From The Atlantic:
Lurking among the jubilant Americans venturing back out to bars and planning their summer-wedding travel is a different group: liberals who aren’t quite ready to let go of pandemic restrictions. For this subset, diligence against COVID-19 remains an expression of political identity—even when that means overestimating the disease’s risks or setting limits far more strict than what public-health guidelines permit. In surveys, Democrats express more worry about the pandemic than Republicans do. People who describe themselves as “very liberal” are distinctly anxious. This spring, after the vaccine rollout had started, a third of very liberal people were “very concerned” about becoming seriously ill from COVID-19, compared with a quarter of both liberals and moderates, according to a study conducted by the University of North Carolina political scientist Marc Hetherington. And 43 percent of very liberal respondents believed that getting the coronavirus would have a “very bad” effect on their life, compared with a third of liberals and moderates. ...
For many progressives, extreme vigilance was in part about opposing Donald Trump. Some of this reaction was born of deeply felt frustration with how he handled the pandemic. It could also be knee-jerk. “If he said, ‘Keep schools open,’ then, well, we’re going to do everything in our power to keep schools closed,” Monica Gandhi, a professor of medicine at UC San Francisco, told me. Gandhi describes herself as “left of left,” but has alienated some of her ideological peers because she has advocated for policies such as reopening schools and establishing a clear timeline for the end of mask mandates. “We went the other way, in an extreme way, against Trump’s politicization,” Gandhi said. ...
“Those who are vaccinated on the left seem to think overcaution now is the way to go, which is making people on the right question the effectiveness of the vaccines,” Gandhi told me. Public figures and policy makers who try to dictate others’ behavior without any scientific justification for doing so erode trust in public health and make people less willing to take useful precautions. The marginal gains of staying shut down might not justify the potential backlash. ...
It's obvious that CDC guidelines will change rapidly over the next three months. Let's not fight the science because we're still mad with Donald Trump. We can't keep cowering in fear forever.
If you're one who believes that we need to remain cloistered even after we're fully vaccinated and the CDC says we can start to resume normal life, what's your endgame? What will be enough to persuade you that it's safe to eat in restaurants, travel, visit in person with family and friends, return to normal workplaces, etc?
Covid-19 will never completely go away. The vaccines who have are extremely effective. Like influenza, meningitis, salmonella and other infectious diseases Covid-19 will always be some threat but the world is full of potential threats.
62 comments:
Start the pool on the first "I will retire" post.
I will feel safer when we figure out what is going on with the deadlier variants now running rampant in India. Some of those variants are already here and there is some indication that the vaccines are not effective. I would go back to the office full time if I knew the status of the building HVAC. A building we share with thousands of others. I would go back to the office part time right now if the Agency was flexible with employees getting reclamated with being back in the office. But everything is a state secret at SSA. I am very close to retirement, I could probably walk out the door this afternoon and be ok, but I don't want to and I happen to be someone who actually likes their job. I agree that we need to start some type of reopening but one size does not fit all. A concept that SSA has never fully grasped.
Who had 10:19??
TOLD YOU! First post!
Post after post I keep seeing SSA employees saying that the strains of COVID in India are resistant to the vaccine and that we're all going to die.
@10:19, as well as anyone else from SSA who has been saying they'll never return to work, can you please share with us what scientific research and data you're basing your opinions on? I sincerely want to figure out what your extreme fear is based on. What real, objective evidence do you have that the vaccines aren't effective?
I'd be very interested in anything you can share that objectively supports your hard "we can't ever return to work" stance.
Most SSA jobs, including mine, can be done perfectly well at home. Even better than in the office, where there are distractions. Why not just let SSA employees continue 100% telework, even if the COVID danger is gone? A skeleton crew could handle what needs to be done in the SSA offices.
I told my supervisor I'm retiring rather than coming back to the office, if SSA reopens and orders employees back. I'm not going to put up with that long commute, stress, when I should be allowed to continue to work at home.
