What percent of the working population is working from home these days? People who are working from home generally think it's a fairly high number -- at least 40%. The reality is that in August only 13.4% of Americans who work were working from home. An article in The Atlantic deals with this issue of perception versus reality when it comes to work during the pandemic.
Almost all Social Security employees are working from home now. Many have somehow convinced themselves that this situation will last many, many months into the future, perhaps forever. This is unrealistic. All Social Security employees who want to keep their jobs must soon be vaccinated. I can think of no rational reason for Social Security employees to keep working from home after this happens. The risk just isn't there. We can talk about when and how we allow claimants back in field offices but the idea that it's acceptable, even during the pandemic, for vaccinated Social Security employees who only work around other vaccinated employees to keep working from home 100% of the time is not something the public will tolerate.
Let me be blunt. Andrew Saul was mean to Social Security employees. So what? He's gone. Social Security employees don't get special treatment in perpetuity as recompense for Saul's behavior. Social Security employees should receive the same sort of treatment that workers generally receive. To get personal, I'm back in my office. Why are Social Security employees so special that they can't be back in their offices? As I've asked before, does anyone really think that Social Security employees are cowering at home, never venturing out to socialize or eat in restaurants?
The happy talk posted here, probably by union shills, that productivity has gone up during the pandemic might be true for a few individuals but overall it's an absurd claim. Service has declined dramatically during the pandemic. Lack of overtime can only explain some of this. If nothing else, we all know that many Social Security employees lack broadband internet access at home. Almost none of them have dual monitors. Who finds working on a laptop to be as convenient as working on a desktop? There's no way to avoid it. Service has declined broadly and work from home is a major reason. If anyone has proof that there's been any improvement in productivity at Social Security show us the numbers. Otherwise, I'm not buying it. I'm on the receiving end of Social Security's service. I know what's happened.
Tell your clients to get the vaccine.
ReplyDeleteThere is nothing unrealistic about permanent WFH. Either adapt or retire Charles.
ReplyDeleteHi Mr. Hall:
ReplyDeleteOHO writer here. Not a Union shill. Just an ordinary lawyer from the peanut gallery. From an anecdotal view, there is some good news to help you. First, it looks like OHO productivity has increased or remained the same. Those of us in my mid-west office are working from home, most of us with two or more screens, and are largely meeting the rigorous quotas set by Saul, et al.
The backlog is down, way down, though this also might be to a lack of incoming cases. Regardless, we in the trenches have worked very hard, with little thanks from management, who have not acknowledged our "sprint" to reduce/eliminate the backlog, but instead find this rate of production seems to now be expected, with the only adjustment being to ever-so-slightly tighten the screws. Frankly, many of the writers (and some judges) are very tired, and looking for different work, as the brutal pace requires an extraordinary amount of additional work off the clock. Management knows this, but turns a blind eye, as long as the quotas are met. I fear this need to continue working off the clock will lead to an exodus of skilled attorneys and judges, just when the field offices (and therefore, flood gates) open.
I certainly understand your frustration with the field offices remaining closed. Could you perhaps use your bully pulpit to propose some workable, common-sense solutions, with less vitriol and more in the spirit of trying to get the service increased?
Retired Attorney Writer here: Even back in the good ole days. I worked off the clock most days, I wish the Agency/Management would acknowledge this, and give credit where credit is due. From what I understand, our production standards were not so stringent, I hasten to think the off the clock work it would now take to successfully perform decision writing today with the brutal numbers they require,
DeleteStart the "I will retire first" pool again....
ReplyDeleteI am not a rep or a SSA worker. I am a former SSA TXVI and TII CR that walked away and went to work for a midsized claim mill. Left there to do something more with my knowledge and return to my social work roots. As a social worker in the midwest during the pandemic, I can tell you getting anything done that was not able to be handled online was next to impossible. I have folks with Medicare enrollments that didnt go through, retirements that were delayed for silly things and people that have had original documents lost. Nobody cares about these folks and they are going to have a very negative opinion of the agency for life.
ReplyDeleteHere is the simple truth, if you dont like working for SSA you can work someplace else. Get back or get out of the way.
