A few people who ought to know better think that there’s no need to ever reopen Social Security’s field offices to the public. The AARP gives you some of the reasons why those people are wrong.
23 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Limited appointment based method should be the way forward lead by a robust telework program.
Two years ago SSA ended telework for FO and PSC, the results of this decision were disasterous. . Fractured employee-management relations, damage to employee home-work life, reduced employee morale. Then, high danger to both SSA employees and the public when the pandemic hit. SSA must not make the same mistake twice, especially with COVID19 cases currently on the rise. The rules should be changed so that SSI applications can be completed online. The FO, PSC, and hearings offices should remain closed , and SSA employees should continue teleworking until at least 2023.
It is not necessary a bad thing that fewer people are filing for SSI. SSI is financed by U.S. Treasury's general fund, in other words -personal income taxes, corporate and other taxes. US taxpayers are burdened enough. Some of those who have not filed for SSI have found other means: Moving in with a. relative, being funded by their family, finding a job. AARP leans towards the liberal side politically. They seem to believe more SSI applications is a good thing. Also they seem unconcerned, at least in this article, about the health and welfare of SSA field office employees. Reopeniing the FO while the pandemic is still here would be a huge mistake.
7:11am Your comments remind me of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" but, sadly, you don't appear to be satirical. If you represented folks who are filing for SSI, you would know that many are reduced to penury just waiting for SSA to act. They are already "couch surfing" and are not able to work. Now these poorest of the poor are denied even the opportunity to file an application because they don't have access to technology and cannot get basic service from SSA. You try to contact a local office -- very difficult to get through to a person who can actually do something. And the 800# is a joke, lengthy wait times to speak with a person and then the odds are 50/50 of getting wrong info.
It’s so funny to me seeing so many people say field offices need to be open, yet how many times do you actually go into a field office with your clients? It’s almost never. The fact is many of you feel so entitled to a level of service that you forget the whole world had changed. It takes longer to get through to customer service at almost any major corporation, it takes longer to get mail delivered, it’s harder to find certain items at grocery stores. Get over it. Everyone is struggling with it and the big fear is people are realizing that face to face appointments and face to face hearings are antiquated and unnecessary and it scares you. Judicial proceedings, congressional and legislative hearings, Admin law hearings at other agencies are all proceeding just fine over video conference and this is an attempt to stay relevant. It sucks that things move slower but I can tell you it’s not telework that’s an issue, it’s infrastructure that was cut in October 2019 and a leadership mindset aimed at dismantling some of SSA’s internal structure and staffing and this pandemic exposed the issue. Rather than complaining about FOs and OHO not opening, try working to be a part of a transition to smoother services. I can tell you that the position of regional CMRs and CO CMR is that reopening to meet the suggestions of the CDC and OSHA FO inspections this month is that reopening is going to be a big lift from a public facing position. GSA and CMR negotiations with landlords, contractors to update spades, move cubicles, address hvac and plumbing issues, logistical testing and tracing apparatus framework and other changes will take money and time. Just be patient and try to care about not just yourselves but also the clients and the SSA workforce.
Do those expressing grave concerns about returning to onsite work understand that getting vaccinated effectively eliminates any reasonable risk of contracting the virus?
People are returning now to onsite work. If a person is concerned about the risk of leaving the house and returning to the work site then that person should be equally concerned about being murdered while standing in line at a fast food restaurant, attending a class at a community college, driving on a busy interstate highway, or swallowing a bee while sitting on a blanket having a picnic lunch in a park.
Risk is everywhere. It's an inescapable part of the human condition.
Before the availability of the vaccine, there was justifiable reason to remain away from the workplace. But, that source of reasonable fear has been eliminated by the effectiveness of the vaccines. Return to the field offices and OHO for in-person interviews and hearings or search for a different job.
The vaccines show promise but we do yet not know if they will stop the pandemic which its still going strong. Cases are actually rising in many states such as FL, which made the mistake of reopening too quickly. When cases rise, experts say increases in hospitalizations and deaths will inevitably follow. Remember the vaccines were approved under emergency provisions without the usual testing period, and the new variants of COVID19 may require additional vaccinations or booster shots.