Maybe we all should stay in our houses forever. There are "active shooter" incidents everyday in America. How can a person feel safe and secure inside a post office, factory building, public or private school, restaurant, or an OHO hearing room? Can we really trust and rely upon a rent-a-cop to frisk every visitor to OHO for weapons? And, how about road rage, where some crazy may shoot at my car on the interstate or city street? Stray bullets seem to be flying everywhere in America. I must have been crazy to have served on active duty in the United States Navy. I will not have any dental work again due to the risk of stroke. There is no way to be comfortable with those moles on my back. Life is just too much risk for me!!
Get vaccinated. Wear a mask, wash your hands.
Solved
Just out of curiosity, since so many people want FOs open, and that seems to be a sticking point on here, honestly, how often do any of you actually go into a field office, and what is it for. Like how many times per week are you in a field office, and what do you go into them for?
I did google search on "breakthrough COVID cases" and found disturbing facts about people who are still catching the virus after being vaccinated.. The CDC announced yesterday they are now only going to count breakthrough cases that result in hospitalization or death.. This is not reassuring to me.
Also I saw Dr. Fauci on TV last weekend and he indicated new facts about airborne transmission of COVID19 shows that it can spread easier than we had thought, in indoor areas without proper ventilation (Think: just about all SSA offices) .
There are still hundreds of people hospitalized for COVID in my state. I don't want to return to my SSA office until the cases are way down, to almost zero, until we know more about Breakthrough cases. And not until Dr. Fauci and the CDC say it's completely safe to return and work indoors without a mask.
1047, 1050 an 1052:
1019 here.
No one wins the infantile pool because I didn't threaten to retire. I said I could but I don't want to and Idon'thave any plans too.
I also didn't say anything close to a posit that we can never return. In fact I said the exact opposite.
If you want information on the deadly India variants go to Google Scholar.
Stop the childish nonsense so that a productive, reasonable debate on how we are going to reopen can take place.
@10:52,
"Post after post I keep seeing SSA employees saying that the strains of COVID in India are resistant to the vaccine and that we're all going to die."
This is hyperbole and it's not useful. You haven't actually seen "post after post" about the COVID strains in India, at least not here, and I'd challenge you to cite any post that "we're all going to die."
"@10:19, as well as anyone else from SSA who has been saying they'll never return to work..."
10:19 didn't say that he/she will "never return to work." He/she said: "I would go back to the office full time if I knew the status of the building HVAC" and "I would go back to the office part time right now if the Agency was flexible with employees getting reclamated with being back in the office..." If you think these are just excuses to avoid ever returning to work, then state your case and explain why it's unreasonable to request that SSA provide additional assurance/precautions.
"I'd be very interested in anything you can share that objectively supports your hard "we can't ever return to work" stance."
See, I don't think you would be interested in seeing objective support for a hard "we can't ever return to work" stance. You invented that stance so that you'd have a strawman to burn down with your hard "go back to work right now because you have nothing to fear" stance.
Charles is right that we need to find a balance between the most extreme responses to COVID, but railing against imaginary posts from SSA employees won't move the needle.
The WHO just said the India variant is now a "global health threat".
It is not known yet if the vaccines will be as effective against this new COVID19 variant. The current theory seems to be, that the vaccines will provide some protection, but not as much as before.
Given this information, I do not believe SSA will open anytime soon. This would be the wrong time to even plan on reopening. And some of the businesses which have already reopened may have to rethink that position.
I labeled the extremists about the pandemic -
1. Doomsayers (usually liberal)
2. Naysayers (usually conservative)
I don't know who is more dangerous. The naysayers blatantly ignore science, Fauci, the CDC, etc. acting like they know more than epidemiologists. I believe their motivation is simply because they favor the economy over all else.
The doomsayers have a legitimate concern on some level. Over 500,000 Americans have died from this virus. Some could have been prevented with more strict measures.
But now we have vaccines and the CDC is relaxing measures. This is about as good as it will get. If you can't go out then, then you can't go out.
12:54 I retired your comment. It was a veiled threat and you know it.
12:40 I went to the FO or DO about once a month. It seems that a lot of people that have trouble getting the MySSA account set up due to Numident mismatches. Then we have to find and fix it and file RIB. It is very hard to mail in your drivers license when you have to drive to work because you cant stay home indefinitely. We also see this problem for people starting Medicare A only and continuing to work. So at least once a month, we try to stack appointments for a couple of people.
