From Government Executive:
The Social Security Administration on Monday informed employees of its various subcomponents that it will move forward with new cuts to telework policies, a move quickly decried by union officials who said they were left out of the notification process. ...
Rich Couture, who serves both as a spokesman for the American Federation of Government Employees’ general committee representing Social Security employees and president of AFGE Council 215, which represents workers at the agency’s hearings and appeals offices, said management similarly rejected his own efforts to learn about the changes, and that he spent much of his afternoon in meetings and working with fellow union representatives to cobble together a list of the reforms across the agency.
“I’ve got to tell you, the depth of disrespect and disregard for AFGE with the rollout of this announcement, where the press found out before the union and the union found out at the last minute through a bare-bones notice . . . this basically illustrates to me that there’s no relationship anymore between SSA and AFGE,” Couture said. “There was no advance notice to the local reps that these meetings were to be held, and we have a statutory right to advance notice. This is part of a consistent trend along those lines that this was entirely deliberate.”
According to reports from various union officials, the telework cuts vary by agency subcomponent. In the most drastic instance, legal assistants who do pre- and post-hearing case development work for administrative law judges will only be able to work remotely one day per two-week pay period, down from the current policy allowing employees to telework up to three days per week.
Workers in the Office of Quality Review, which has had telework for nearly 20 years, will all see their existing telework agreements slashed by one day per week. And although there is no policy change for attorneys who do decision-writing for administrative law judges in the Office of Hearings and Appeals, each employee with an existing telework agreement must file paperwork to apply for a new one by February 7 or lose the ability to work remotely altogether. ...
Social Security’s actions appear to defy the spirit of a congressional mandate enacted last month as part of the fiscal 2020 appropriations bills, which instructed the agency to come up with a plan to restore telework to employees in its operations divisions within 60 days. ...
35 comments:
Hopefully something can be done by Congress and soon, , about this commissioner. It would be better for the agency and the American public, if Commissioner Saul is not allowed to complete his term. He has shown that he is unfit for the job. He never should have been nominated for the job by the President and Congress clearly made a mistake in confirming this man.
To selectively restore telework to a few SSA components which he favors, while continuing to refuse any telework to the payment centers, the telework centers, and the field offices, is outrageous and very damaging to employee morale for those who lost their telework last fall, and still are not getting it back.
The results of Sauls recent dictates on telework are clear. Increased backlogs, as employees now use more leave due to depressed morale at work, and new home responsibilities. An exhausted and dispirited SSA workforce, which is working less efficiently, as many must now commute long distances in heavy traffic for five days a week. High levels of jealousy between the "have telework" components within SSA, ,and the "have no telework" components, and requests for transfer. Difficulty retaining and recruiting qualified employees to the SSA components which have no telework.
Experienced and qualified employees are quitting, retiring,, or transferring to the SSA sections with telework, which is having dire consequences on the quality of the workforce in the tele service centers, the payment centers and the Field Offices.
I work in a payment center and I now see post-entitlement cases which sit for more than a year before they are worked, due to heavy backlogs. I was not seeing cases this old, until Commissioner Saul took over. His actions are having he exact opposite result from his stated desire to reduce backlogs,
Good. Go to work and work. Dont like it, work someplace else.
Just another in the death by a thousand cuts mentality to destroy SSA.
I'm sorry. I just have trouble sympathizing. "Many must now commute long distances in heavy traffic for five days a week" - that's just the life of a working person. Don't like your commute? Move.
Some of these statement by SSA employees actually undermine their case. For example, the statement above mentions "new home responsibilities." That make me think he or she was probably using the time he or she was supposed to be working at home to take care of these "home responsibilities." I have worked from home often in the past. If your actually doing your work, you don't have any more time for "home responsibilities" than you do if you're at the office. If you are taking care of "home responsibilities" you aren't doing the work and if you are reporting that you are working when you are not, you are basically stealing from the taxpayers. I do get that commuting adds additional time that may distract from "home responsibilities" but that is just something most people in the workforce have to deal with. In many areas, these government jobs are some of the highest paying jobs in the area,especially in the areas where some of these field office are located. In addition, they provide good insurance, retirement and more time off than most private employers can afford to give. So, if you want to give all that up simply because you actually have to go to the office and work, well, that's your choice, I guess.