It is way too premature to say that SSA employees should return to work in the office,, when doing that may cost the employee their health or their life. Instead, everyone should work towards adjusting to the new reality of telework, virtual hearings, and online applications. SSI claimants should be able to file online.
It would put the general public which we serve at risk, to prematurely open the field offices. Some SSA and SSI claimants will not have bee vaccinated. They are a high risk population, being older and having disabilities. Having them come into crowded field offices with poor ventilation would be a mistake and could cost them their lives.
Until the COVID rate is near zero, the HO, PSC and FO should remain closed.. We should continue to work on making the telework and remote options better,, not present that the pandemic is over and go back to the old ways. We have a new reality now.
They dont want to go back to the office. They will use every excuse the union can find not to go back to the office. They will vacation, shop, eat out attend sporting events and live entertainment, but they dont want to go to the office. Cant blame them, it is inconvenient. But I fail to believe all this, it is too early, too risky, blah blah blah. At least be honest about it, you dont want to be in the office.
To this: Anonymous Anonymous said... It is not necessary a bad thing that fewer people are filing for SSI. SSI is financed by U.S. Treasury's general fund, in other words -personal income taxes, corporate and other taxes. US taxpayers are burdened enough. Some of those who have not filed for SSI have found other means: Moving in with a. relative, being funded by their family, finding a job. AARP leans towards the liberal side politically. They seem to believe more SSI applications is a good thing. Also they seem unconcerned, at least in this article, about the health and welfare of SSA field office employees. Reopening the FO while the pandemic is still here would be a huge mistake.
7:11 AM, March 28, 2021
Anonymous at 7:11 am, You obviously have implicit bias and should go into a different profession. People that do not have access to the basic humanity of food and housing resources and some sustenance through a measly $900 per month are usually already homeless. They are Veterans that didn't qualify for VA benefits, the mentally disabled, the gravely ill, the poorest people in our nation. Some with no family and with no friends. If you work at SSA, need someone remind you that you are a government worker, being paid TO SERVE the public. If you are a Auth Rep, then you need to look deep inside to see yourself in the shoes of the disenfranchised and impoverished, abandoned people that are trying to apply for SSI. You better thank your lucky stars that it isn't you. That you are still able-bodied and working. But let's suppose you are now old and disabled and worthless to our society, and your family doesn't want to be burdened with your attitude problem and your eating habits and your snoring and your complaining and they DO NOT TAKE YOU IN. You are out of savings and let's suppose, i don't know, a pandemic happens and you can't even figure out how to get resources for housing. Let's suppose the market crashes and your 401k is gone and/ or your pension is frozen. "There by the Grace of G go I?" Look around. No one is getting rish off of SSI. They are barely able to eat.
@821 I prefer not being in the office but they still should reopen in a few months. Once employees have been vaccinated there is no reason not to reopen. Totally agree with your assessment and glad this is ending soon, even though it means a commute, etc. It also means I can go to museusm, zoos, shows, sporting events, etc.
The key point that you all are missing is that most SSA jobs can and should be done from home. There was SSA telework prior to Saul's arrival as commissioner and prior to the pandemic. Teleworking was working well, it helped employees balance their home-work life, and it raised employee morale.
There was no good reason for Saul to terminate telework. Now that everyone has been working at home for a year due to the pandemic, the logistics of telework have been mastered and we should keep things the way they are.
As was previously mentioned, people who want to file for SSI should be able to do so online. This AARP article about SSI should certainly not be used as an excuse to end SSA telework in the field offices or anywhere else. ;
It is more correct to say that getting vaccinated eliminates the incidence of severe Covid infections as it is still possible to get ill after being vaccinated (my cousin and his wife had this happen two months after their second shot, but it was very, very mild as opposed to the person who likely infected them who is presently a long term ICU patient who will probably get stuck with a high 6 figure medical bill - if he manages to survive).
Also, there was a CDC study released today of vaccinated healthcare workers that shows the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are both 80% protective after the first shot, which is in line with the other one shot vaccines. So, even getting the first shot is good.