I still doubt that all SSA employees are bunkered down in the house and not going about outside life after vaccination. Sorry, that dog dont hunt.
I want the summer off too, can I come to SSA summer camp?
The irony of the Social Security Administration. It's not safe enough for healthy Social Security employees to return to work (many of them do not deal with the public in person). The same employees are denying disability claims for unskilled people with asthma, diabetes, and heart disease because they should go take jobs in retail, fast food, or housekeeping.
@12:43, do you actually understand that the point of the vaccine is to ensure that people don’t suffer the worst effects of the virus? Sure, two vaccines have a very high percentage of stopping the virus from being contracted at all, but all of the vaccines are effective at stopping you from being hospitalized or dying if you do contract it. That’s the point. While it would be great if we could just herd immunity the virus out of existence, that seems unlikely with all the hesitancy. But the biggest win for the vaccines is their overwhelming effectiveness, not at stopping infection, but at stopping the worst results of that infection, hospitalization (and long COVID) and death.
If the vaccine stops you from contracting COVID, that’s great. But if it makes it just another seasonal flu, then it also did its job.
@10:19, 11:58, 12:43, 12:54, 1:15, 1:35
Since everything there is anonymous, please let us know: HAVE YOU RECEIVED THE VACCINE? If not, why? I have received it and feel much more confident and optimistic about the future.
I think @1:53 nailed it with the labelling of the two types of extremists we see at play here. Both groups are dangerous and extremely uninformed.
For all you doomsayers, please consider which hypothetical person stands a greater risk of either suffering severe, long-term health issues or death: (1) a fully COVID-vaccinated adult who is exposed to someone with COVID, or (2) an adult who is 50lbs (or more) overweight and has a sedentary lifestyle?
I agree that maybe it's not quite time to return to in-work. We definitely should discuss remote work options for those positions which can be done remotely without decreasing the quality of customer service that people deserve. But should we delay return to work until all risks are eliminated? If we reduce the risk of death by COVID to where it's lower than risk of death by the flu or common cold, would it be reasonable at that point to require certain employees to return to in-office work?
Due to the variants and some risk still remaining, I think age 60+ and those with pre-existing high risk conditions should be allowed to continue 100% telework.
I'd probably go back to the office if I'm told to. I'm fully vaccinated. However it would have been a lot easier to go back 6 months ago. After more than a year of teleworking and working from home, it would be a huge adjustment if I have to go back.
And from my conversations with co-workers, most have grown to like telework and don't want to go back. Even a couple of workers who initially said they didn't like telework and complained about the office being closed.
After a year of this, this is our new reality. While telework is somewhat isolating and boring, it beats the alternative of having to commute and other negative aspects of the office.
I disagree with one of the earlier statements that SSA employees working from home is working out well. It might be working out well for the employees but it is not working out for the public, including claimant and attorneys.
There is no reasonable communication between Social Security and the claimants and attorneys. Telephone calls from attorneys to SSA are routinely ignored. Important documents are sent to SSA offices. Many of those documents are ignored or stuck in a desk drawer. There is absolutely no accountability.
The same issue pertains to the Hearing offices. Attorney Fee Petitions are not answered for months. No one seems to care and there is no accountability. Also, the Regional Chief ALJ offices are not operating in a timely manner. Routine requests involving appeals of Attorney Fee Petitions also are not responded to.
The SSA employees like working from home because there is no public accountability. They feel like they can ignore calls and they do.
Whever someone calls me I return the call. Whenever I call SSA about a client's case no one returns my calls. It is unprofessional to ignore someone's call.
1019 here, yes I am fully vaccinated.I am willing to go back to the office with some flexibility. I don't need to work from home although my workload allows for it to 100%.
However, I am sick of hearing that people who work at home are not working. I have never been more productive but working at home is invasive to my personal life because there is no getting away from it.
345 you make a very good point
To some of the other comments:
My concern is those other variants and I think the vaccines give us a false sense of security. I don't do much more than I did before I was vaccinated but sometimes I throw caution to the winds and take a walk by the lake without a mask on but Ialways have one at the ready. I have several other health issues that do not prevent me from performing sedentary work and my brain still works for the most part. But covid could do me in so I am very cautious. Yet I am willing to go back to work with some flexibility.