The tech industry has been working from home for years. A lot of other industries have also done this. The legal industry have done hearings over video and phones. Do not see why OHO could not keep this.
ReplyDeleteThis is 11:35 again, and to be fair, our state DHS is still working from home. That staff needs to be back in the office too. People, real live people, not files, not cases, not quotas to be reached, are falling through the cracks. People are suffering from the lack of communication with these offices.
ReplyDeleteTrust me, I know, it is a lot easier to deal with people electronically or on the phone. I know its hard when they cry, when they stink, when they look at you and you see in their face that they have no idea what you just said and what they have to do. But you have to be there to see the face, the tears the smells. Thats how these programs work. Not doing it is a disservice to those that need the help the most.
It’s rally not that difficult to figure out.
ReplyDeleteThere’s zero reason for ALL of SSA’s work force to physically return to the offices. If the majority or all of your workloads can be done from home, there should be no reason why you can’t continue to work remotely.
If your work cannot be done remotely, then you must return to the office when recalled.
There really isn’t a reason for SSA offices to be open to the public like it was before. Things have changed and will continue to change. SSA will continue to push the online filings and this was the push the agency needed to get those programs in place and working.
Remember, government sucks in general which is why most people prefer it to have a smaller footprint. Trying to get anything done efficiently is a pipe dream.
I don’t care if or when they call us back. Makes no difference to me as long as the environment is as safe a possible. I’m vaccinated but I know quite a few coworkers refusing to vaccinate. Maybe the mandate will change that, maybe it won’t. A few have said they will quit first.
Either way, it will all work it’s self out in the end. There seems to be so much hatred towards SSA worker on this blog. I think most of of work hard to help people in need. We didn’t send ourselves home to work remotely and we don’t control when we go back. Most of us are doing the best we can given the situation we’re in. You’d think that would be appreciated but it doesn’t seem to matter.
Charles Hall asserts:
ReplyDelete"Service has declined broadly and work from home is a major reason."
Please provide a citation to support this statement.
Open the field offices. Open the payment centers, which are really broken. What about the paper files? Cant have hearings on paper files, they are in the offices which are closed. Service is so bad that SSA had to change policy and take copies of documents because they lose or cant timely return originals. this is not government service. this is government disservice. Return to the office, or retire and let others who want to serve the public do so.
ReplyDeleteA minor point but laptops were what were being used in all of the FOs pre Covid and have for a handful number of years. It is easier to work w/ more than one screen and many folks who work from home do have more than one while some don't.
ReplyDeleteIt's up to the administration to call SSA workers back to work. Individual workers have no control over that whether they think they are more productive, are going to quit or retire or anything else.
If you want to blast someone, blast the new administration.
Retired SSAer who worked from home now and then, not to this degree. But I wasn't in the field. Now, I've spent literally months trying to get some fairly routine stuff handled by SSA that would have been handled in one office visit. Spent money on certified registered mail, wrote a congressman's office, was given fax numbers that didn't work. Mailed things in to various addresses as directed. Called the 800 number multiple times. Stopped by the FO hoping for a drop box to find staff who wouldn't take my letter, and who gave me the bogus fax number. Finally handled, just took the congressman getting someone to call me. Took not quite 8 months. And literally, given 5 minutes with a CR with systems access, the issue would have been handled, or at least queued up for handling. So tell me again how service isn't impacted?
ReplyDeleteThere is little accountability for way too many folks at SSA. The judges who hold the hearing are a classic example of that. And, the service to the public suffers because of it. And, no one seems willing to do anything to fix the problem. So, folks can play the blame game all they want, but the problems still exist. And, what a shame that is.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"Almost none of them have dual monitors. Who finds working on a laptop to be as convenient as working on a desktop? "
This is simply not true. At PC7 we received instructions on how to hook up a dual monitors back before Saul was appointed, when the telework project started. Monitors are cheap and every SSA employee I know has dual monitors at home, and has had them for a long time.
I'm not buying the stats showing such a low percentage of Americans are working from home. Many major companies have announced extended telework, or even remote work. Also most SSA jobs can be done perfectly well from home, so we should not even be compared to people whose jobs can't be done remotely, such as grocery store workers.
