The Office of Personnel Management
(OPM) has posted updated figures for the number of employees at the Social Security Administration as of March 2016:
- March 2016 64,264
- December 2015 65,518
- September 2015 65,717
- June 2015 65,666
- March 2015 64,432
- December 2014 65,430
- September 2014 64,684
- June 2014 62,651
- March 2014 60,820
- December 2013 61,957
- September 2013 62,543
- June 2013 62,877
- March 2013 63,777
- December 2012 64,538
- September 2012 65,113
- September 2011 67,136
- December 2010 70,270
- December 2009 67,486
- September 2009 67,632
- December 2008 63,733
- September 2008 63,990
I haven't been around that long but ever since joining the agency all I have ever heard is there has been a shortage of people. When has there ever been enough people and what was the work like? And how many more people will it take to get to a good place?
ReplyDeleteIf you're in the field, you'll always be short staffed.
Delete28 years in the field office. Never anything but short staffed. Some years were worse than average. Never caught up. Never. It feels normal to be behind all the time.
ReplyDeleteI've never felt being behind is normal. Even after suffering through that mental hurdle constantly. What is does start to do to a lot of people is cause you to "not care". After all, if the agency doesn't care about whether you get your work done, hey should I right?
DeleteEnter your stereotypical, lazy apathetic government employee. Working for the government is like getting a welfare check every month. All you have to do is show up - half the time.
I see it every day and I'm actively looking elsewhere for employment. It's not the work I hate or the clientel or the excess work. It's the environment created by the government - it's awful.
In a culture where management is allowed, and even encouraged, to engage in prohibited personnel practices to illegally force career employees out of their jobs for no good reason, this certainly is not surprising.
ReplyDeleteODAR field offices could use 500-1,000 more employees right now just to get closer to the 4.5 staff per ALJ ratio level (supposedly the Agency feels like a 4.0-4.5 ratio is appropriate). No telling how many more people operations could use to staff field/district offices.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, after 27+ years of employment as a Senior Attorney with ODAR, much of which was exemplary with hard earned performance awards, QSI's, and numerous compliments of my work from ALJ's for many years, I was illegally forced out the door 3 years ago. Yes, I had developed a disability, but the Agency went to great lengths to refuse the reasonable accommodation I most wanted, which was to perform my work in the same manner I had successfully done for so many years, i.e., verbally transcribe my work and have a typist type my dictation, as opposed to persistently typing every decision I write. Sorry folks, but Dragon Naturally Speaking, which has never typed more than a couple of words correctly for me despite years of trying, does not cut it when it comes to writing detailed denial legal decisions for ALJ's, which in some cases can run 25+ pages, not to mention doing this day in and day out on a sustained basis.
ReplyDeleteOf course, this would never have even come into play had I not been denied every promotional opportunity I applied over the years, despite being highly qualified and having earned years and years of performance awards, QSI's, accolades from ALJ's, etc., and these jobs would not have required anywhere near the degree of persistent typing. Ah, there's that pesky disability, and we all know the Agency has a horrible track record when it comes to employees with disabilities and refusing to advance them in their careers, see Jantz, et. al., class action disability case.
In my case, there's also this domestic violence thing, e.g., you know, an exe hell bent on destroying my employment and career with the Agency, and a gang of coworkers who not only provided financial and legal assistance to him over a period of 25 years, but terrorized, harassed and stalked me by proxy on his behalf for many years. The terrorizing was so severe numerous 911 calls were made during the years of my divorce which caused the police to respond. My exe resided far away in another state. Years later, I discovered some of my very own coworkers, including ALJ's and attorneys, were responsible. Despite investigators corroborating this, the Agency has chosen to do nothing about this or even assist me. To the contrary, there is a massive cover-up in a ridiculous effort to protect current and former employees responsible, and for years now, they
have put me through immeasurable hell.
With these types of top officials driving the disability ship, it is easy to see why the million plus backlog of disability cases exists.
Ironic that a person who claims discrimination based on a disability preventing them from typing, lashes out by typing an overly long comment to an article online that really has nothing to do with their biased complaint.
ReplyDelete@12:31pm - You kidding? The agency is full of people just like this who are paranoid to the extreme. People covering their desks with a plastic bubble, alleging they are trained lawyers but never could pass the bar, spending 2-3 hours each day getting lunch orders together for the office, it never ends. But management does one thing to reprimand them and suddenly it is "...widespread harassment and a perpetual hostile work environment...".
ReplyDeleteThe people with this attitude in ODAR and the field (let alone the nuthouse that are the program centers) are what drive some employees who care to go back to school and leave. My only blessing is that I have 4 months to go. These last 15-20 years make me realize that exclusively hiring people with degrees doesn't guarantee a quality worker.
@12:31PM, June 30:
ReplyDeleteTyping a comment on a blog, a couple of paragraphs, hardly compares to the persistent typing of decisions on a sustained basis, 40 hours a day, 7 days a week, not to mention having done that for many years. Stop making such ridiculous comparisons, and get off your pretentious high horse. Your comment allows your stupidity to shine brightly. Heaven forbid you are an ALJ and would use such an assertion against a claimant with a similar disability. People like you sicken me. Surely, there is a special place in hell for those like you.
@1:51PM, July 2:
ReplyDeleteThe ONLY decent remark in your comment is that you are leaving the Agency in 4 months. Good riddance! Clearly, you are in management and completely clueless about how to effectively manage others.
How dare you intimate the Agency is full of "people like me," e.g., paranoid, unable to pass the Bar exam, spends 2-3 hours gathering lunch orders, and when management does one thing to Reprimand them, they allege hostile work environment, harassment, etc. NONE of this is true about my situation -NONE! How dare you characterize my comment at 2:22PM in such a manner. Managers like you are why ODAR is so dysfunctional, and those who placed you in your position in the first place are just as culpable.
Just what is it that I said in my comment @2:22PM is not true? Every single thing I said is true from the disability to the domestic violence. I have testified to same under oath.
You are an idiot and should never have been selected to a management position. There may be employees in the Agency who fall into your broad sweep characterization; however, I am NOT one, and to think you are in a management position. Good riddance!
The commenter at 1:51PM clearly demonstrates why non-attorneys should NEVER manage attorneys.
ReplyDelete