@9:32 and @11:16 you are both missing the point. The issue is having a condition of your employment changed after accepting the terms of the position. It’s as if your employer said you get 25 days of sick leave per year and then after you accept reducing it without discussion to 10. Many people, myself included, left prior positions to come to specialized jobs in SSA based off the prospect of telework. My commute to work went from 25 mins before SSA to 1 hr. When it was only 2 days per week it was worth it. Especially since my team won a commissioners citation for completing a major project last year. How can you tell me we are not efficient. I understand your point about leaving and I am working on it, along with other people on my team with tech skills and analytic skills. It won’t be hard to find other work but SSA USED to be a great place and there is NO need for this change. Good luck recruiting a younger person with the same certificates that our team members have to replace the retirees this year and anyone who is fortunate enough to leave. People my age use Glassdoor and other job review sites and at the conferences where we all network word of organizations treatment is a hot topic and gets out quickly. This is another blow to the agency that won’t be felt for a little while but will only have negative consequences. Working credit to stay on top of work was an option at home. Nobody is doing that now when we can leave at 2:30 pm and leave it sitting for the next day.
Having worked at home in the past, a couple of times while self-employed, and a couple of times for employers who didn't have a local office, I think a person who is productive in the office will be productive working from home and a person who is not productive working from home will not be productive in the office. What tips the scale on this issue for me in regards to SSA is the difficulty in getting in touch with employees who are teleworking. If teleworking is going to be allowed, there needs to be a way to reach these employees. I have had great difficulty in doing this and I've heard the same from others. If you want to telework, then you need to return phone calls as soon as you can. Telework shouldn't be an excuse just to ignore calls when people need to reach you. Perhaps if you had been more diligent about returning calls, more people would side with you on this issue. If making people come to the office is the only way to make them available when they are needed, then that is the way it needs to be.
I agree that being able to work from home is a perk. But ending it suddenly, when people may have taken the job based on it, doesn't allow people to move or make changes to childcare or anything. It could lead some people to quit or retire, and it takes SSA a lot of time and money to hire and retrain people.
If there were data showing that telework reduced productivity, then maybe it would be worth cutting it and needing to get new staff to replace those who would leave. But for the past few years DCO Kim has been saying that teleworkers are at least as effective. If that's true, why change it now? If that's false and the DCO was lying or misinformed, how could she keep her job?
Well, for those of you who voted to drain the swamp, here you go. This is another step to nudge people into quitting or retiring. In two years we'll wonder why we can't find any good help.
Commissioner Saul is anti-telework but asfor the case technicians in OHO, it's pretty easy to justify the need for them to be in the office most of the time. One day per week is probably fine for them, but they're the people who are shuffled around to various job responsibilities (attending to phones/front desk stuff, filling in when hearing reporters cancel or don't show up, etc.).
The decision writers are safe from this, the ALJ's still have an upcoming fight on their hands when it comes to telework.
I agree.
Well most likely it's the younger workers complaining because their work life balance has been upset.
Fascinating responses.
In many markets housing simply is not affordable. Working from home is a win/win in general. Reduces traffic, reduces need for parking at government sites, reduces the number of square feet of office space required to be heated and cooled. It takes pressure off an expensive housing market.
It helps save small towns from losing people to urban areas.
So many responses boil down to "I favor whatever makes federal employees unhappy."
11:38; Don't be so fast to think the worst of someone. That can lead you to make false accusations, such as "stealing from the taxpayers",
In point of fact, when I posted my original comment at 9:24 and mentioned "home responsibilities", I was referring flexing out on my telework day, from home for such things as going to my dentist, going to my doctor, or taking a sick neighbor to her doctor.
I always told my supervisor by Skype I was flexing out and put the appropriate time into WEBTA to show when I left home, and when I returned.
Now that telework has ended, due to the distance I have to commute to work, I have to take leave instead of flexing out whenever something like this comes up, and I am therefore putting in less hours and getting fewer cases completed.
I can assure you I take pride in working hard whether I am at home teleworking or in the office. It is frustrating when some people seem to believe the worst about government workers and think they will not work hard at home. I think that is Commissioner Saul's mindset too and it simply is not true.
They should just cut hours to 32 per week and raise pay. The problem with SSA is they are always changing the rules, policies, and procedures. They have GS 13 employees who do nothing but sit around and try to figure out how to f* with people. Every Friday was training day... we're changing this and this but it always translates into more red tape and rules to slow down the work. Awful agency to work for...glad I got out in 2012.