What is going to cause problems is all the idiots that simply refuse to get vaccinated. They'll tend to congregate with like minded sheeple, and we'll start to see more Covid variants coming from them as they get infected and the virus mutates to more infectious strains (which it has already demonstrated a tendency to do). Hopefully, the idiots won't birth something that is immune to the vaccines but I'm not holding my breath.
Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, if they don't bother to get a shot then what may happen to them is simply evidence of evolution in action....
Telework was working well before the pandemic? What I remember was calling the offices many times trying to reach a specific person and being told they were teleworking and then never getting a call back from them. You had a privilege but failed to do an essential part of your job - returning phone calls. I guess you thought just because you didn't work in the office a few days a week meant you no longer had any obligation to communicate with anyone outside the office. I don't know. If you are going to work from home, you need a direct number that is available to those who need to reach you AND, you need to answer the phone and return phone calls. I suppose you can see why some of us have no sympathy when you whine about teleworking.
Present day - is teleworking working well? Seems many offices are having great difficulty processing mail and getting documents processed timely, so, no it doesn't seem to be working well.
@452 Slow time processing mail and documents is partly due to Covid protocols in the office. But more people in the offices would probably get things done faster.
Teleworkers do have lined through their computers to the office and should be able to get and return calls. Internet can be occasionally spotty but in general, no reason to no return calls.
Telework was just a pilot in FOs (I thought). I know it wasn't in every office. At PC it makes more sense since they field less calls from the public and don't see the public face to face. May make sense at TSCs too. But in field offices, it's a bit like if you went to Walmart and half the staff was at home.
I work in a PC and only occasionally do I need to call a clamant or an attorney. I don't think it would be fair to cut my telework just because a few FO employees are difficult to reach by telephone. Or because SSI claimants can't file in a FO, that has nothing to do with me.
Also it's often better to fax in your question rather than call, especially ifs it's a technical issue. Because that way I can look up the case and the procedure before I call you back.
You are right - it was only a pilot in FOs, and even then not in all FOs (only those above a certain number of employees, one day a week, and even then mostly management at that). Plus, it was a pilot carried over from the prior administration -- SSA management had already decided they weren't going to expand its use in the FOs even before Saul and his incompetent little butt-boys took over and went nuclear out of sheer arrogant incompetence by trying to eliminate it outright early last year.
Honestly, once the pandemic is done I fully expect agency management will try to shrink telework in the FOs back to prior levels. It takes a lot of bodies to run an office facing the public, and telling somebody who has sat in line for hours to talk to someone that they will just have to call them doesn't support that.
Several employees in my area are saying they will retire if SSA tells them to go back to the office. There have been few retirements the last year because people can telework and they like it. Also there is nothing much else to do except work, since we are stuck at home anyway due to the pandemic. After a year at home, many more employees have enough time in service now to retire. I would not want all these experienced employees to leave SSAat once. I imagine it's the same situation in many SSA offices.
Why the animosity towards the workforce? Also, that is hardly the "standard" SSA response given that the vast majority of employees are not eligible to retire.
SSA has given plenty of reasons for those at MRA or beyond, especially field office staff, to say "screw this nonsense, I'm done."
PC7 managers are saying productivity is down and seem to be setting the table for cutting back telework on that basis.
However the reason productivity is down, is due to draconian cuts in overtime this year in PC7. Claims Specialist and Disability overtime: Zero, and very limited benefit authorizer overtime.
It's impossible to keep up with the workloads without overtime whether we are in the office or at home. It would be so like SSA to cut overtime, then cite the increasing backlogs as a pretext for ending telework. If they cut telework again like Saul did a couple of years ago, especially for fallacious reasons, I am putting in my retirement papers.
SSA management dragged their feet on allowing employee telework for decades. When we finally got it and it worked well, some managers found it difficult to justify their jobs and their high GS level pay, with employees working at home. I suspect this could be a factor in future management decisions as well.
23 comments:
Limited appointment based method should be the way forward lead by a robust telework program.