Returning to the offices would not be safe. I've read many stories of breakthrough infections, and those who get COVID19 after vaccination can still get very sick, even if they don't have to be hospitalized. Also they can bring it home to their children who are not eligible for vaccination, and some of whom have their own health issues. The variants are always a risk. The coming cold weather will likely bring yet another surge in COVID cases. The FO personnel would be in danger, as they deal face to face with the public, who would also be at increased risk.
I am more productive from home, as I believe most SSA employees are. I am simply not going to return to an SSA office and risk my health and the health of those close to me,, to do the exact same work that I can do perfectly well from the comfort and safety of my home.
ReplyDeleteThe Atlantic article stated;
'...Americans were still going to work in person, risking their life and the health of their families. Nurses, line cooks, delivery drivers, assembly-line workers, grocery-store clerks, and plumbers simply don’t have the option of getting an extra hour of sleep and hopping on Zoom in their pajamas."
The professions listed are not comparable to SSA workers, most of whom can do their jobs perfectly well from home. The article also stated that the people who do go in are risking their health and the health of their families. The point of the article was not that teleworkers should return to the office, but that many have no option to work remotely because of the nature of their jobs.
It would be irresponsible for SSA to reopen while COVID19 cases are at such high levels due to the Delta variant. There are many cases where people get quite sick even after they have been vaccinated, and the long term health consequences are unknown.
Many of us have children who are not yet vaccinated Charles. Vaccines are wonderful in many ways but they are not a magic bullet. Vaccinated people can still get sick and spread the virus. Plus there is the unresolved issue of long COVID in vaccinated people.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason for many SSA employees to return to a physical office except in instances where public facing work is required.
Opening your office is not comparable to opening up a DO or even a HO. If you think it is so safe to work in one of those environments, when we do open up you should go sit in the waiting area or if that is not allowed, park yourself right outside a DO and make sure your staff is willing to go sit with you.Make sure you intetact with those mostly unvacinated claimants. You know Charles clearly there are problems with public service that need to be fixed. But instead of stomping your feet, why don't you come up with suggestions. A realistic thing you could do is encourage your peers to accept video hearings. BTW everyone who works on a laptop has two monitors if they want one.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteSSA employees are not all going out restaurants and socializing as if COVID never existed.
For example, I don't go into stores except for groceries, and then I wear a mask.
I avoid going to restaurants unless there is outside seating.
If the offices reopen I don't think SSA will let me set up my desk outside of the office.
The thing about entitlement is that the entitled dont think they are entitled.
ReplyDeleteCan’t your team do better than this?
ReplyDeleteI called the Syracuse DO and was on hold for an hour and 29 minutes with phone ringing while I did other work, with no answer. I gave up.
This is your definition of productivity???
I'm at OHO. The moment they make us come in more than twice a pay period to do portable work at a cubical, I'm looking for a new job.
ReplyDeleteAs far as it being unsafe to reopen offices, as long as there are schools that are open, this argument seems specious. SSA offices of all types are no riskier than schools, which are the petri dishes of America, and they've made it work. Not perfectly, but classrooms are open. Doctors offices make it work. Many places make it work, despite "the risk". Malls are open, plenty of places are open, but not SSA offices. Perhaps, like many who have chosen not to vaccinate and thus become unemployed or decide not to teach at places where covid awareness is politically viewed as being "woke", personal decisions will have to be made.
ReplyDeleteSchools should always have been opened. Kids do very well either avoiding or surviving Covid. There have been less than 500 deaths in the 70+ million kids under 18 and the vast majority of those were kids with other health issues. Who have been dying the most? Elderly and disabled. Who does SSA serve? All types but especially the elderly and disabled.
ReplyDeleteGiven the current administration's thinking on Covid, not likely to reopen very soon even though it's probably pretty safe.
Note: FO, PSC and OHO people who post here likely have no input into whether the agency reopens more or not.
ReplyDeleteBe careful what you ask for, Charles. Remember the huge SSA employee morale problems when Saul suddenly ended Operations telework , for no good reason? Actually I think that's when the backlogs started to grow in the PSCs, in November of 2019.