The real problem here is that the Agency wants to go back to total control. That approach has never worked and it is going to work even less now.
The point that people seem to forget is that most SSA offices are extremely poorly ventilated and now are trending toward cubicle farms. Both are factors for extremely poor work (as in unhealthy) environments and are conducive to contracting and spreading COVID19. So, maybe SSA should focus on fixing those glaring problems before reopening. The public and the employees at SSA deserve better. Not to mention the liability factor whether through workers compensation or personal injury lawsuits and the potential OSHA violations.
Generally agree with 4:21 pm. We need a rational approach. The offices need to be staffed. However, that does not mean that every employee has to work every day in the office. From what I am reading, many employers are considering a hybrid system where employees come to the office 2-3 days per week.
Remote work is very popular with employees and forcing everyone back to office unnecessarily will be resisted. A good example of that is what happened to the CEO of the Washingtonian Magazine when she published an Op-Ed implying that her risk losing their jobs if they don't return to the office. The employees responded by going on strike for 24 hours and the CEO walked back her comments.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2021/05/07/cathy-merrill-washingtonian-strike/
So many bitter people on these posts.
SSA leadership is its biggest problem. The fact that admin staff is all schedule A and therefore generally high risk causes a giant cluster. You have staff in production working admin and doing mailings all day long because they are able to come in and not considered high risk. The people that now need to be in the office are not and they are not qualified to adjudicate. So we pay them to do less work, complain that production staff doesn’t want to work when most of them are going in and out of the office all of the time already in order to mail, scan, etc...
This is a huge cost to production. You want to complain you don’t get a call back... try doing your work, another person’s job, teaching your children simultaneously as their school is closed, admin work and a sea of calls that necessitate having a secretary but wait... you are also that role as well.
These employees aren’t lazy. Give them one job and they handle it perfectly well. Give them other work like multiple days a week performing admin only duties and production will suffer. There is no working late... leadership literally called doing so an “integrity issue.” They hire leaders that show more in remaining gutless and docile than they do in performance and job knowledge.
My presence in the office would do nothing to change my productivity. I’m not in a field office. I do believe field offices need to open with more than minimal staff. I do believe we need admin staff in the office but I am not allowed to be so callous and publicly say that but that’s the truth of what is crushing our production. That and some upper level genius deciding that shipping DCPS exclusion cases that result in paper files across the country to sites that cannot have actual admin staff in office is a good idea is another cause for severe complication and delay. Absurd. Furthermore... how in 2021 we can’t input a claim electronically (I don’t care what the issue is)... is dumb and should be a priority fix. I could go on and this is not the lower staff that you complain about causing this. This is leadership sucking.
As for you calling- let me stop the need for half of your calls that are just soooooo important. “What’s the status?” Insert a bunch of expletives... and hear the words ... “IT IS PENDING.... that’s the status!!!!!!” Omg- if it is not det it is pending. And before you whine about the importance of the notice etc... you all know your “good cause” will be approved if that were to happen. Now... commence with all your one off comments of this time when... blank happened so it does matter I call for status five hundred times!
As for FOs. Agree with the ones above mentioning numident issues and drivers license, etc. they need to open in the very least more than they are. I cannot lie.. I do worry about the at-risk visitors. I don’t think SSA would bring back their at risk staff.
" We also see this problem for people starting Medicare A only and continuing to work. So at least once a month, we try to stack appointments for a couple of people."
Medicare Part A filers that continue to work are a problem? Those are the easiest claims possible to adjudicate. If they want Part B in their SEP that is a bit more of a problem.
"Important documents are sent to SSA offices. Many of those documents are ignored or stuck in a desk drawer."
They aren't put in desk drawers. They are all eventually scanned into work track to be worked later. Some offices are more on top of getting those scanned documents to CRs and SRs to work them and some aren't.
"The SSA employees like working from home because there is no public accountability. They feel like they can ignore calls and they do."
My office's calls went from 200 a day to 600. The goal is to answer 90 or 95% of them. From my experience it's not that SSA wants to ignore them but that answering the huge increase in calls, doing some work that is frankly much better suited to be done in office (SS5s for instance), doing work that previously didn't take half the time it does now because of issues scanning documents, etc is going to result in reduced productivity. Some actions can be done just as well from home as in the office but clearly many can't and those should be done there as soon as offices reopen.
