Sent: Monday, October 28, 2019 1:59 PMSubject: Telework Pilot in OperationsA Message to All DCO EmployeesSubject: Telework Pilot in OperationsEvery day, we, the employees of SSA, directly serve the American public in a variety of ways. Whether that is assisting visitors to our Field Offices or Card Centers, callers to our 800#, processing benefit claims in the Workload Support Units (WSUs) or complex post-entitlement actions in our Program Service Centers (PSCs), or providing essential support and guidance to our public facing components. The customer service you provide every day is critical to accomplishing SSA’s mission.In recent years, Operations has faced a number of significant service challenges, including increases in wait times for customers on the 800# and in field offices, processing times for program workloads, and PSC backlogs. Our Commissioner Andrew Saul is committed to improving customer service and this is his highest priority for the Agency. The Commissioner has already directed additional staff and other resources to Operations to help us improve our service to the public, particularly our field office wait times, 800# service, and reduction of backlogs in our PSCs. As Operations employees and public servants, we share the Commissioner’s commitment and must ensure we do everything we can to improve service to our customers. That includes continually evaluating the way in which we accomplish our work.Since 2013, Operations has piloted telework in some of our offices. Approximately, 25% of DCO employees participate in the pilot. Operations implemented this Telework Pilot under the now expired 2012 SSA/AFGE National Agreement. Yesterday, on October 27, the new SSA/AFGE National Agreement went into effect.In order to focus all of our resources on providing service to our customers, I have decided to end the Telework Pilot in Operations at this time. Therefore, November 8, 2019, will be the last day of telework for employees in every Operations component: Teleservice Centers, Field Offices, WSUs, PSCs, Area Director’s Offices, Regional Offices, Office of Central Operations, and Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Staff (DCOSS). I have designated November 8 as the last day of telework to allow time for an orderly wind down of the Telework Pilot. Managers in the Telework Pilot sites will meet with employees to discuss the next steps.We must have the ability and flexibility to address our shifting workloads and the daily, and oftentimes emergent, needs of our frontline components. To improve our service delivery, we need to utilize every valuable resource we have in Operations and the talents that each of you bring to this Agency. I ask for your support and your ongoing commitment as we work together to effect change and truly improve our service to our customers.Grace M. KimDeputy Commissioner for Operations
Oct 30, 2019
Telework Ending
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28 comments:
Will this apply to SSA OHO?
Do all the offices have sufficient desks, computers, phones, etc. to accommodate all the staff who will no longer be teleworking?
And if people quit because they can't telework anymore, will SSA hire to fill the spaces they leave? About 1000 TSC folks quit last year and I don't think the agency has hired anywhere near that number. I know Saul exempted operations folks from the hiring freeze but SSA doesn't seem to be hiring much of anyone right now...USA jobs has 8 jobs total in the whole agency posted (there are nine there but the deputy commissioner job is for some reason listed twice). Just two seem to be in operations, and only one of them is permanent.
Its about freaking time.....
Talk about an "About Face" : The Union’s understanding at the bargaining table was that this meant telework could and would be expanded to everyone, everywhere. That was the quid pro quo for the Union giving up the right to bargain. Telework has proven to be a success in Operations. For example: The Little Rock, AR office is 100% telework, and the supervisor received the prestigious “Trail Blazer Award” because the office EXCEEDED the PUBLIC SERVICE STATS! Bottom line, when management embraces telework, the result is an office with high morale and an energized workforce. The Office of Inspector General (OIG) has proven that telework is a HUGE SUCCESS AND SHOULD BE EXPANDED.
SSA spoke of reducing its "Foot Print" in its FY 2020 Congressional Justification.
How does this change in policy which now requires a former teleworker to report to the office " Reduce SSA's Footprint " ? Some workers do not have available mass transit and therefore must drive 1 or 2 hours, unfortunately adding emissions.
What does this mean? We have numbers to call for various things. The 800# is so frustrating because it takes 2 hours to reach a human and then the problem is not resolved.
I don't have a number to call for technical problems. Fortunately, those aren't too common.
Next up, the end of teleworking at OHO. Only a matter of time. Whether one agrees or disagrees the end of teleworking will be upon OHO soon.
Agreed! Next, Saul should eliminate telework for HQ staff who are the laziest, often promoted NOT based on merit, and receive the highest salaries across the agency. Drain Woodlawn- the biggest federal swamp!!!
@5:16 The mere fact that one office does well with teleworking does not mean there is not rampant abuse of teleworking. My guess is there is rampant abuse of teleworking and that's why the pilot program was ended in operations. I fully expect teleworking to be greatly reduced at OHO. When HOD's and GS's are working three days a week at home teleworking should be ended at OHO. What exactly are they doing at home all day? They are certainly not managing or supervising anyone at home. That much is certain. Many of the HOD's and GS's cannot even write decisions which makes one wonder why they are in those positions in the first place.