Due to telework ending, many employees started using a lot more leave, and some employees even retired or quit. One employee in my unit took off a month of leave, starting the day telework ended.
At least in the short run, ending telework would make the SSA backlogs worse, not better.
There is exactly zero reasons for Attorney Advisors to work in the office unless they just want to.work in an office.
ReplyDeleteThere is no reason for ALJ’s to be in the office except for hearings and if audio hearings stick, those are better performed from home in many locations because the offices have zero sound-proofing. Video hearings from offices instead of hearing rooms were awful because people in neighboring offices were subjected to hearing the whole thing.
but what's the percentage of college educated workers are working from home? Sure people who work in construction, retail, restaurant, and hospitality can't work from home but there's no way only 13.4% of white collar office workers are teleworking at least part time. As the article noted, people over estimated it because you surround yourself with like individuals. The white collar author asked his white collar friend, who estimated 40%. It's not fair but its true. Working in the service, manufacturing, and construction industries sucks that's why your parents told you to get an education.
ReplyDeleteThere's a lot of weird animosity here about it. It seems like parts of SSA are working well and parts are not. OHO writers seem confused because we've been teleworking 3days+ per week for over 10 years fine and we do the exact same thing in the office that we do at home. OHO writers should never see an SSA office again, there's no need. The field offices and payment centers probably need better telework processes and I assume those are being developed.
Bottom line is white collar office workers in the economy are going to demand at least partial telework from here on out. The government already has trouble attracting young educated workers, if it can't adapt to telework no one is going to want to work for the government. The appeal of government work is the stability. Young people aren't risk averse they don't care and the stability of government is dwindling now its a soap opera and politics has become somewhat unpredictable. Is the government gonna shutdown in 8 days, who knows? You can either force the writer to commute in to an office for no reason or they can go work for a national firm writing court briefs remotely. SSA is going to have to compete.
You know, I have never seen anyone address the security issues of working from home. There is a lot of PII in peoples houses, queries printed, scratch paper, all kinds of ways to be hacked. Do I want to believe all the workers are diligent in handling my PII, you bet. Do I believe it happens? Nope, not even a little bit.
ReplyDelete1101 My understanding is that NO paper is allowed at home and we cannot connect a printer to our Agency laptop. Please tell us more.
ReplyDelete12:01 is correct. However, the government has some people who just don’t care and don’t follow guidelines. So, even though it shouldn’t be happening, who knows who is scribbling SSN’s down on paper at home?
ReplyDeleteHowever, the same could be said for when we were in the office. Nothing stops you from writing stuff down or taking pics with your phone so it’s probably a wash.
@1101 you cant print and the VPN you use at home is literally the same network you log into at the office same log in procedure everything. If you're hacked at home you'd be hacked at the office. It'd be pretty tough on the line employee's part, you can't install any software without IT admin privilege. Sure there may be a risk for scratch paper but you have that in office too someone could take it home, your bag is not searched at the end of the day its not the CIA. You're essentially trading the risk of cleaning staff and others that come into our offices for employee family members in terms of access to info. Don't think its much of increased risk.
ReplyDeleteSome people need to be in the office, primarily for face to face transactions but security isn't the problem. Again OHO writers, ALJs, OGC staff attorneys, and many other positions have been teleworking 2-4 days per week for the past 10 years. Its just new for the public facing field offices.
@1101 Actually there is probably less PII loss when people work from home because they can't print queries, etc. Less written information going out, less odds that it will go to the wrong person.
ReplyDeleteNOTE--you may want to check to make sure you are correct before making unsubstantiated allegations.
Charles's post is spot on. Why are SSA employees entitled to special treatment when the vast majority of workers they serve have been back in the office for many months? Other comments have not addressed his safety point--vaccines are extremely effective and mandated for all federal workers. It is no longer reasonable to argue remote work is needed to protect SSA employees.
ReplyDeleteField offices and payment centers are a complete mess, and it is absolutely related to remote work. SSA is not a tech company, and that is part of the problem. The IT and software infrastructure was not built for a remote workforce, and that clearly shows.
So let me get this straight, an SSA office with a guard and shredding contracts that have to shred to government stands is less secure than your dining room? Yeeaaahhhh.....
