot afford to replace that staff. As a small measure to help deal with those losses, we will close field offices to the public on Friday, November 25, 2011. Field office employees who work on that day will use the day for backlog reduction. As we try to adapt to these difficult fiscal times, we need to remind the public that they can find many services and get up-to-date information online or via our 800 number.
Soon I will be announcing policy changes that will allow us to work more efficiently. Please know that we are doing what we can to help you during these difficult times.
Michael J. Astrue
Commissioner
Update: And Social Security has issued a press release saying the same thing.
Subject: New Social Security Field Office Hours
Given the tight budget situation, we must continue to make tough choices. The latest decision is that, beginning August 15, 2011, we will close Social Security field offices to the public 30 minutes early each day. For example, a field office that is usually open to the public Monday through Friday from 9am to 4pm will now close daily at 3:30 pm.
Reducing hours will allow field office employees, who will continue to work their regular hours, to complete interviews without using overtime. That's essential because Congress provided us with nearly $1 billion less than the President requested for our budget this fiscal year, which makes it very hard to provide the amount of overtime that our usual business process requires.
Field offices have lost nearly 1,600 workers over the past nine months, and we cannot afford to replace that staff. As a small measure to help deal with those losses, we will close field offices to the public on Friday, November 25, 2011. Field office employees who work on that day will use the day for backlog reduction. As we try to adapt to these difficult fiscal times, we need to remind the public that they can find many services and get up-to-date information online or via our 800 number.
Soon I will be announcing policy changes that will allow us to work more efficiently. Please know that we are doing what we can to help you during these difficult times.
Michael J. Astrue
Commissioner
Update: And Social Security has issued a press release saying the same thing.
14 comments:
I think this is a very reasonable approach for the Commissioner to take to deal with budget cuts. Hopefully the public will understand. It should be the least disruptive compared to other possible options.
It is nice that the public will see, first hand, what budget cuts do to an agency...
Closing the field offices the day after Thanksgiving (11/25) is hardly a big sacrifice considering the large number of people out shopping that day and the fact that many employees try to take that day off.
Also, closing the field offices thirty minutes early will really not be much of an inconvenience to anyone.
Need to stop paying for employee's bus passes. So far all the money savings are to inconvenience the public (Stopping Statements going out and cutting field office hours).
Yeah, Anon 1:55, hiring and pay freezes and no-overtime aren't much of an inconvenience at all.
How does not hiring inconvenience anyone at SSA. The pay freeze came from the president. Losing OT might hurt your wallet, but it's not like employee's are being made to work extra hours and not get paid.
I say not sending out Statements is a ploy to p*ss off the greatest number of people so that the budget gets increased.
Anon 3:37, your a moron, hiring freezes greatly reduces the efficiency of the work SSA completes. Less people doing more work does not make for effcient administration of a gov't program.
Another year or two and the private sector will be booming, just as all of these pay freezes, cuts, etc. start for the feds.
Back to the private sector I'll go...
SSA's pay freeze came a year before the President's executive order. And Anon 3:49 is right - SSA is not hiring to replace retired staff, so current staff gets more work to do, with no increase in pay and no overtime. Service delivery has been protected as much as possible until now.
Anon 3:37, you don't work at SSA right? The amount of work assigned to a particular staff does not fluctuate if the size of the staff is reduced....1st one goes....then another, etc. So, with every loss, that's 40 less man hours per week to apply to the fixed tasks at hand---depending on the size of the staff to begin with, as it shrinks, eventually some things get shoved to the background. As the work gets older, more public relations problems ensue. These cases go to the head of the line pushing back even further the age of the average pending case. Vicious, vicious circle. Yeah, they could promote to fill the missing spot(s), but that has to be balanced with the needs (and decimation) of all the other staffs. Where I work, in fact, "promotions" have become "temporary not to exceed 1 year" and then people GO BACK to their old job while another temp is sought to fill the hole. Another ploy is the "120-day developmental assignment." For example, I know of one revered policy expert who retired last year and they are now seeking his 3rd and 4th "120-day wonder." Just when people settle in and begin to function smoothly--whoopsie!---revolving door time---they have to go,,,,,penny wise, pound foolish IMHO.
Of course this change is intended to dramatize the effect of late and reduced budgets. Something needs to be done to give the reduced staff time to process the cases without overtime, so yes the public may be inconvenienced a bit by having to get to the office a half hour earlier (if they even have to go when they could use online or telephone services). It may be a political decision, but it also helps manage the workloads so that the public is better served with timely decisions.
The smarter move would have been to just close the FOs to the public one day a week to allow for adjudication of backlogs. But that would have provoked an outcry from the public, then Congressional howling. Ironic that a lot of Congress wants to get rid of Social Security anyway. Of course, such a decision would have taken leadership and guts, which is a no-no in SSA.
I'd like to know the policy changes. Getting rid of silly procedures would be a great idea.
Anon, 11:53, I agree with your point that closing offices to the public one day a week so office work can be done is smarter than this. I don't follow your point that closing field offices to the public one day a week affects adjudicating a backlog. ODAR does that.
It seems to me that the commish, political animal that he is, has pronounced his plan for maximum political effect. He announces it in a manner that insures it will get broad circulation not just among employees but among politicians as well. It tells them "we are doing something that may get backlash from constituents because you cut my budget." It implies we can do more that will provoke even more complaint.
The plan does not actually do much to improve workflow -- Giving employees a whole day to focus on caseflow makes more sense. But it sends a symbolic message.
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