To comply with guidelines from the Office of Management and Budget, Social Security has released a COVID-19 Workplace Safety Plan. However, the plan contains almost nothing about how the agency will handle the general reopening of its offices to its employees and the public, much less when that might be.
Apr 10, 2021
It's A Start
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It's a start and an end for now. The guidelines state that telework is being used for SSA services. There can and should be no reopening of SSA offices with the virus getting worse in many areas of the country.
The document did mention that even after we reopen, no SSA office should reopen with more than 25% capacity while COVID19 is still a threat. It sounds like employees would only come in 1 day per week, with different employees being assigned different days of the week. This would be a good and reasonable way to ease into reopening when that does occur, perhaps in 2022.
I don’t this is new. This came out to upper level components at least a month ago.
So many SSA field offices and hearing offices are so antiquated, so poorly ventilated, and basically cubicle farms one wonders how the offices are going to be compliant with OSHA related COVID guidelines.
Employees returning at 25% or less of the buildings capacity, would not help much. How much work would really get done with that few people in the office?
Employees would use leave or credit hours on the rare alternating days they are supposed to come To avoid having to commute, and to avoid having all the "in the office work" dumped on them because everyone else is teleworking that day.
I think it's better for SSA to stay closed , with continued telework, until the COVID19 numbers are a fraction of what they are now.
@7:28 pm That's what employees did prior to the pandemic. So, it would occur even more during the pandemic. The fact is offices should not reopen any time soon until the pandemic is well under control. And, it is not even close to being well under control right now, particularly with the new variants wreaking havoc and too many folks with the mistaken assumption that is safe to resume mass gatherings.
The building safety plan does not sound employee friendly for reopening.
,SSA employees and the public may be better served if the agency embraces telework as permanent, and puts resources into making it work even better.
This would help SSA to avoid the inevitable retirement wave, which would follow a call back to SSA offices.
@5:55 am That makes sense. But, who knows what SSA will do.
SSA national HQ in Maryland and the COVID19 positivity rate there is 5.7 percent. World Health Organization says not to even consider reopening when the positivity rate is above 5%. SSA should not be considering reopening in Maryland. And the FO and HO nationwide are at even greater risk due to public contact.
I am somewhat conflicted. SSA does have these "cubicle farms" with poor ventilation and this will be dangerous for employees when they do return to the office. However, I think there is a danger even greater than the virus. That is climate change. The virus will likely kill thousands more. But, climate change will kill billions, possibly wipe us out. Cubicles are much more environmentally friendly as it takes less energy to heat and cool these spaces than a bunch of small offices. The state environmental quality agency in my state built a nice new building a few years ago and it is almost all cubicles for this reason. So, it is a bit of a dilemma, I guess. Best to just continue telework until all this can be resolved.
Cubicles are not a good idea at all. They don't allow enough space separation and are not conducive to a productive work environment. Why there are cubicle farms at SSA is beyond comprehension.
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