I thought SSA ignored calls before Covid according to some people here. Is it any worse now?
So many bitter people on these posts.
SSA leadership is its biggest problem. The fact that admin staff is all schedule A and therefore generally high risk causes a giant cluster. You have staff in production working admin and doing mailings all day long because they are able to come in and not considered high risk. The people that now need to be in the office are not and they are not qualified to adjudicate. So we pay them to do less work, complain that production staff doesn’t want to work when most of them are going in and out of the office all of the time already in order to mail, scan, etc...
This is a huge cost to production. You want to complain you don’t get a call back... try doing your work, another person’s job, teaching your children simultaneously as their school is closed, admin work and a sea of calls that necessitate having a secretary but wait... you are also that role as well.
These employees aren’t lazy. Give them one job and they handle it perfectly well. Give them other work like multiple days a week performing admin only duties and production will suffer. There is no working late... leadership literally called doing so an “integrity issue.” They hire leaders that show more in remaining gutless and docile than they do in performance and job knowledge.
My presence in the office would do nothing to change my productivity. I’m not in a field office. I do believe field offices need to open with more than minimal staff. I do believe we need admin staff in the office but I am not allowed to be so callous and publicly say that but that’s the truth of what is crushing our production. That and some upper level genius deciding that shipping DCPS exclusion cases that result in paper files across the country to sites that cannot have actual admin staff in office is a good idea is another cause for severe complication and delay. Absurd. Furthermore... how in 2021 we can’t input a claim electronically (I don’t care what the issue is)... is dumb and should be a priority fix. I could go on and this is not the lower staff that you complain about causing this. This is leadership sucking.
As for you calling- let me stop the need for half of your calls that are just soooooo important. “What’s the status?” Insert a bunch of expletives... and hear the words ... “IT IS PENDING.... that’s the status!!!!!!” Omg- if it is not det it is pending. And before you whine about the importance of the notice etc... you all know your “good cause” will be approved if that were to happen. Now... commence with all your one off comments of this time when... blank happened so it does matter I call for status five hundred times!
As for FOs. Agree with the ones above mentioning numident issues and drivers license, etc. they need to open in the very least more than they are. I cannot lie.. I do worry about the at-risk visitors. I don’t think SSA would bring back their at risk staff.
12:43 here. Yes I'm fully vaccinated with Moderna. But I'm still a little nervous about being indoors at an SSA office.
Dr. Fauci said a few dats ago, new indications are the virus spreads well in poorly ventilated indoor locations. This description fits most SSA offices. We don't know for sure how long these vaccines will last, and we don't know if there could be a new variant from India which could get around the vaccine.
Even if the vaccines protect people from immediate death or hospitalizations from Covid, I've read of several people who caught it (to their surprise) after they were vaccinated. We don't know what the long term effects are of getting COVID19. Some people are "long haulers" with heart, lung, or memory problems, and their health may never be the same again.
“Poorly ventilated.” What does that even mean? HVAC systems are the same everywhere - in your home, in your workplace, in buildings - EVERYWHERE. There is a return that draws air that goes to the heating/cooling exchange. It passes through a filter - which may or may not be effective. After the heating/cooling exchange it is forced through a blower out through vents to the rooms/open spaces, and back through the returns. That is the way they all work. “Poorly ventilated” is nothing more than a vague and meaningless charge.
What is proposed to make the ‘poorly ventilated,’ better ventilated? You want better filtration... Fine. Then the issue is the air is inadequately filtered, and the issues of filtration need to be considered as to whether viruses can be removed through filtration.
Watch the human animal here. The human animal can always find a way to justify an action. To work in an office or commit genocide, they can construct a reality to fit the decision they make.
I get it. I dont want to commute. I dont want to face the public day in and day out, lets face it the public has become much ruder and harder to deal with. The public sucks.
I like my freedom just as much as anyone else. But I chose a field of work that deals with people and with bureaucracy. There would be no need for me if people did what they were supposed to do and bureaucracy functioned like it was intended.
