You know what they say, lies and damned statistics.
The question they should be asking is the percentage of people who reached an agency employee and whom were either given correct information or whom had their business correctly handled.
I suspect if it was asked like that you'd see a far, far lower percentage.
Any business or organization that was only able to even answer calls one half to less than two thirds of the time, after being on hold for up to 30 minutes, would soon be out of business.
Not just the 800 number but the local Social Security Offices are just as unresponsive. The Regional Payment Centers might as well be on the dark side of the moon.
Hearing Offices do answer the phone most, pro baby close to 90% of the time and provide relevant information when they do, but that's still only barely OK for a functioning operation.
And, yes, getting to talk to someone is not the goal. Getting proper information once you talk to someone is at best a crapshoot. No, the reason the claimant has not been paid is not because the representative did not file a fee petition. We don't have your appeal (Oh Wait, the DO has it but hasn't processed it yet 30-60 days after submitted) This part could go on an on. Frankly, I would never call the 800 number unless my blood pressure ws low and I had a need to get it elevated.
I’m reading the post above and it amazes me how you can complain when these offices are depleted. We are barely and I mean barely able to get to work. Do you know of many organizations that have 20% more work but 20% less staff over the last 10 years. News flash - we are prioritizing work - and while no one says it representatives are not high on that list . I mean I can pay a claimant or respond to that 10th request for pia to determine if a case is worth taking or there is any money - I don’t see nosscr out there saying staff these offices
You speaking of business going out of business is they can’t answer calls…yes, correct. Which is why they spend money hire people and utilize call management programs. They also narrow the streams by which they capture business. Think of Allstate or another insurance company.
SSA, however, is operating on less than 1% of annual payouts. And service streams (phone, online, and field office) are wide open. Furthermore, SSA serves every single American and many non-Americans.
Your comparisons are completely off. Now, find SSA at the level Allstate finds its operations and limit the service stream and then we can talk….
We have one SINGULAR person to answer the phone all day- IF everyone shows up. And then we have to find someone just to provide breaks and lunch. Same thing with the SINGULAR person we have to work the front desk. To those complaining, you are either grossly unaware or delusional as to the state of the agency right now. And this is in no way the fault of employees in the field- yet they are the ones who bear the brunt of this crisis.
Ignoring the obvious equation of staffing vs workloads, here's how these sorts of phone stats are created:
Person 1: We need a list of total inbound calls including wait times and whether the caller ever connected to someone or not.
Person 2: Do you want this to only include inbound calls from claimants/reps or ALL inbound calls?
Person 1: Claimants & reps are really the only people that call into the Agency so those two numbers should be the same thing.
Person 2: No, all inbound calls would include claimant & reps plus inter-agency calling, every Adobe or Carahsoft marketing call, every person calling their spouse who works for the Agency, every person calling in sick, every marketing robocall, every spam robocall etc.
Person 1: I mean, how many spam robocalls could there be?
Person 2: No way to know since they call in, hit the queue and then disconnect.
Person 1: OK, in that case just claimant and rep inbound calls.
Person 2: There's no way to pull or identify JUST claimant and rep inbound calls from our 15+ year old phone system.
Person 1: Why are you making this so difficult, we just need a list of total inbound calls including wait times and whether the caller ever connected to someone. You have until the end of the day.
Person 2: Here you go, but these numbers do not represent what you think they represent.
Person 1: Why is the disconnect before connection number so high?
Person 2: Because people hang up while waiting for any number of reasons, cell phones drop signal, robocalls enter the queue and then hang up, people don't answer the Carahsoft calls and let it go to VM, people calling in sick call the admin line before office hours and go to a VM box, someone in office A calls someone in Office B but they are in a meeting so they hang up and IM them instead and the list goes on and on and on.
Person 1: We just need to know how many calls don't get handled properly, I don't know why you are making this so difficult.
Person 2: I'm not. I'm just explaining why this "simple question" is not simple to answer. We are operating on 15 yr old phone systems that were built using Agency requirements that didn't include being able to produce this sort of MI across the entire Agency.
Person 1: We need a list of total inbound calls including wait times and whether the caller ever connected to someone or not. I've asked you for this 3 times and you refuse to just provide me the answer I need. You have until COB today.
Person 2: Here are the numbers you requested but please be aware these numbers do not accurately answer the question.
Person 1: I've forward the report. In the future if you cannot answer a simple request quickly we will have to find someone else that can, this will be going on your PACS.
Public/Congress: GASP! SSA didn't answer half of their calls because they are inept- and unable to perform their basic mission. The only obvious answer is to privatize.