Two years ago SSA ended telework for FO and PSC, the results of this decision were disasterous. . Fractured employee-management relations, damage to employee home-work life, reduced employee morale. Then, high danger to both SSA employees and the public when the pandemic hit.
SSA must not make the same mistake twice, especially with COVID19 cases currently on the rise.
The rules should be changed so that SSI applications can be completed online. The FO, PSC, and hearings offices should remain closed , and SSA employees should continue teleworking until at least 2023.
It is not necessary a bad thing that fewer people are filing for SSI. SSI is financed by U.S. Treasury's general fund, in other words -personal income taxes, corporate and other taxes. US taxpayers are burdened enough.
Some of those who have not filed for SSI have found other means: Moving in with a. relative, being funded by their family, finding a job.
AARP leans towards the liberal side politically. They seem to believe more SSI applications is a good thing.
Also they seem unconcerned, at least in this article, about the health and welfare of SSA field office employees. Reopeniing the FO while the pandemic is still here would be a huge mistake.
7:11am Your comments remind me of Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal" but, sadly, you don't appear to be satirical. If you represented folks who are filing for SSI, you would know that many are reduced to penury just waiting for SSA to act. They are already "couch surfing" and are not able to work. Now these poorest of the poor are denied even the opportunity to file an application because they don't have access to technology and cannot get basic service from SSA. You try to contact a local office -- very difficult to get through to a person who can actually do something. And the 800# is a joke, lengthy wait times to speak with a person and then the odds are 50/50 of getting wrong info.
It’s so funny to me seeing so many people say field offices need to be open, yet how many times do you actually go into a field office with your clients? It’s almost never. The fact is many of you feel so entitled to a level of service that you forget the whole world had changed. It takes longer to get through to customer service at almost any major corporation, it takes longer to get mail delivered, it’s harder to find certain items at grocery stores. Get over it. Everyone is struggling with it and the big fear is people are realizing that face to face appointments and face to face hearings are antiquated and unnecessary and it scares you. Judicial proceedings, congressional and legislative hearings, Admin law hearings at other agencies are all proceeding just fine over video conference and this is an attempt to stay relevant. It sucks that things move slower but I can tell you it’s not telework that’s an issue, it’s infrastructure that was cut in October 2019 and a leadership mindset aimed at dismantling some of SSA’s internal structure and staffing and this pandemic exposed the issue. Rather than complaining about FOs and OHO not opening, try working to be a part of a transition to smoother services. I can tell you that the position of regional CMRs and CO CMR is that reopening to meet the suggestions of the CDC and OSHA FO inspections this month is that reopening is going to be a big lift from a public facing position. GSA and CMR negotiations with landlords, contractors to update spades, move cubicles, address hvac and plumbing issues, logistical testing and tracing apparatus framework and other changes will take money and time. Just be patient and try to care about not just yourselves but also the clients and the SSA workforce.
Do those expressing grave concerns about returning to onsite work understand that getting vaccinated effectively eliminates any reasonable risk of contracting the virus?
People are returning now to onsite work. If a person is concerned about the risk of leaving the house and returning to the work site then that person should be equally concerned about being murdered while standing in line at a fast food restaurant, attending a class at a community college, driving on a busy interstate highway, or swallowing a bee while sitting on a blanket having a picnic lunch in a park.
Risk is everywhere. It's an inescapable part of the human condition.
Before the availability of the vaccine, there was justifiable reason to remain away from the workplace. But, that source of reasonable fear has been eliminated by the effectiveness of the vaccines. Return to the field offices and OHO for in-person interviews and hearings or search for a different job.
The vaccines show promise but we do yet not know if they will stop the pandemic which its still going strong.
Cases are actually rising in many states such as FL, which made the mistake of reopening too quickly.
When cases rise, experts say increases in hospitalizations and deaths will inevitably follow. Remember the vaccines were approved under emergency provisions without the usual testing period, and the new variants of COVID19 may require additional vaccinations or booster shots.
It is way too premature to say that SSA employees should return to work in the office,, when doing that may cost the employee their health or their life. Instead, everyone should work towards adjusting to the new reality of telework, virtual hearings, and online applications. SSI claimants should be able to file online.
