From the testimony of Chad M. Poist, Deputy Commissioner for Budget, Finance, and Management, Social Security Administration, before the Committee on Oversight and Accountability, Subcommittee on Government Operations and the Federal Workforce
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Rto resulted in the lowest staffing in 25 years. Ssa has attempted to hire new staff to replace the losses. Too many of the new employees quit because of unsupportive management and draconian telework cuts.
ReplyDeleteExactly. I really wish so many people both inside and outside SSA would quit excusing gross incompetence and gross mismanagement simply because it currently coincides with slower budget growth.
Delete@9:10 and don’t forget the terrible new hire training. Our few trainees over the last two years have learned nothing in that class, and 2 of the 5 quit within the first 6 months on the job because they felt like they didn’t know anything.
ReplyDeleteWhen you hear cuts in telework referred to as "draconian" you know it has become an entitlement, not just a privilege.
ReplyDeleteSo, it’s working well for many, and one of the few things staving off an even more massive staff exodus, but you feel it should be cut because employees view it as an entitlement? You should really run for office as a GOP candidate or apply for work ad an SSA executive. Both groups love this kind of illogical and petty gamesmanship.
Delete@248. You don't have to be a Republican to know service was better when FO employees were all in the office. Telework is great for me. No commute, etc. Some teleworkers probably do as good of a job working from home. But taken as a whole, SSA is not providing better service.
DeleteCovid is over and FO employees should be back serving the public, the entire reason we were hired in the first place.
The sad part is that neglecting Social Security is a bipartisan initiative. Even when Democrats have full control of both Houses and the WH, they STILL underfund SSA in favor of other priorities. And the last Democrat to successfully nominate and have confirmed a permanent Commissioner was BILL CLINTON!
ReplyDeleteI retired 7 months ago and it had nothing to do with telework. I was never a big fan of it. What drove me out the door was the ridiculous policy and procedures. For instance, why call a claimant to verify the electronic signature on paperwork submitted by a rep?? They never answered the phone and many reps wouldn’t call you back so the app just sits in the fo. The never ending emails from management to let you know you have work pending that is a day old. Just a couple examples of never ending stupidity. I wouldn’t go back to that nonsense if they doubled my salary.
ReplyDeleteOr they have you answer phones all day or take care of people coming into the office and wonder why your claims, work CDRs, waivers and personal conferences are backed up. Management at my office had great faith in their employees. "You can do it!"
DeleteDrastically cutting the hours for the job that I was doing full time is not going to result in the same amount of claims processed.
6 in my training class, 1 is left and it isnt me! I went to VA and despite what everyone has said about how bad it is, it is so much better than SSA. I would not have stayed for triple the salary.
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ReplyDeleteMaybe you didn't even look at the graph in the original post, but between 2020 and 2022, SSA lost something like 4,000~. Even going back before 2020, there were even more employees at SSA. Telework ins't the problem. Understaffing is the crisis. Being understaffed in the office or teleworking makes no difference, service sucks because there is too much work and not enough employees to do it all, period.
It’s not just the losses and the increase in work. Yes , that will make services degrade as they have. The current state is a culmination of poor leadership for years. Years of terrible hires of only schedule a or vets coupled with an agency that has lost complete touch. They no longer develop employees for a career, their training is a self paced nightmare and they are trying to still accomplish the same work as before with no adjustment. They also keep seeking funding on the back of integrity workload to the point that cdrs and rzs is all that left. They agency is a disaster ar every level but when you can fill gs 13 or 14 jobs bc no one bids or the candidates are aweful we’ve hit rock bottom. Yes years of neglect have had its toll but I don’t blame the unions or local management. I blame the trove of area directors, regional commissioners and senior executives that would likely be mail clerks at a h private organization. How they continue to collect pay checks is beyond me . If you want to see good employees look at offices. Everything above the field should be fired for dereliction of duty. If I have have to hear one more call of “ thank you” while they pile on the work…I’m going ti jump. We can’t even hand out awards or anniversary pins on time …..
ReplyDeleteSSA needs more employees to support telework. If they are going to offer telework as an entitlement they need to staff for the inefficiency.
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ReplyDelete10:12 What statistics are available indicate that SSA employees are more efficient working from home. It makes intuitive sense as well, less distractions, and not tired from commuting
Also there is less leave used, because teleworking employees can often flex out for doctor appointments rather than taking the whole day off.
Finally telework is helpful for retention. Fewer retirements, fewer transfers, fewer resignations, and easier to recruit new talent.
I noticed the GOP Congressman were hot and heavy about cutting telework a couple of months ago, demanding statistics from agencies and threatening to cut funding.. Since then,, nothing, they have backed off.
Apparently they have gotten word that cutting telework is not going to happen and if it did it would be a disaster for retention.
@1106 There are less work related distractions like helping other employees with policy issues, answering questions from management, etc while at home. But unless one lives alone, there are distractions from spouses, children and pets. When the mailman or Amazon guy drive down the street, my dog give them the business for some time. Avoiding work related distractions at home just mean someone else in the office will have to handle the issue.
DeleteAnecdotal evidence seems to support the notion that people will retire if telework is reduced or ended but statistics from OPM don't support it.
There are good aspects of telework regarding medical leave.
The agency is understaffed but there's no argument that it's more efficient now than 5 years ago when there was virtually no field office telework.
@10:11. Exactly. Whatever policy "expert" decided we must receive but not accept faxed signatures until verified with the claimant needs to serve a 120-detail chasing down claimants all day. Experience the reality of your decisions.
ReplyDeleteToo much of the millions in Recovery Act money went to bulking up OHO and the AC - leaving the FOs withering. Reps don't make any money at the initial and recon levels, and so they're not interested in reallocating resources from the bloated OHO/AC components to the FOs.
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