ReplyDeleteFrom a representative perspective, I can confirm the problem is with field offices and payment centers. OHOs seem to be functioning surprisingly well, and I hope some changes like TEAMS video hearings are permanent. So yes, makes sense for SSA attorneys and decision writers could work from home indefinitely, but staff that directly interacts with claimants and reps have not adapted nearly as well--and its not just a productivity issue. Some basic functions are impaired by SSA's IT systems, and there are some tasks that are much more efficient to complete in office--like mail processing and claimant interviews that require review of documents.
ReplyDeleteWith major IT improvements, I could envision a future where most SSA employees could work effectively from home, but the current situation is unfairly shifting the burden to reps and claimants. I truly do not know how unrepresented claimant's are navigating the dysfunctional field offices. The problem at payment centers seem more related to insufficient staffing/lack of overtime, but field offices are a complete disaster.
i will make it quite plain what I think about this. I dont care what you want, I pay my taxes to talk face to face with a real human being about my damn retirement! I dont want to talk to you on the phone, I dont want to do it online, I want to have it explained to me and be comfortable with it because this is the rest of my effing life we are messing with!!! I am not a file or an appointment but a real human being and you are messing with my income and health insurance for the rest of my damn life. Screw what you want! We the people pay you so stfu and get back to work.
ReplyDeleteI know you cant put that on the board Charles, but that is how i feel. Feel free to edit.
TLDR version: Angry old man shakes fist at the sky.
DeleteGet out of here with that "We pay you" nonsense. By that rationale I pay my and my fellow SSA employees' salaries. We aren't exempt from paying the Federal income tax ya know.
1:58 said
ReplyDelete'Charles's post is spot on. Why are SSA employees entitled to special treatment when the vast majority of workers they serve have been back in the office for many months?"
...workers we serve? I can churn out Step 1 unfavorables all day from my government laptop at home.
@215 You don't pay taxes to talk to SSA employees face to face. You pay them to have your claim processed and for your checks to be sent to you correctly.
ReplyDeleteGo back to the 1980s if you want face to face interviews. Most retirees file online now and those who don't file over the phone in greater numbers than face to face. Unless SSA needs to see a document, they don't have to see you at all to pay you correctly.
I pay my taxes and I want a face to face appointment with Medicare because they owe me that!!!
ReplyDeleteOh wait, Medicare doesn’t have offices for the public and they just tell everyone to go to SSA…oh boy
@4:48 Can you seriously not see the benefit of face to face interactions with SSA? Removing this as an option will further disconnect Americans from their SSA benefits, and make it easier for the GOP to justify reducing SSA's operating budget.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there are MANY cases where SSA does need to see documents to pay correctly. And Calling SSA field office and getting correct information, or the correct case worker on the phone has been a big issue. I am currently dealing with a compassionate allowance case were SSA incorrectly offset the client due to earnings that predated his early retirement start date. This issue would be resolved much more quickly with in-person appointments. The client mailed documents three months ago, and they were only recently processed. The field office case worker assigned would not answer the phone or return our messages for weeks. This guy will be dead within a year and he is being screwed by SSA's inability to process mail or respond to phone calls.
If remote service was capable of timely responding to issues or managing call volume you might have a better argument. But current SSA infrastructure is not set up for a 100% remote work-force.
Seems that decision writers and SSA attorney's are over-represented on this blog. You may not the problem, but that doesn't mean there aren't huge problems with other parts of the agency. The public facing field offices are the main issue. Does anyone on this forum work in field offices, because I cannot imagine they would claim everything is functioning well.
ReplyDeleteSome of you seem to have no clue about the range of issues handled locally at field offices. It would be one thing if SSA improved their ability to handle phone calls or expanded the range of functions that could be completed online. Instead, phone service has declined and somehow the phone techs seem even less competent then pre-pandemic.
@ 2:09 PM, September 22, 2021
ReplyDeleteYou are spot on!!!!!
The field offices have been LOSING paperwork, files, and all sorts of mishaps. THEY NEED TO GO BACK TO THE OFFICE>>>NO MORE TELEWORK!!!