It would put the general public which we serve at risk, to prematurely open the field offices. Some SSA and SSI claimants will not have bee vaccinated. They are a high risk population, being older and having disabilities. Having them come into crowded field offices with poor ventilation would be a mistake and could cost them their lives.
Until the COVID rate is near zero, the HO, PSC and FO should remain closed.. We should continue to work on making the telework and remote options better,, not present that the pandemic is over and go back to the old ways. We have a new reality now.
They dont want to go back to the office. They will use every excuse the union can find not to go back to the office. They will vacation, shop, eat out attend sporting events and live entertainment, but they dont want to go to the office. Cant blame them, it is inconvenient. But I fail to believe all this, it is too early, too risky, blah blah blah. At least be honest about it, you dont want to be in the office.
To this:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
It is not necessary a bad thing that fewer people are filing for SSI. SSI is financed by U.S. Treasury's general fund, in other words -personal income taxes, corporate and other taxes. US taxpayers are burdened enough.
Some of those who have not filed for SSI have found other means: Moving in with a. relative, being funded by their family, finding a job.
AARP leans towards the liberal side politically. They seem to believe more SSI applications is a good thing.
Also they seem unconcerned, at least in this article, about the health and welfare of SSA field office employees. Reopening the FO while the pandemic is still here would be a huge mistake.
7:11 AM, March 28, 2021
Anonymous at 7:11 am, You obviously have implicit bias and should go into a different profession. People that do not have access to the basic humanity of food and housing resources and some sustenance through a measly $900 per month are usually already homeless. They are Veterans that didn't qualify for VA benefits, the mentally disabled, the gravely ill, the poorest people in our nation. Some with no family and with no friends. If you work at SSA, need someone remind you that you are a government worker, being paid TO SERVE the public. If you are a Auth Rep, then you need to look deep inside to see yourself in the shoes of the disenfranchised and impoverished, abandoned people that are trying to apply for SSI. You better thank your lucky stars that it isn't you. That you are still able-bodied and working. But let's suppose you are now old and disabled and worthless to our society, and your family doesn't want to be burdened with your attitude problem and your eating habits and your snoring and your complaining and they DO NOT TAKE YOU IN. You are out of savings and let's suppose, i don't know, a pandemic happens and you can't even figure out how to get resources for housing. Let's suppose the market crashes and your 401k is gone and/ or your pension is frozen. "There by the Grace of G go I?" Look around. No one is getting rish off of SSI. They are barely able to eat.
@821 I prefer not being in the office but they still should reopen in a few months. Once employees have been vaccinated there is no reason not to reopen. Totally agree with your assessment and glad this is ending soon, even though it means a commute, etc. It also means I can go to museusm, zoos, shows, sporting events, etc.
The key point that you all are missing is that most SSA jobs can and should be done from home. There was SSA telework prior to Saul's arrival as commissioner and prior to the pandemic. Teleworking was working well, it helped employees balance their home-work life, and it raised employee morale.
There was no good reason for Saul to terminate telework. Now that everyone has been working at home for a year due to the pandemic, the logistics of telework have been mastered and we should keep things the way they are.
As was previously mentioned, people who want to file for SSI should be able to do so online. This AARP article about SSI should certainly not be used as an excuse to end SSA telework in the field offices or anywhere else. ;
anon@8:55pm,
It is more correct to say that getting vaccinated eliminates the incidence of severe Covid infections as it is still possible to get ill after being vaccinated (my cousin and his wife had this happen two months after their second shot, but it was very, very mild as opposed to the person who likely infected them who is presently a long term ICU patient who will probably get stuck with a high 6 figure medical bill - if he manages to survive).
Also, there was a CDC study released today of vaccinated healthcare workers that shows the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are both 80% protective after the first shot, which is in line with the other one shot vaccines. So, even getting the first shot is good.
What is going to cause problems is all the idiots that simply refuse to get vaccinated. They'll tend to congregate with like minded sheeple, and we'll start to see more Covid variants coming from them as they get infected and the virus mutates to more infectious strains (which it has already demonstrated a tendency to do). Hopefully, the idiots won't birth something that is immune to the vaccines but I'm not holding my breath.