I can justify going to an office, I can justify telework. I can make myself feel better either way. I sure do like sneaking in that load of laundry or running the dishwasher during the day and having a bit more of my evenings to do what I want. I get it. I get the fact that lunch is better.
We are a country now that only cares about itself. Wants what it wants and wants it now regardless of what that means to other people. From an Amazon order, to an online news feed, to driving down the highway at whatever speed I want, carrying a gun in public or earbuds down the sidewalk, it is all about the individual and not the greater good. When faced with a challenge we did not rise to meet it with bravery and stiff spine, we shouted how unfair it was to sit on the couch, wear a mask and horded toilet paper.
Far from the shining city on the hill, we are a dumpster fire of One for All and All is Me. A dark slum at the bottom of the hill where everything lands after rolling. Ask not what the country can do for you, but what is the least you can do and get by and let the country go to hell in a handbasket as long as my Amazon gets here before 3:00.
Be proud of the part you are playing. This is the reality you are making every day with the decisions and actions you make. If you choose to not decide you still have made a choice.
I am one of those employees who is just as productive (maybe more productive) while teleworking. I do not have a public-facing job. I also have small children who are not approved to receive a vaccine yet. I understand that the COVID risk to young children is low, but it does exist. We're taking a reasonable but cautious approach with our activities until the children can be vaccinated. There is very little benefit to the public for me to return the office. Despite my fully vaccinated status, I would not look forward to returning to the office until my children could also be vaccinated, and their COVID-associated risks would be even lower. I understand that many people have jobs where it is necessary for them to work in person. I have a lot of respect for them. If I was in a position that did benefit from or require in-person work, I would return under current circumstances, but it is just not necessary for many employees.
Thought this post was about how to deal with Covid. It seems to have turned into SSA employees v. everybody else.
I do not blame SSA employees for any of this. I blame the funding of the SSA. As usual, it comes down to money. One of your earlier posts talk about dwindling SSA employee numbers.
Why would SSA have fewer employees when there is a huge backlog? It is because the system simply does not care to adjudicate these claims in a timely manner. It has always been so.
The funding is a huge problem, this has negatively impacted SSA far more than whether or not employees telework or not. Saul admitted recently that funding is a huge problem.
Lack of staffing plus sudden severe and almost total cutbacks in overtime in 2021 ( especially at PC7) have cut production and adjudication, and increased the backlogs tremendously.
I, for one, don't see a problem with doing work over the telephone and keeping the offices closed. We're doing better, but people are still dying or getting very sick. The masks have helped and kept us from having flu this flu season. I'm taking it slowly. As a recent cancer survivor, I'm worried about more than covid. Until we're all the way out of the woods, I can appreciate whatever restrictions are still in place.
AMEN!!!!!!!!!!!
" Anonymous said...
The irony of the Social Security Administration. It's not safe enough for healthy Social Security employees to return to work (many of them do not deal with the public in person). The same employees are denying disability claims for unskilled people with asthma, diabetes, and heart disease because they should go take jobs in retail, fast food, or housekeeping."
3:45 PM, May 11, 2021
@12:27 pm If what you claim is true "It is because the system simply does not care to adjudicate these claims in a timely manner. It has always been so" why do you think that is?
++
" Anonymous said...
The irony of the Social Security Administration. It's not safe enough for healthy Social Security employees to return to work (many of them do not deal with the public in person). The same employees are denying disability claims for unskilled people with asthma, diabetes, and heart disease because they should go take jobs in retail, fast food, or housekeeping."
++
You do realize that Social Security employees make ZERO medical decisions in those offices they may not want to go back to. So no, those same people are not denying disability claims for the unsklled, sick, etc.
8:50 PM
ALJ’s don’t make medical decisions? State agency medical consultants (paid with federal dollars) don’t make medical decisions?
@850 PM DDS employees do make medical decisions but they aren't SSA employees and as far as it appears, haven't posted about not wanting to go back to FOs, PCs and TSCs on this blog.
ALJs are SSA employees but I haven't seen them posting here either saying they won't go back to FOs, PCs and TSCs.