Watching a former employee that went to work at the NHC in STL on FB this morning, she is posting videos of dancing Gummy Bears she is making while wfh.
ReplyDeleteWelcome to the future.
So SSA thinks that the taxpayers that pay them need to shut up.
ReplyDeleteNow who is entitled?
Wow. Proof that SSA hates the actual people they are there to serve. They put it in black and white. My respect for the agency gets lower and lower.
ReplyDeleteThe hate for SSA employees is rampant on this blog...my goodness.
ReplyDeleteSSA has delivered great customer service under very trying times. I have encountered staff in multiple offices and everyone wants to help. The employees in the office tell me they are severely understaffed and lack overtime. I want to thank the employees for working hard.
ReplyDelete@1:12
ReplyDeleteAre you referring to field offices? Because my experience has been the exact opposite. I had SSA staff tell a client they need to find a new attorney because we submitted nothing on their behalf...and this is after our 1695 confirmation and multiple faxes over the span of 5 months. Paperwork is being lost, and sometimes they cannot even find documents that we already confirmed were received. No effort is spent on locating these documents. I have had the office manager of a field office incorrectly advise my client that his Workers Compensation settlement would produce an offset, when it should remove his offset.(we submitted a letter citing the proration language in the settlement, and the relevant POMS). It is rare to get a SSA field office rep on the phone who is even capable of assisting with the fairly basic issues/questions we have on cases, or we are told to call specific case workers that never call us back.
What angers me most about posts on this blog from SSA employees, is not their insistence on never returning to the office...but their denial that customer service has been terrible during the last 12 months. If you do not work in field offices, you have no clue what is going on. Service has not been "great." Your personal productivity as a decision writer has nothing to do with service provided by a totally different part of the agency.
2:56 pm , the situation at the field offices i deal with are responsive. And I call multiple offices. I may need to call 2-3x, I receive a quick response most of the time. And the fees are paid quickly. SSA customer service has improved, and I noticed a major uptick last month. I am specifically talking about the field offices and the processing center except the one in Baltimore. 256 pm are you actually calling the field offices? It sounds like you call the main 800 #.
ReplyDelete@256 Managers tell you what their staff tell them. Half were SSI claims reps that don't know about w/c offset. The other half haven't worked an offset in 10 or more years. You can blame the staff for bad information but management doesn't have the time to keep on top of policy.
ReplyDeleteFace to face interviews are great if there is time. But it's more efficient to do them online or via phone. CRs don't set the workloads or how to take claims. We aren't in the 80s anymore. Not enough staff by a long shot.
3:12 PM
ReplyDeleteI have never called the main 800#. To be fair, there is variation in service between the 4-5 field offices our firm deals with (I am in upstate NY). The smaller offices are struggling more than the larger offices, but the service is worse across the board. Fees have not been a big issue, but we have had more "failure to withhold" cases that resulted from SSA not processing our attorney forms before an application approval. Initial claims processing is the main problem. We cannot effectively represent our application level claims if it takes 4-5 months to get on record. We have a process for following up on 1695 acknowledgments, but I started noticing false "verbal" acknowledgements, where we would call in and be told our attorney forms were processed--but we never actually put on record. There have been two application cases in the last month where our claims were assigned to the wrong attorney office. In one of these cases we repeatedly intervened with the field office to correct the mistake, and somehow they still sent the denial notice to the wrong office (they corrected the attorney name, but not the address).
Misinformation and basic mistakes have exponentially increased in the last year. Even if the field office staff are well meaning and trying to help, many simply do not know basic rules and regulations. I wouldn't be surprised if this is more of a regional issue due to retirements/new hires. Workers Compensation offset issues have been a huge source of pain. Apart from their inability to calculate offsets/removals from settlements, appeals for incorrect offsets are not being handled correctly. We submitted an online recon appeal, confirmed with the field office our client will not have their benefits cut while the appeal is pending, and then the benefits get cut. Payment Center cannot not explain why, but they fix the issue, and then two months later his benefits get cut again with no explanation. There are clear information asymmetry problems too. (why do payments centers lack case information and documents that field offices have?).