I agree with 11:50AM, a good worker in the office would be a good teleworker, and a bad office worker would be even worse as a teleworker. I retired right before telework was implemented in the field office, and was glad I did. We had claims reps who spent hours on the internet in the office; what do you think they'd be doing on "telework"?! And when I was receptionist and a claimant came in whose phone calls were being ignored by the claims rep, at least I could go get the CR and make them talk to the claimant. What do you do when that CR is on telework? Instant message them and beg them to call the claimant when you know they won't do it? Depending on the office, I bet telework was a nightmare in some places.
The fact that it extended to Systems shows just how arbitrary and capricious the move is. Do systems folks really need to be contacted immediately more than other components? Or are they just treated like second class employees?
Two issues: (1) the SCTs were all assigned soft phones which are supposed to work just like a work phone as far as being reached. If an SCT repeatedly does not answer the phone, the group supervisor should be contacted. Perhaps that employee is not mature enough to telework and needs to come back into the office each day. To punish the good workers because some abuse the system is lazy and unfair.
(2) OHO worked on a flexible schedule. A worker can come in anytime between 6:30 and 9:30. Your departure time is 8 and 1/2 hours later, between 3:00 and 6:00. If I have to take my aged parent to a doctor's appointment, I can clock in at 6:30, work until 11:30, handle the appointment, clock back in at 3:00, work until 6 and give the government a full 8 hours of work. If I had to manage the same appointment on a "office day" I would be lucky to get 4 hours of work in and sometimes I think to myself, "it is not worth driving 2 hours to work 4" and I will just take the whole day off.
Furthermore, it was the policy that if bad weather was anticipated, teleworkers were expected to take their computers home, regardless of whether it was an official telework day, so that if the office closed, the teleworkers could continue working. Fat chance of that happening now.
1) telework is a perk. 2) it is a signifcant perk: 2+ hours of commute a day is a lot of time to take care of "home responsibilities" [or whatever other name the some might want to rebrand or mis-interpret it as] that would instead need "leave" to take care of. 3) Some components (OQR for example; but also thousands in Payment Centers) do not have public contact. The logic that "it's for customer service" that was given for the FO's breaks down. 4) the union gripe about not being notified seems to be true. We were notified literally 1 minute before the announcement. We were emailed to call-in to a national conference call for a "Discussion", "right now"). Large numbers of people sat on the call waiting for a union representative, who had also just been notified via email of a mysterious "discussion". When the union rep at the end of the announcement call [that telework will be cut back] asked why the change was being made, "we already told you" was the answer. In fact no justification was given to us as employees. When the union rep complained that they were not given timely notice, the reponse was that they were given all the notice that had to be given, which was apparently an email minutes before the anouncement which was only made on the call. We haven't been given any written statement of the changes, except one today where we have to "re-sign an updated telework agreement" or we wont be eligible any longer.
Overall, it looks to this employee like management has attempted to circumvent any union ability to cooperate in the changes [or more likely: hobble any ability to argue]. Management has generally treated the topic with an unprofessional, heavy-handed, "do as you are told; we dont need to explain anything to you" type of approach.
This makes zero sense for Systems employees. Being that the vast majority of infrastructure that they support is either located in Durham, Urbana, or in the field they aren't physically touching any equipment and haven't for YEARS...not to mention that most of the Windows infrastructure is now virtual. They are always remote from their infrastructure. Considering that the support staff, development staff, and user base are all located in different geographically dispersed areas or across campus there also isn't as much face to face interaction as one would believe. It's IT for God sakes (introvert city) - on any given day at least 50% of those people in the office are barely leaving their cubes.
Sure everyone used to drive five days a week to work years ago - but does that really make sense in todays climate? Back then we didn't have iPhones, Skype, and email all secured over high speed VPN connections. Now you can open a remote session to a Foreign Service Post in Rome or a Hearing Office in California from your living room in a matter of seconds.
But yes go commute in hours of traffic in the NY or DC/Balt regions to do the same work in the office to "improve service to the public".
As already noted by several posters above, these employees are adults whose work ethic is pretty much set in stone. Your superstars will continue to shine @ home while the dead weight will continue to do nothing @ home. Put better controls in place on the implementation of the telework program and allow the managers a bigger hammer to block poor performers from using it.
It really is a crummy way to treat people. And don’t give me the “just leave” malarkey. I was here before Saul and I will be here after him. I, unlike him, care about serving the public and doing my best. It is very hard when you are treated as a political pawn though. I have been in government for over 20 years and this is the pettiest administration that I have ever served under. The basis for all of their decisions is if Obama championed it, then it must be destroyed. I can’t wait until we get adults back in the White House. I’m tired of these spoiled kids raiding the candy store.