The employees posting about how unsafe they think it would be to go back appear to be saying FOs, PCs and TSCs won't be safe. I disagree with them but if you want to knock them, don't knock them for making adverse medical decisions when they don't even make those. There may be plenty of hypocrisy attributable to some but this isn't it.
I'm not sure that the PSC, TSC, and FO should all be in the same boat, as far as reopening goes. It seems most complaints Congress is receiving, is in regard to FO being closed, and the public not being able to come in to those offices.
Even if SSA is going to take the risky action of reopening the FO, I think all of the PSC and TSC should remain closed until 2022 at least.
If there is a virus variant which is vaccine resistant and which suddenly appears in the USA, there is no need to put thousands of employees which work in a PC or TSC at risk.
I am incredibly sick of work from home. Our office productivity has absolutely dropped, both from personnel losses without replacement (tranfers and retirements) and because our least productive employees essentially quit on the job without constant oversight.
It's not work from home. It's live at work. (And yes, I realize how lucky I am to have this kind of position compared to the situations many others are dealing with. I'm still complaining.)
The service to the public has undeniably suffered. The area of Social Security cards in particular is awful.
Doesn't the fact that the CDC just dropped mask requirements due to all the great medical news make all this foot dragging a bit moot? Private sector jobs are already requiring half time in the office (with masks on), and full time expected soon. While some jobs may continue to work well online, the days of everyone working from home are already over. The SSA field offices really need to open for business. Customer service is at an all time low. There is simply no accountability, no call backs, and documents seem to go into a black hole. This whole debacle of getting the mail associated with files takes weeks. Its infuriating to the public driving by the close buildings and on their way to their jobs, normal errands. We all can go into the bank, post office, grocery store, license branch, courthouse, etc. SSA is not more dangerous than anywhere else.
2:52,The key point which you are missing is that most SSA jobs can be done just as well from home as from in the office. Even better, because there are fewer distractions at home, and teleworking employees are not tired from commuting.
You make broad statements such as "Customer service is at an all time low", but where is your statistical evidence for these statements? My SSA unit is handling our workload quite well from home and our backlogs have decreased since telework started.
Let's face it. There is some jealousy and envy involved in this matter. Some of those whose own jobs are not compatible with telework, resent SSA workers being able to work from home. They will therefore reject evidence or statistics, which show that telework is working fine overall at SSA.
As for the CDC announcement today, it is too soon to rush into anything based upon this. Who is to say the virus will not become bad again now that people are unmasking. Or that one of the new variants could be vaccine resistant. The India government made the mistake of spiking the football too soon. Let's not do that here.
@3:10 The CDC made a big mistake with the announcement. Folks who are not fully vaccinated will just say they are fully vaccinated so that they do not have to wear a mask. Now, the likelihood of a myriad of variants seems very high because we are not close to herd immunity or close to the sought after 70% vaccination rate. What a sad testament to the CDC.
Amen, 4:05pm!!!!!!!!
@9:14am... you think you know things but you are incorrect. DDS staff are employed by the state but they are controlled by ROs, DPAs and above. They communicate and direct work to DDSs and their devices are controlled by SSA... Furthermore... SSA has DPUs across the country that have adjudicators processing medical decisions directly under SSA. So... they do make medical decisions. They do not need to be in an office to do so... they do however need their schedule A admin staff to be in the office... this cannot happen because those job openings are generally filled by individuals with high risk conditions.
They make adverse medical decisions because they are required to follow policy. They must align with the ridiculous listing changes like Musculoskeletal regardless of whether they agree or not because it’s not about their personal sentiments. They are hired to align with policy, pushed and railroaded into following whatever political leaning an administration leads the agency. Railing against adjudicators as if they are at fault asthma without decompensation has a denial... as if they make the policies and as if they control the fact that we don’t run a STD avoid the public because you have chronic bronchitis program. You don’t like it... you need to reach well above adjudicators to the ones that write the CFRs or listings. Ridiculous. You don’t make a valid tough guy statement by saying how can you make these medical denials and then say it’s not safe to be in an office... this is an erroneous comparison. They are not allowed to adjudicate based on their personal beliefs... they are however allowed to vocalize their personal safety concerns. Trust though, the leadership doesn’t care any more for their well being than it does for your clients.
People who make those comments sound profoundly ignorant. Furthermore the claims have final signatures by medical doctors sign off on them.