7 comments:
Ironic - how nothing is spelled out on field
You know what they say, lies and damned statistics.
The question they should be asking is the percentage of people who reached an agency employee and whom were either given correct information or whom had their business correctly handled.
I suspect if it was asked like that you'd see a far, far lower percentage.
Any business or organization that was only able to even answer calls one half to less than two thirds of the time, after being on hold for up to 30 minutes, would soon be out of business.
Not just the 800 number but the local Social Security Offices are just as unresponsive. The Regional Payment Centers might as well be on the dark side of the moon.
Hearing Offices do answer the phone most, pro baby close to 90% of the time and provide relevant information when they do, but that's still only barely OK for a functioning operation.
And, yes, getting to talk to someone is not the goal. Getting proper information once you talk to someone is at best a crapshoot. No, the reason the claimant has not been paid is not because the representative did not file a fee petition. We don't have your appeal (Oh Wait, the DO has it but hasn't processed it yet 30-60 days after submitted) This part could go on an on. Frankly, I would never call the 800 number unless my blood pressure ws low and I had a need to get it elevated.
I’m reading the post above and it amazes me how you can complain when these offices are depleted. We are barely and I mean barely able to get to work. Do you know of many organizations that have 20% more work but 20% less staff over the last 10 years. News flash - we are prioritizing work - and while no one says it representatives are not high on that list . I mean I can pay a claimant or respond to that 10th request for pia to determine if a case is worth taking or there is any money - I don’t see nosscr out there saying staff these offices
You speaking of business going out of business is they can’t answer calls…yes, correct. Which is why they spend money hire people and utilize call management programs. They also narrow the streams by which they capture business. Think of Allstate or another insurance company.
SSA, however, is operating on less than 1% of annual payouts. And service streams (phone, online, and field office) are wide open. Furthermore, SSA serves every single American and many non-Americans.
Your comparisons are completely off. Now, find SSA at the level Allstate finds its operations and limit the service stream and then we can talk….
We have one SINGULAR person to answer the phone all day- IF everyone shows up. And then we have to find someone just to provide breaks and lunch. Same thing with the SINGULAR person we have to work the front desk. To those complaining, you are either grossly unaware or delusional as to the state of the agency right now. And this is in no way the fault of employees in the field- yet they are the ones who bear the brunt of this crisis.
Ignoring the obvious equation of staffing vs workloads, here's how these sorts of phone stats are created:
Person 1: We need a list of total inbound calls including wait times and whether the caller ever connected to someone or not.
Person 2: Do you want this to only include inbound calls from claimants/reps or ALL inbound calls?
Person 1: Claimants & reps are really the only people that call into the Agency so those two numbers should be the same thing.
Person 2: No, all inbound calls would include claimant & reps plus inter-agency calling, every Adobe or Carahsoft marketing call, every person calling their spouse who works for the Agency, every person calling in sick, every marketing robocall, every spam robocall etc.
Person 1: I mean, how many spam robocalls could there be?
Person 2: No way to know since they call in, hit the queue and then disconnect.
Person 1: OK, in that case just claimant and rep inbound calls.
Person 2: There's no way to pull or identify JUST claimant and rep inbound calls from our 15+ year old phone system.
Person 1: Why are you making this so difficult, we just need a list of total inbound calls including wait times and whether the caller ever connected to someone. You have until the end of the day.
Person 2: Here you go, but these numbers do not represent what you think they represent.
Person 1: Why is the disconnect before connection number so high?
Person 2: Because people hang up while waiting for any number of reasons, cell phones drop signal, robocalls enter the queue and then hang up, people don't answer the Carahsoft calls and let it go to VM, people calling in sick call the admin line before office hours and go to a VM box, someone in office A calls someone in Office B but they are in a meeting so they hang up and IM them instead and the list goes on and on and on.
Person 1: We just need to know how many calls don't get handled properly, I don't know why you are making this so difficult.
Person 2: I'm not. I'm just explaining why this "simple question" is not simple to answer. We are operating on 15 yr old phone systems that were built using Agency requirements that didn't include being able to produce this sort of MI across the entire Agency.
Person 1: We need a list of total inbound calls including wait times and whether the caller ever connected to someone or not. I've asked you for this 3 times and you refuse to just provide me the answer I need. You have until COB today.
Person 2: Here are the numbers you requested but please be aware these numbers do not accurately answer the question.
Person 1: I've forward the report. In the future if you cannot answer a simple request quickly we will have to find someone else that can, this will be going on your PACS.
Public/Congress: GASP! SSA didn't answer half of their calls because they are inept- and unable to perform their basic mission. The only obvious answer is to privatize.
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