I am an attorney-representative. I support telework and my research indicates that teleworkers are just as efficient as in-office workers. In fact, I have seen studies that indicate that people are more efficient at home. Most people who telework love it so much that they will go the entra mile to avoid losing the priviledge.
For example, here is an article from Libertarian leaning Reason Magazine about the state government telework program in Utah:
"Contrary to perceptions that working from home means slacking off, telework means higher productivity. It can help reduce worker absences and unexpected sick days, and it allows work to continue during inclement weather. Employees save time and money, and they have more scheduling flexibility. They also tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, which reduces the costs associated with job turnover and hiring new workers. "
https://reason.com/2019/07/30/utah-is-letting-lots-of-government-employees-work-from-home/
The big thing missing here is any evidentiary basis for the commissioner's decision. What studies were done or reviewed? What specific problems did telework allegedly cause? Were any alternatives considered to deal with documented problems?
What the Commissioner has done here is the same as issuing an Unfavorable Decision on a DIB claim with the entire basis of the decision consisting of the statement "because I said so!"
Eliminating all telework is going to be a great boost to the fossil fuel industries!
This Commish is doing exactly what he was appointed to do; destroy the agency from within to promote privatization of Social Security.
Having been in management for years I can tell you heavy handed is the expectation. Compared to other organizations the approach is appalling and crude. If you try to do otherwise you are thrown under the bus. I have watched OSs berated in front of me by fellow DMs. Behind closed doors I've encountered DMs being belittled by ADs.
Remember. Ssa is trying to decrease the "footprint" of offucr size. Less office space, smaller offices. Part of the basis for this was telework. I'm in an office set to move. Smaller new location yet less telework. The agency bargains in bad faith and our office will be stuck in this lease location for 10 years
Which is why I am working harder on my USAJobs applications than trying to finish the budget cycle
5:43 - Hearing Office Management personnel got about the same notice as the Union. Mandatory Emergency "all managers call" at what was 8am on the west coast on Monday Morning - telework being reduced, have an official meeting with the staff between 1pm "today" and COB tomorrow. We'll send you talking points and all that we just threw at you in a little while. Carry on.
SSA Program Service Centers, Teleservice centers, and Field Offices all had their telework cut to zero last fall, and SSA is still refusing to give these employees even a single day of telework back. Those familiar with SSA know that these are the areas of SSA which have the lowest percentage of Caucasians, and more people of color, as compared to the other parts of SSA (who have retained telework, or at least had it partially restored. . ) Now I don't know if this was even part of the equation, in deciding who would telework. But the optics of this do not look good for the agency.
8:10 that is the most absurd thing we have heard.
There is a secondary requirement that one has to be in the office 4x a week so all 4-10 and PT employees lost all telework days, not just 1. Let's also note that the decision gives workers roughly a week and a half to submit their decision and less than a month to change their work/life balance roles to accommodate. SSA is going to lose good talent to other agencies or to private industry. The government can't have lower pay and less work/life balance and expect to retain or recruit talent.
The lack of justification for this is astounding. Lots of opinions/fluff. No numbers. Even after canning telework for 12,000 employees. You’d think they would have plenty of evidence to support their customer service improvement angle by now. The truth is, it hasn’t improved anything. It has made it worse. People that would have taken a couple of hours of leave and then kept working are now taking half or whole days off. Employees are not motivated to work because we know that our top management doesn’t care about us or our work. And I agree with the POC comment. We are talking about an administration that has nothing but love for white supremacists. It wouldn’t surprise me if someone pulled those statistics before going after Operations.
Perhaps some of the IT people can find jobs with same benefits and pay but most employees aren't going to be hired elsewhere with comparable income/benefits. Don't have the skill set. Who wants to hire a 20 year CR from government?
@1230pm. True for the most part re 20 year CR but those that are new can see the writing on the wall that SSA is not the best place in the world to work. An office I am familiar with had 4 people leave that were new hires before they even went to training.
I hear you. I don't miss doing the office budget and ordering materials and getting the spending down to zero if that's what you mean.
30 year career employee here... I will stick it out no longer than 2022 and take my pension and hit the road... but if I was a newer employee, I would be gone in a heartbeat. Looking forward to the opportunity to complete the 2020 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey, not that Saul gives a crap about employee engagement or satisfaction.
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