The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at Social Security. Here they are, with earlier numbers for comparison purposes.
- September 2011 67,136
- June 2011 67,773
- March 2011 68,700
- December 2010 70,270
- June 2010 69,600
- March 2010 66,863
- December 2009 67,486
- September 2009 67,632
- June 2009 66,614
- March 2009 63,229
- December 2008 63,733
- September 2008 63,990
- September 2007 62,407
- September 2006 63,647
- September 2005 66,147
- September 2004 65,258
- September 2003 64,903
- September 2002 64,648
- September 2001 65,377
- September 2000 64,521
- September 1999 63,957
- September 1998 65,629
We have not had overtime in SSA PC7 since October. This, in combination with retirements and not enough replacements, has resulted in increasing backlogs.
ReplyDeleteWe could barely keep up with the workload with overtime, it is absurd to expect the same amount of work to be produced without OT.
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ReplyDeleteJust work better, faster, harder. Everyone gets to be the 6 million dollar man! Enjoy the challenge of doing the work of 2 people as your pay is frozen and your office staff is reduced by 10%. Exhilarating!
ReplyDeleteI don't see how anyone could take this as anything but expected. SSA is one of the "oldest" agencies in the Government in terms of average employee age and years of service. Couple a two year pay freeze with an early out offer this year, along with increasing workloads and lack of hiring, and this is entirely to be expected. Frankly, I'm surprised that the attrition rate isn't higher.
ReplyDeleteThe real pain comes from the uneven distribution of these losses. Some field offices have been decimated where others have experienced minimal impact. True, that some workloads can be moved but just about every office already feels overwhelmed.
ReplyDeleteThese losses hit the smaller facilities (branches, resident stations) disproportionately. Worse, upper management still expects the same performance from smaller offices as the large urban ones. Try telling that to a Level 2 manager who went from 15 employees in 2009 to 9 today. But there isn't supposed to be any drop in meeting "goals", monitoring 500 lists a day, etc.
ReplyDeleteSimple equation. Less workers = less quality work.
ReplyDeleteThe SSA managers are to some degree hiding the results of the cutbacks in the workforce and the loss of overtime, by fudging numbers. But this can only work for so long.
SSA simply must have more hires, and/or more overtime to manage our workload.
Overtime is at best a Band-Aid to mask the need for more staffing. While OT is a good stopgap on occasion, the age-old SSA reliance on OT to get the work done rather than hiring and training staff has never worked in the long run. For one thing, it's a demonstrable fact that real productivity declines the more hours an employee works. For another, SSA and union "rules" requiring OT to be equally offered to all employees in a unit ensures that a lot of no-loads who are only showing up for overtime to pad their paychecks rather than get anything done will be in attendance.
ReplyDeleteI'm not against overtime, but relying on it to the degree SSA does to get the work out is bad long term strategy.
Wait til the end-of-year retirements kick in, along with the continued hiring freeze. It's going to get really ugly as the year goes on.
ReplyDeleteThe days of OT are over, there hasn't been any since October and its not coming back. With the continued budget problems and the uncertainty of CRs now a permanent feature, OT is a lower priority than just keeping the lights on an avoiding furloughs. Work quality is lower than that and additional staffing is out of the question.
ReplyDeleteWait till the Reps retake the Senate, theyll be coming after grade/step increases and pushing for RIFs, OT won't even be in the realm of possibilities.
I work for SSA and today my supervisor seemed reluctant to let me take off a couple of credit hours.
ReplyDeleteOther employees have said they also have been asked "do you have to take off". One employee who had 8 excess credit to use on the last Friday of a pay period was told "don't let it happen again".
I'm afraid things will go back to the way they were in the 1980's, with SSA employees being abused by management. Being held up to impossible production standards, because there is simply too much work to be done, with too few employees to do it.
SSA must choose between hiring new employees, or giving existing employees overtime. To do neither is a disservice to the public, the aged and disabled will be severely disadvantaged.
Don't be so sure SSA overtime is gone for good. I've heard rumors there will be limited OT before the end of the year. When the need is acute enough the money will be found.
ReplyDeleteA4:59: Sorry to burst your bubble, but credit hours weren't meant to be abused like that (Friday end of PP example). If you have excess CH and don't use them by the end of the pay period, you're out of luck. I was a big fan of credit hours, but more than once had to make an employee forfeit excess because we didn't have enough coverage. And I was known as an "employee's DM"...lol. As opposed to some of my colleagues, who were real Nazis;)
ReplyDeleteHow is using credit hours on the last friday of a pay period defined as abusing them? The employee has already worked 8 credit hours and given that amount of time to the Administration.
ReplyDeleteUnless more than 50% of the staff is off on Friday then the credit hour leave slip should be approved without any questions. The employee has already done an extra 8 hours of work.
Bottom line, managers should not try to make up for the lack of OT by giving employees a hard time about using leave and/or credit hours. It is the employees leave to use.
ReplyDeleteNeither should managers push unrealistic and impossible production standards when the employees are working. To push production over quality is an old tactic at SSA, and it is the beneficiaries who suffer.
If the backlogs grow so be it, that will at least let Congress know that SSA needs additional OT or new workers hired. The problem should not be masked.
There have always been a few employees who request their excess credit hours be used on the last Friday of a pay period to avoid losing them. That's fine, except when staffing concerns override the loss of the CH. Remember that there are usually CWS employees who have that day off, and along with call-ins, there may be instances where the leave request has to be denied.
ReplyDeleteI was very "liberal" on this issue as a manager (sometimes to the anger of my superiors), but there were a few times when I had to deny the leave. Best practice, IMO, is to GRANT the working of credit hours judiciously and make sure all employees know that credit hours can be forfeited when operational needs require.
There are 8 claim technicians in my area that are responsible for all appeals and claims. 1 retires at the end of this month, 2 will be gone by spring and 1 more has made it clear she will leave before next fall. All of them have over 41 years of service without counting unused leave.
ReplyDeleteThe inability to maintain a staff capable of handling expected workloads falls on Congress and budgeting without looking to the future.
Inexperienced management in the field and PSCs certainly does not increase the desire of people to stay much longer, either.