Otherwise, as far as I am concerned, if they don't bother to get a shot then what may happen to them is simply evidence of evolution in action....
Telework was working well before the pandemic? What I remember was calling the offices many times trying to reach a specific person and being told they were teleworking and then never getting a call back from them. You had a privilege but failed to do an essential part of your job - returning phone calls. I guess you thought just because you didn't work in the office a few days a week meant you no longer had any obligation to communicate with anyone outside the office. I don't know. If you are going to work from home, you need a direct number that is available to those who need to reach you AND, you need to answer the phone and return phone calls. I suppose you can see why some of us have no sympathy when you whine about teleworking.
Present day - is teleworking working well? Seems many offices are having great difficulty processing mail and getting documents processed timely, so, no it doesn't seem to be working well.
@452 Slow time processing mail and documents is partly due to Covid protocols in the office. But more people in the offices would probably get things done faster.
Teleworkers do have lined through their computers to the office and should be able to get and return calls. Internet can be occasionally spotty but in general, no reason to no return calls.
Telework was just a pilot in FOs (I thought). I know it wasn't in every office. At PC it makes more sense since they field less calls from the public and don't see the public face to face. May make sense at TSCs too. But in field offices, it's a bit like if you went to Walmart and half the staff was at home.
I work in a PC and only occasionally do I need to call a clamant or an attorney. I don't think it would be fair to cut my telework just because a few FO employees are difficult to reach by telephone. Or because SSI claimants can't file in a FO, that has nothing to do with me.
Also it's often better to fax in your question rather than call, especially ifs it's a technical issue. Because that way I can look up the case and the procedure before I call you back.
anon@8:04pm,
You are right - it was only a pilot in FOs, and even then not in all FOs (only those above a certain number of employees, one day a week, and even then mostly management at that). Plus, it was a pilot carried over from the prior administration -- SSA management had already decided they weren't going to expand its use in the FOs even before Saul and his incompetent little butt-boys took over and went nuclear out of sheer arrogant incompetence by trying to eliminate it outright early last year.
Honestly, once the pandemic is done I fully expect agency management will try to shrink telework in the FOs back to prior levels. It takes a lot of bodies to run an office facing the public, and telling somebody who has sat in line for hours to talk to someone that they will just have to call them doesn't support that.
Several employees in my area are saying they will retire if SSA tells them to go back to the office.
There have been few retirements the last year because people can telework and they like it. Also there is nothing much else to do except work, since we are stuck at home anyway due to the pandemic.
After a year at home, many more employees have enough time in service now to retire. I would not want all these experienced employees to leave SSAat once. I imagine it's the same situation in many SSA offices.
The standard SSA response, I will retire. Every change we hear this. Every single time without fail, they draw it like a six gun!
@8:24 AM
Why the animosity towards the workforce? Also, that is hardly the "standard" SSA response given that the vast majority of employees are not eligible to retire.
SSA has given plenty of reasons for those at MRA or beyond, especially field office staff, to say "screw this nonsense, I'm done."
I agree the conditions are ripe for retiring, it would not take much for the "last straw" for many SSA employees.
And there are so many who are now eligible to retire. The "retirement tsunami" that the government has warned about for years, may finally be at hand
Oh, it's definitely already here. The brain drain in the FOs is becoming readily apparent.
PC7 managers are saying productivity is down and seem to be setting the table for cutting back telework on that basis.
However the reason productivity is down, is due to draconian cuts in overtime this year in PC7. Claims Specialist and Disability overtime: Zero, and very limited benefit authorizer overtime.
It's impossible to keep up with the workloads without overtime whether we are in the office or at home. It would be so like SSA to cut overtime, then cite the increasing backlogs as a pretext for ending telework. If they cut telework again like Saul did a couple of years ago, especially for fallacious reasons, I am putting in my retirement papers.
SSA management dragged their feet on allowing employee telework for decades. When we finally got it and it worked well, some managers found it difficult to justify their jobs and their high GS level pay, with employees working at home. I suspect this could be a factor in future management decisions as well.
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