2:52
"This whole debacle of getting the mail associated with files takes weeks."
I'm sorry? Gramps, let me introduce you to 2021 and what's known as a PDF and the wonders of digital media.
This has absolutely nothing to do with telework.
No. No. And already do.
I am a FO employee working from home. It has it's good points and bad. I like not being interrupted by co workers and noise from the public. Even before this people came in sick or brought sick children with them. Working with scanned documents 60 pages long is a challenge. I think we could do part time from home. Since we have 6X6 cubicles only having half of us in at a time would work and be the best of both worlds.
Comedian Bill Maher just tested positive for Coronavirus despite having been fully vaccinated. Who knows what the long term health consequences will be, or how often this will happen?
The CDC ammouncment may have some political motivation: to divert attention from other crisis which are becoming worse/.
The science has not suddenly changed. Target just announced they are still requiring masks in their stores. Likewise SSA should not suddenly change their policy based upon a CDC decision which may soon prove to be rash.
I dont like what the government is saying, so I am going to come up with more excuses. CDC is lifting restrictions. Has been all year. If you believed them when they said go home you can believe them when they say go out.
Social Security should not reopen in office services. The agency has done so well.
A little gratitude for the fine job SSA employees have done in the face of the pandemic, would be nice.
I work in a PC and Ive learned to do my job from my home office better than I ever could in the office.
Instead of being jealous about SSA employees working at home, the general public should just accept thisas the new reality. SSA has proven that the workloads can be handled well by employees who telework.
This is not the 1980's with employees commuting in dangerous traffic to crowded SSA offices. This is the 2020's and teleworking is here to stay.
Several companies have announced they will allow their employees to continue working entirely from home, even after the pandemic is over. It makes for better recruitment, higher job satisfaction, and good service. SSA should follow their lead.
12:53 client with a Jan birthdate, turned 65, small problem with her name and date of birth. Couldnt get Medicare started till May 4th. Yep, doing just fine working from home. smh
@9:57 am One theory that has been propounded about the CDC announcement is that it will provide folks with the incentive to get vaccinated. Not sure how that makes any sense. Folks who are not pursuing vaccination won't rush out to get vaccinated now. They will just not wear masks but claim to have been vaccinated. This recent announcement from the CDC looks like it may end up being a step forward but in reality will be tantamount to taking multiple steps backward.
CDC: We need to wear masks
Overcautious Liberals: Listen to the public health officials!
CDC: Ok, masks are no longer necessary except in X, Y, and Z circumstances.
Overcautious Liberals: Don't trust the public health officials, they're up to something!!!
For anyone that doesn't want the paper to wait in an office, every Field Office has had a dedicated toll free WorkTrack number for over year. Some offices have done a better job than others at disseminating this information to their representatives. But evidence submitted through this manner is faxed directly into WorkTrack.
Why would Social Security go back to the 1950s by reopening fully. Many advancements have been forced on the agency in the last year. Can you believe they could not setup electronic faxing until 2020?? Going back to february 2020 would be a terrible mistake. The agency struggles to hire and retain staff, as well as mass retirements which continue to take place. This is not the time to go back to March 1, 2020. Telework must stay with flexibilities. Younger folks will not work for SSA if they choose to remain in the 50s.
Amen, 8:31.
Saul and Grace Kim tried to go back in time, when they abruptly ended telework two years ago. The results of their authoritarian actions were terrible for the agency and would be even worse now if they try it again.
If SSA reopens and does not give us at least two to three telework days per week, I will fill out my retirement papers online and ask my supervisor for building access so I can clean out my desk. No way I'm going back to commuting five days per week, when my job can be done just as well from home.
10:52 am
I believe the folks on this blog needs to realize if SSA returns to 100% in office. The public and the attorneys will be screwed. Nobody seems to realize how short staffed the agency and how little overtime is offered to get the work done. Its naïve to believe bringing back people to the desk will = accountability and more work.
@5:28 SSA management only cares about crunching numbers and running reports. They do not care about the employees, the public, or anyone else but themselves. They are virtually useless drones who only care about collecting their paychecks and retiring with a big pension.
10:52 with the retirement threat!
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