The National Association of Disability Examiners (NADE), a voluntary organization of personnel who make initial and reconsideration determinations on disability claims for the Social Security Administration, has released its Spring 2022 newsletter. Almost all NADE members work for state governments who handle disability determination for Social Security at the first two levels of review. The states do the work under contract with Social Security. I won't bother explaining why states do this work but it goes back to the very beginning of disability determination for Social Security.
There's a lot more in this newsletter that will be of interest beyond the NADE membership but here's a little nugget from a summary of a presentation by Grace Kim, Deputy Commissioner of Operations and some other SSA officials at NADE's mid-year meeting, "... to date in FY22, the [Disability Determination Service employee] attrition rate has increased in the examiner positions from 19.8% last fiscal year and is on track to hit 24.4% this fiscal year. ..." That is a staggeringly high turnover rate. I'm an employer. I don't know how you get complex work done with that high a turnover rate -- and yes, disability examiners do complex work. This is a big red flag telling us that something is very wrong and needs urgent attention.
9 comments:
Is anyone surprised? I know I’m not.
It is good to see the workers voting with their feet.
Same as SSA field office workers. It’s not getting done. But keep berating us.
Something not stated here is that, though it's the same federal-originating SSA money that funds the State DDSs, the States are actually implementing these programs and controlling things such as pay.
It's no surprise that DDS examiners are fleeing from the job even more than usual (I don't know for certain but wouldn't be surprised if across the country at DDSs attrition has consistently been above 15% even before COVID, etc.). It's a nightmare of a whirlwind of work to do with crushing, unyielding productivity demands (even when on leave) all for often cruddy pay and abysmal State benefits. The pay starts under $40,000 in many States and barely goes up even after hitting a higher position and with years of experience. Who wants that? One is significantly better off being a brand new HCSR at OHO, and that is depressing.
What's wrong is the poor leadership. Look in the mirror Ms. Kim. I left because the execs are in total denial. They continue to push hard for results as if nothing has changed. Current executive culture is totally dysfunctional. They say they want "open and honest communication," but pity the poor sap who takes them at their word when they are honest about their concerns. He/she gets either shut down, ignored or berated. This culture produces a total disconnect. Policy and systems get pushed out with little consideration of its impact. FOs are constantly in the lurch.
1:41 is right I think These folks may be federally funded but they are state run and operated and some states seem to believe that outside police and fire, states shouldn't be doing much of anything and pay accordingly. I know a lot of ex-state dds workers who became feds because the job got them what they needed to jump ship.
Many DDS examiners move to a DDS in another state so the overall impact may not really be attrition. Many are forced out because of the unattainable standards that are set by the Feds not the states
As a fairly new dds employee, I scan understand the high attrition rate. My state’s job board is rarely lacking a job opening for adjudicators. The salary starts at around $45k, and there’s a 1 year probation where they can fire you and the union you’re paying for can’t help you. The training is shockingly bad. The trainers love it because they come and go as they please. There are no paper materials and students must use one of the popular online classrooms and copy pages into another popular software product. Students frequently are using FaceTime during lectures to communicate with family members. This is the new normal. The training itself is so random that once students get their live claims, they are faced with the reality that they were shown where to find the needed info, but not how to use it and in which order. The training supervisors contrast sharply with the classroom trainers. The knowledge base students thought they had is destroyed as they realize speed is a priority and each supervisor has his own way of recording notes on the claimants’ records. Plus, there’s the usual office politics. Overtime is offered but we have to work on other cases. The morale is nonexistent.
@2:38
Sounds just like SSA training. New SSA employees get a 2 year probationary period but other than that, same crap.
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