Sixty-one members of Congress, all or almost all of them Republicans, have written a letter demanding that Social Security field offices be reopened.
10 comments:
Anonymous
said...
The Republicans (Trump and Saul) abruptly terminated SSA telework for no good reason, causing huge morale problems and problems for SSA workers who had to suddenly begin commuting to the office to do the same job they were doing well at home.
It does not surprise me that Republicans are now calling for telework to be terminated again. They have shown they are anti government worker.
What really makes it bad now, however, is that the Republicans are willing to put employees health at risk. They pay lip service to being concerned about being concerned about COVID19 and employee health, yet they want SSA to return to crowded field office waiting rooms and face to face interviews.
COVID19 is still a real and present data, even for those fully vaccinated. Just this week it was revealed that 30% of recent COVID deaths in Maryland were among fully vaccinated people.
Good. Look - there can still be distancing guidelines. Only a certain number of people allowed in the building. Partitions put in place. Whatever. But they've been closed for well over a year. The rest of the world has been able to open back up. It's time for SSA offices to be available to the public they serve.
I agree with the GOP on this one (rare that I do, but sometimes they are right - pardon the pun). However, I would have the opening be limited to the hearing impaired, blind, and elderly, and require mask + proof of vaccination for entry. After a couple of months of that, if it is successful, then open more in stages (and NO WALK-INS - by appointment only).
@7:57 "for no good reason" I disagree with that statement. People teleworking were not returning phone calls. Paperwork was not getting processed. I think those are good reasons.
Lately, it seems that mail is being stacked up in the office and we have paperwork that has sat for 10 months. When we call about it the first thing we are told is that they never got it. Their tune changes when we tell them who signed the green card.
11:03 The rest of the world has not been able to open back up. Russia just announced a huge new lockdown due to COVID.
In the United States, most companies which have reopened are those with jobs that cannot be done from home: Grocery stores, gas stations, etc.
Let's look at companies which are more comparable to SSA, in the type of jobs that their employees hold.
Insurance companies and tech companies such as Apple, Comcast, and Google, their offices remain mostly or completely closed. Their employees continue to telework safely from home. These companies recognize that jobs can be done well from home, and that COVID is still around.
By allowing remote work, these companies are showing that they care about the safety and health, and the morale, of their employees.
9:56 I was just thinking the same thing. I am in California which has some of the strictest Covid rules in the country. The DMV reopened in June 2020. If they can be open, so can the field offices.
I agree we should re-open, but we can't allow packed lobbies of sick people. As long as they can manage that area, I'm glad to go back with hopefully some telework days still offered since nothing I do requires me to have direct contact with the public on a regular basis.
I may be an outlier on this, but I think SSA should consider making remote work permanent ( as several major companies have recently done) .
In 19 months of teleworking since COVID hit, SSA has developed the systems infrastructure for remote work. Employees have also developed necessary new skills to work efficiently from home.
Offering continued remote work will help with retention, and will attract young, computer savvy employees to SSA. So many young employees want flexibility in their home-work life.
10 comments:
The Republicans (Trump and Saul) abruptly terminated SSA telework for no good reason, causing huge morale problems and problems for SSA workers who had to suddenly begin commuting to the office to do the same job they were doing well at home.
It does not surprise me that Republicans are now calling for telework to be terminated again. They have shown they are anti government worker.
What really makes it bad now, however, is that the Republicans are willing to put employees health at risk. They pay lip service to being concerned about being concerned about COVID19 and employee health, yet they want SSA to return to crowded field office waiting rooms and face to face interviews.
COVID19 is still a real and present data, even for those fully vaccinated. Just this week it was revealed that 30% of recent COVID deaths in Maryland were among fully vaccinated people.
Isnt there a vaccine mandate deadline slowly creeping its way closer and closer?
One of the very few times I find myself actually agreeing with congressional Republicans!
Good. Look - there can still be distancing guidelines. Only a certain number of people allowed in the building. Partitions put in place. Whatever. But they've been closed for well over a year. The rest of the world has been able to open back up. It's time for SSA offices to be available to the public they serve.
I agree with the GOP on this one (rare that I do, but sometimes they are right - pardon the pun). However, I would have the opening be limited to the hearing impaired, blind, and elderly, and require mask + proof of vaccination for entry. After a couple of months of that, if it is successful, then open more in stages (and NO WALK-INS - by appointment only).
@7:57 "for no good reason" I disagree with that statement. People teleworking were not returning phone calls. Paperwork was not getting processed. I think those are good reasons.
Lately, it seems that mail is being stacked up in the office and we have paperwork that has sat for 10 months. When we call about it the first thing we are told is that they never got it. Their tune changes when we tell them who signed the green card.
11:03 The rest of the world has not been able to open back up. Russia just announced a huge new lockdown due to COVID.
In the United States, most companies which have reopened are those with jobs that cannot be done from home: Grocery stores, gas stations, etc.
Let's look at companies which are more comparable to SSA, in the type of jobs that their employees hold.
Insurance companies and tech companies such as Apple, Comcast, and Google, their offices remain mostly or completely closed. Their employees continue to telework safely from home. These companies recognize that jobs can be done well from home, and that COVID is still around.
By allowing remote work, these companies are showing that they care about the safety and health, and the morale, of their employees.
9:56 I was just thinking the same thing. I am in California which has some of the strictest Covid rules in the country. The DMV reopened in June 2020. If they can be open, so can the field offices.
I agree we should re-open, but we can't allow packed lobbies of sick people. As long as they can manage that area, I'm glad to go back with hopefully some telework days still offered since nothing I do requires me to have direct contact with the public on a regular basis.
I may be an outlier on this, but I think SSA should consider making remote work permanent ( as several major companies have recently done) .
In 19 months of teleworking since COVID hit, SSA has developed the systems infrastructure for remote work. Employees have also developed necessary new skills to work efficiently from home.
Offering continued remote work will help with retention, and will attract young, computer savvy employees to SSA. So many young employees want flexibility in their home-work life.
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