Many of these problems have clear IT/software solutions that would lessen the burden on field office staff and attorney offices. Why can we not attach attorney forms/medical to initial applications when every other form of online appeal has this function? Why aren't online recon appeals for overpayments not automatically flagged to payment centers? Why was I told by a field office tech that it would easier for our office to re-fax the document attached to the online appeal, as opposed to just opening the attachment directly? SSA's tech infrastructure needs to brought into the 21st century.
Can any SSA employees address the IT/tech issues above? Are field office computer systems/data segregated from the other parts of the agency?
The short answer is "yes", they are segregated. The Online information the public accesses does not tie directly into the agency mainframes as that would be a disaster if somehow they ere "hacked". So, they are completely different ecosystems.
DeleteI used to work the internet claims for my office. Your guess is as good as mine as to why documents cannot be attached to initial claims. Maybe because "third party" filings are not considered claims until we have the signed application or can speak to and identify the numberholder? If we get a third party claim and cannot get in touch with the claimant or never receive the wet signature, those are deleted because we don't have a valid filing.
433 hit the nail on the head. "This is not the 80s anymore". In the 80s a contingent of young progressive claimant positive staff were hired, many with social work backgrounds. It was all about the claimants. Now the Agency is all about numbers. They don't provide adequate training because that would cause knowledgeable employees to ask questions and gum up the works. Its awful. There was not much public service before the pandemic and there is even less now. It is not because employees are working at home, it is because Agency leadership has not invested in or encouraged true public service. I had hopes for the new acting commissioner but so far nothing new has come down the line. In all fairness, she is only acting but carpe diam while you have the chance. Stop listening to Rasputin, computers are not the answer; while they are part of the solution, the real solution is an adequate number of well trained, compassionate employees. The most recent Schedule A plan is admirable but if the past is any indication, these poor people will be hired and then harassed out when they can't keep up. By all means, hire Schedule A employees but make it clear in their hiring docs that reasonable accommodations are expected.
ReplyDeleteIf it can be done from home it can be done by a third party cheaper.
ReplyDeleteYou were not born knowing how to do the work, the same training can be done, lets face it all you need is a screen for IVT.
Dont worry there are enough greedy people in the system that dangled the right carrot would move to the third party to fill in the gaps for a while, start with the 800 number and work your way up.
The easiest employee to fire is the one that works from home.
Sure it can...there is no doubt about that. You are right, the gov't can contract out the work to the lowest bidder, maybe even source it overseas.
DeleteRecently former SSA employee at another fed agency now here:
ReplyDeleteSSA's IT is garbage and it's not because they haven't sunk tons of money into it but rather because the folks at the top of SSA IT decision making management are not equipped for the job. My new agency's tech works well and is on par with the private sector; SSA is struggling to bring itself up to last decade's tech while everything its systems are built on is a hodgepodge of archaic systems all tied together with bubblegum and the approximately two people still left who can code in ADA or FORTRAN or whatever and know the byzantine mess.
Thanks.
You are correct...the agency's IT is garbage. The whole system is based on COBOL and everything the agency does now just slaps a pretty new internet based face on it but doesn't change the core of the systems. The same limitations exist but just have a nicer user interface.
DeleteI can't imagine how hard it would be to migrate ALL that is housed in the servers to a new platform. The undertaking would cause lots of problems I'm sure.
why not just hire more ssa employees instead of outsourcing?? When has outsourcing in the government resulted in success?
ReplyDeleteThis forum is just a place to beat up SSA employees.
@312 " We submitted an online recon appeal, confirmed with the field office our client will not have their benefits cut while the appeal is pending."
ReplyDeletePayment while the appeal is pending applies to cessation or overpayments but I have never heard of it applying to workers compensation offset. Reconsiderations for w/c offset are handled by the payment center. A field office could go in and correct an error if they see it but actual appeals are done by the PCs.
As bad as the service is now, I wonder how much worse it could get when half of the staff is called back into the office and there are more types of appointments available than just SS5s and proofs. The public will be able to get more expanded yet pretty limited service but there will be less people to handle phone calls than there are now. The office I am in gets 800-1000 calls some days. If 150 of those people can be handled in person, how are the other several other hundred people going to have their questions answered. Pre-covid, we had 2-3 people answering phones and they were able to keep up. We have hired about 10 new people during the pandemic, trainees who have never talked to anyone face to face and who were trained entirely over the computer. In other words, trainees that probably are not going to be all the good for quite a while, if ever.
