Ralph de Juliis, the head of the union that represents most Social Security employees, has penned an op ed in the Baltimore Sun calling for Social Security to continue extensive telework even after the end of the Covid-19 emergency. He says:
... Social Security employees have found that not only are they able to efficiently work from home, they can provide an even better public service in a time of increased uncertainty. Before the implementation of telework, our field office employees had a 70% response rate to claimants, a rate that has increased to 95% in our remote work world. ...
What does a 95% response rate mean? Field office service during this emergency has been better than I expected but I certainly haven't seen improvement over the baseline.
He also says:
.....We also propose allowing employees in our telecommunication centers to work 100% remotely. The work of our telecommunications professionals already takes place over the phone, and we saw an increase in productivity among these employees during our 2013-2019 telework program. ...
Yet, Social Security is reporting that the wait time for its 800 number went up to 90 minutes after telework was resumed! That does not sound like an increase in productivity.
22 comments:
Yet, Social Security is reporting that the wait time for its 800 number went up to 90 minutes after telework was resumed! That does not sound like an increase in productivity.
That tells you a lot about it doesnt it.
What it likely tells you is that there has been a massive increase in call volume because, duh, the field offices are closed to the public.
Of course the Republicans who frequent this blog do what they do best...cast aspersions on the dedicated SSA frontline employees.
In central office productivity has increased because everyone is trying to prove how productive telework is, but everyone is being driven to the brink and they are on the edge of insanity anyway due to lockdown. So stay tuned...
FO answer rates are way up, over 90% in my region since telework started. Of course, when you don’t need to have employees available to handle walkins it is easy to have sufficient personnel available for phones. When your FO has 1000+ people in the office each week, it’s not so easy.
Suggesting that increased 800 number wait times during the pandemic are tied to poor employee productivity because of telework is an unfair comparison. Many factors outside of the employees’ control are responsible. The sudden closure of all offices to the public immediately increased phone traffic. Compounding that, the CoSS’s recent decision to end telework caused major problems when it was now forced to switch to 100% telework. Teleservice Centers were suddenly left with their entire staffs at home without the necessary equipment needed to answer the 800 number at home (i.e. more calls with less staff available). Additionally, the Agency did not have enough funds available to purchase new telework equipment, and only got funding in the recent stimulus bill. Now there is lag time in purchasing this new equipment and getting it to the employees. Finally, some employees will still be unable to answer calls from home because they don’t meet telework requirements (e.g. high speed broadband access) and they don’t have the option to continue working in the office. Comparing current wait times during pandemic teleworking conditions to wait times under normal teleworking conditions is apples to oranges. These problems are more an example of poor leadership rather than poor productivity.
What's the accuracy rate on responses?
Are they still able to shred the incoming mail from home?
12:52 nailed it
there are multiple variables within the equation that yields 800 number wait times. Some of my favorites are: number of employees, average employee productivity, amount of work coming in, type of work/length of time to complete. And I can think of more!
As you can see, changing any one of the variables can potentially greatly impact the wait time, so you have to look at all the variables before you can intelligently talk about wait times and what they indicate!
thanks!
Not disputing the numbers. But how exactly do they track the percentage increases in response rate. Sounds like telework is working just fine.
Also, why was Saul always so opposed to telework? At first, I thought it was one of those old-school codgers who used to walk uphill to school both ways. It was like these young whippersnappers are not tough enough. But the cynic in me thinks he wants Social Security to fail so they can privatize. However, this would not look good on Better Call Saul.
4:02 I've heard Saul came from a retail background and wants everyone on the floor he's very old school and never accepted telework from day one.
But when he abruptly ended telework for thousands of SSA employees it created very big morale problems, employees had waited years for telework, loved it, and it was working well. Also employees then had to take leave for situations when they could have flexed out if they were working from home.
Bottom line: Saul's decision to end telework caused the backlogs in the payment centers to increase.
And ending telework turned out to be an awful decision considering COVID-19, he actually put his employees very lives at high risk by forcing everyone to return to crowded offices. No telling how many people contracted the disease on their former telework days.
Look at your FB. You will see your friends and acquaintances "working" from home during this current crisis, ask them if they genuinely do 8 hours of work or if they do just enough that nobody calls them out on it and makes it look like they are doing something.
maybe the productivity increased because they are not seeing claimants: I believe that some functions need to be done in person. I advise my client to always get a stamp receipt when they bring important documents to the LDO, because a lot of stuff is "misplaced". I think teleworking is fine, but the phone connections are poor and many functions require an in person contact. Not everyone can use the Internet.
Amen to 10:24am, one size does not fit all, in terms of SSA claimants/beneficiaries dealing with problems with SSA. Phone conversations are fine for simple matters, but not for complicated issues. SSA will always need to have in-person interviews for those complex problems.
@ 10:53
Be careful using the word “always.”
Social Security is, essentially an insurance “company.”
Somehow, State Farm, Geico, etc. manages to serve their claimants purely by phone, video chat, and email. SSA will eventually do the same.
There will come a day that all field offices are closed and the savings on rent are reinvested in IT to allow for 100% of the workforce to telework effectively. Whether this is 10, 25, 50, or 100 years down the road is an open question.
Once infrastructure is improved and competent people are hired I agree. I retired I work at home for non profit. Like another world. Infrastructure vastly better, employees passionate and engaged, management collaborative and supportive. Because of tight budgets lots of thought is put into hiring and training to provide world class service.
Anon 10:53 Agreed. The SSA is a glorified insurance company maybe the biggest in the country. The field offices are for those who simply cannot transition to online (except some rare instances like in the past getting a Social Security card). But in like 20 years or so, most of those aging out will be used to using the internet.
I'm neither amused nor impressed by the Union's position. They are NOT being more productive and they are NOT serving the public better when a claimant's attorney asks the local SSA office for a copy of a document they need, e.g. Notice of Award the Payment Center has failed to send but they can generate, only to say they "can't" or "you're making me work really hard today."
HARVEY P. SACKETT
www.sackettlaw.com
Wow Mr. Sackett, way to make assumptions about a huge workforce based on one poor recent interaction with 1 of 1000+ FOs.
Pretty ignorant of you.
Telework is not going to be the best for all employees but some can use it to be more productive. Nothing beats being able to work on one's own work for hours at a time without interruptions from coworkers/mgmt about things they can usually solve themselves. If not, send an email and one can help them. Or instant message.
From talking to a supervisor in a TSC, the employees didn't have the telephone equipment to answer calls at home for some time.
To those who think FOs always need to be there for some--you are probably right in very limited instances. Someday in the not too distant future, people won't have an in office option for simpler things like filing for retirement or disability. Somehow states have transitioned to filing for EDD online (although right now they are having issues). Imagine if 25 million people tried to file for UIB in person!
Make employees independent contractors with contracts going for only two years. Outsource hiring. The process for hiring CRs is a joke. Would have a better staff that could work remotely and be more productive. As far as systems stop doing in house solutions. Have legacy systems redesigned by an outside source also.
@ 12:22
Lol
@9:16 I have no doubt that similar problems exist at OHO. And, who exactly are management folks at hearing offices managing or supervising these days? Anyone know? It certainly raises the question as to whether so many of them are needed.
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