OHO is not under DCO...Telework is determined at the DC level so we shall see.
I'm also curious as to how this plays put as OPM continues to push for expansion...and each agency has a report due to them by Dec. 9th.
Seems clear that the vast majority of productive at the office are just as productive outside it and vice versa. Get rid of the poor performing employees and staff who abuse it and just adjust implementation of it a bit
Interesting note that the old contract mentioned shared workspace/hoteling with 3+ days while the new contract states they can implement shared spaces with ANY telework
Technical as in Systems issues? The national help desk will open a ticket.
Telework in field offices was pretty limited to begin with. In my office, it was 10% of staff per day, each employee limited to one day per week. Employees on telework spent all day on telephone interviews or answering the General Inquiry line. Now that telework has ended those same employees will be doing... the exact same work they were doing before. Except now they have to spend their own time and money to travel to a desk at an office instead of working from a desk at their house. This decision was made for purely ideological reasons, no data was analyzed. Anyone who thinks that eliminating telework is going to cure the service problems at Social Security is a fool.
6:22, OHO has three unions, and two of them still have telework in their CBAs. OHO has also radically shrunk their footprint; most attorney advisors now work in centralized factories, working at home 3-4 days/week, and sharing a "hotel" office with 3 folks rotating in and out.
It would be a nightmare to end telework entirely at OHO.
Then again, Gruber and Neagle seem like good soldiers, who would respectively end telework for support staff and ALJs if that's what Saul wants.
@5:16pm - SSA is reducing its leasing foot print, not carbon footprint.
And if the union wanted it, it should have been in writing and not ceded to management.
SSA: We embrace technology. We want to reduce our use of space. We want to minimize leave for weather and safety issues.
Also SSA: No More Telework!
@5:15
Right on. This isn't about improving service or serving any other proper/rational goal. It's being done to signal to the public that civil servants are garbage, and that this administration will treat them as such. Why? Because a lot of private sector employers treat their employees like garbage, and for whatever twisted reason, a lot of employees of those companies think making other workplaces more intolerable will improve their own quality of life. If they were rational, of course, they would realize this in no way improves their own employment situation, and would instead devote their energy toward efforts to unionize and take other steps to improve their own lot. But that would be socialist or something.
I feel bad for the folks in operations. With traffic being a nightmare in many major cities, being able to work from home saves hours in commuting time and a lot of money in transportation costs. Plus, the agency has made many of the job functions portable, so there's not much reason why some work can't be accomplished from home. If the managers aren't good at managing staff that works at home, perhaps the managers should be replaced rather than punishing thousands of employees.
Of course, we'll hear from the usual nutjobs who will rant that their boss won't let them telework so therefore no one else should telework. I guess that's human nature - some people will pull others down while others try to lift them up.
@12:53PM
Yes, I'm sure we'll hear plenty more from those nut jobs. And from the lazy underachievers who lack the discipline to get anything done without a supervisor hovering over their shoulders, and thus assume their better educated and more driven counterparts in the civil service must surely approach telework in the same way they would.
A Message to All DCO Telework Sites
Subject: Wind Down Period
Based on feedback I received from managers and staff in Operations telework sites, the Telework Pilot wind down period will be extended for an additional pay period. Therefore, November 22, 2019 will now be the last day of telework for employees in all Operations components.
This extension will give sites the additional time needed to transition in an orderly manner. Should you have any questions, please contact your supervisor.
Thank you for your support and commitment to serving our customers.
Grace M. Kim
Deputy Commissioner for Operations
Who is the insider this blog must get information fromthat things get posted the exact same day employees are notified if information? Hmmmm, very interesting.
@4:55
Good lord. Pause to think for a second before posting. Charles posted the above letter TWO DAYS AFTER it was sent to employees.
Regional offices are still teleworking. It makes more sense for those who don't work directly with the public.
But Regional Offices are part of Operations, so teleworking will be ending soon for them on November 22 along with all the other Operations components.
Those of us in OHO have already been told that management is coming for our telework too (including attorneys, paralegals, and ALJ's), only a matter of time.
The new Commissioner is very much against telework for some reason.
It's just going to degrade morale even further. Hoorah
I have many friends and former colleagues who are now OHO writers. Feel kind of bad for them. It is just nonsense to not embrace technology and outside the box working. Employees do not need to be in an office to be efficient. They need to be efficient to be efficient wherever on this planet. It is up to their supervisors to make sure work is getting done.
Makes no sense?
Our efficiency INCREASED with telewok in the Field Office. Get ready to see those dive off a huge cliff... Upper management has no idea what they're doing. They're politically appointed clowns.
Seeing a lot of assumptions about why telework is being targeted. The truth is Saul hates telework because he is old school. It's really that simple. I don't think that much thought was put into the decision. It shouldn't be controversial to say he knows next to nothing about the inner workings of the agency at this point. My hope is that he has some people around him that shoot him straight and are not just yes men.
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