For all you outsourcing aficionados, do you really want low paid, unvetted and untrained people having access to all of your financial and medical info? If you do, you must work for one of those ID defender groups.
ReplyDelete@10:49 Aren't Workers Compensation offsets calculated post-approval a primary source of overpayments? This was a recon appeal for incorrect over payment related to Workers Compensation claim. It involved a very difficult client, so we called both the field office and payment center multiple times to confirm payments would be ongoing during the appeal.This is another area that could be simplified by IT improvements. There should be a centralized reporting portal for WC payment changes, just like there is for part time wages.
ReplyDeleteI also do not believe outsourcing is the solution. A combination of new staff with ongoing IT improvements that lessen the workload for both SSA staff and claimant representatives seems like the best solution.
SSA also needs to revamp their training system. The new trainees answering the phones are useless and sometimes cause problems by providing misinformation. Today we called on an application level case that was approved before we got on notice. However, we called on this same case 3 months ago to confirm our office was on record. Field staff acknowledged our rep status, but for some reason did not think it was relevant to tell us the claim was already approved...client should have called us too, but seems like common sense to tell a rep the claim is approved when we are calling about our own rep status.
"SSA's IT is garbage and it's not because they haven't sunk tons of money into it but rather because the folks at the top of SSA IT decision making management are not equipped for the job."
ReplyDeleteThe lack of accountability for top level management is astounding. Doesn't seem to make difference when Democrats are in power either. You would think they have an incentive to prove that government can function and provide acceptable service. And the progressives seem more concerned with expanding benefits and programs, rather than fixing the preexisting broken systems.
SSA should have realized 15 years ago that utilizing an obsolete and inefficient coding language to continuously patch a bad system would eventually backfire. No one has vision for the longterm.
I have no idea if the insurance folks at my doctors office have been vetted, they have a copy of the check I paid with, my name, DOB, all my medical information, SSN, address and more. I think my financial adviser and staff has DOB, SSN, address, and bank acct numbers, dont know if that staff is vetted, I think my insurance company for home and auto has all that, dont know if they are vetted, health insurance company too, I never vetted the HR at work, dont know about that.
ReplyDeleteOh, I kind of drifted from my point, and that is that information is all over and its not like we dont see SSA employees get fired and go to jail for messing with it. I guess wfh includes tall ivory towers.
Good try 418 but those workers are accountable and they or their employers have insurance to pay damages, contract employees are not accountable and there is no insurance coverage. SSA employees do engage in fraud and are easily caught, that is the whole point.
ReplyDeleteWhy wouldnt contract employees be accountable. The employer would pay the damages through the same insurance. Thanks for playing but try again.
ReplyDelete313 Have you ever tried to hold a government contractor accountable never mind sue them? I have. Good luck with that. Government contractors are very rarely held accountable for anything. That is one of the reasons why the contracting racket is so profitable.
ReplyDeleteEver try to hold a government employee accountable?
ReplyDeleteDecision writer here. If your job performance can be quantified by a specific metric, like mine is, then it shouldn't matter where/how/when you work. Attorneys at the VA are full time TW and can live wherever they want.
ReplyDeleteTo the attorney who had difficulty meeting production quotas: you were probably not very good at it, and it's a good thing you found a job you were better at (hopefully).
Partially disagree with ALJ hearings staying virtual. Even prior to Covid, claimant's had the option of possibly speeding things up by opting in for a video hearing at an NHC. Some people just want to plead their case in person.
ReplyDeleteI think it should be up to the cl to pick video, telephone, or in person.
Commenter who said judges have no accountability in terms of productivity is right in theory since they are covered by the APA. But, the agency can still drive them nuts to meet quotas. I think judges should have much more TW and only come in on hearing days. Judges should also have the ability to offer all three types of hearings above and TW even on hearing days when held by video or phone.
The bigger issue with judges are the luddites who cant turn on a computer without calling IT. Seems like a silver lining of covid was forcing them to learn how to use technology?