From a recent report by Social Security's Office of Inspector General:
... During our interviews with management and our office visits, we learned office managers—who are not members of a bargaining unit— were the main staff reporting to the offices throughout the pandemic. Approximately half of the office management we interviewed believed they were treated fairly; while the remaining office managers indicated SSA leadership could have provided them more support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sixteen members of management stated they felt overworked, dispensable, and unappreciated, and 45 said the Agency did not realize the large volume of non-portable work for which they were responsible. Management noted it was a challenge to juggle their normal managerial duties and the non-portable workload. ...
8 comments:
As a CS in the FO...welcome to the ranks of the unappreciated, overworked and dispensable...get comfortable and enjoy your stay!!!
Management treats employees the same way (unfairly).
Funny, that's exactly how the rank and file federal employees said they felt in the big federal employee survey: overworked, stressed out, underappreciated, etc. SSA ranked worst or close to it of any federal agency in almost every category.
lol. No sympathy whatsoever. Management getting a taste of its own medicine. Put them all under an extremely stressful punitive-threatening MPI (management productivity index) just like everyone else.
Most people have no idea what management had to do in hearing offices... On top of their regular duties of managing staff, making assignments, paying bills, ordering supplies and preparing numerous reports for upper management, they have been retrieving, opening and scanning mail into files - very time consuming. They have also has to scan paper files into electronic files and/or ready them to send to a contractor that was finally hired to assist in this endeavor. On top of that, they became computer experts, replacing faulty laptops (meeting employees in lobbies or at their cars)... furniture movers as they re-arranged hearings rooms to accommodate distancing etc... and a multitude of other things... and the latest, the are receiving training to do VHR duties since the Agency has contract VHRS with companies that are unable to provide the service in many places... apparently they pay the contract VHRs so little they can't even get anyone to work for them... so new duty for the managers on top of everything else... and of course the last thing... they are going to be cleaning people too - because the claimant's and reps are supposed to use the clorox wipes to clean their own tables in hearing rooms.. and if they don't, well that is next for the managers... Wonder if the people in Headquarters who are still going to get to telework 5 days per week realize many claimants have illnesses that prevent them from exposure to cleaning supplies/fumes... guess not... and did I mention that management has to stop work for meetings that generally say one thing one week and a different thing the next... that's leadership at SSA...
@ 8:01
Fellow HOMS spotted. I feel you sir/ma'am.
I wish I could say I feel sorry for FO management but I can't. They are just getting a taste of their own medicine, something we have been swallowing for years.
I have no love for higher management, but I suppose I'm lucky in that our OS level (but no higher) management is superb, and with very few exceptions has been for the decade+ I've been in this office. While there is a bit of schadenfreude seeing them get some of the pain of the insane workload we're all under, it doesn't do the general public any good.
Making management open and sort mail for 2 years while insisting they still manage employees with a host of new distance and technology-related challenges hurt SSA efficiency without a doubt. I don't know why they waited over a year and a half before even opening things up to volunteers from the bargaining unit to return (especially given Saul's outright disregard for SSA unions), but it wasn't a good decision.
As with all things, it comes back to money, headcount, and good leadership. SSA lacks all three.
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