Jun 25, 2024

Your Opinion Please

 

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

He is meeting today or doing a town hall with E Street DC. Stronger Together! Clinton/Kane stolen campaign slogan front and center. But did not seem ready to hear about all of the VERY hostile work environments and bad branch chiefs and division directors. Hopefully the brave souls who spoke out will not face retaliation. Not holding my breath.

Anonymous said...

His arrogance shines through every communication. Today in the town hall, he could have chosen concern and empathy for those employees who were expressing concerns about suicide, bullying, and retaliation, it was gut wrenching. Instead, he chose arrogance and a very lame diatribe about similar concerns from TSC employees being unfounded and no proof that actions such as bullying by management were in any written policy or management guidance. Earth to him, of course it’s not written down anywhere.

Anonymous said...

How could anyone think he’s doing a great job? He’s picking low hanging fruit to fix and giving people the odd day or two off. He hasn’t fixed anything worthwhile. He’s just prepping for His run at president look at all these things I fixed look at all these numbers. It makes sense.

Anonymous said...

the town hall was eye opening for many of us. some of the things mentioned were tuff to hear, but they needed to be said and heard. I don't think people should assume the Commissioner was aware of the extent of issues mentioned. And I don't think we should interpret his attempt maintain composure during the event as a signal they he doesn't care or he was not listening.

It was an audience of people internal to SSA and outside like from NASA and others, and he worked hard to connect under the circumstances. I'm sure that event was only the start of the conversation and not the end.

SSA seems to be at a turning point and we really would benefit from continuous leadership right now. The last thing we need is for all of O'Malley's efforts at the moment to get reversed. If Biden wins in the fall, I hope he will consider staying on board if asked and if that's at all possible. The Agency needs him in this moment and the change of direction he described during the event.

Anonymous said...

What Commissioners do you think did a better job?

Anonymous said...

@9:39

I'll take low hanging fruit over nothing and/or making things worse. Seems like he is doing better than average.

Anonymous said...

Dangerously bad and refuses to meet with employees. His return to office policy has devastated a good number of workers causing attrition to skyrocket, production to plummet, and morale to reach record lows. But he doesn't care and can't be bothered to talk with employees. His return to office has also not been implemented in equitable fashion, allowing unionized employees to avoid it while punishing non-unionized employees. Easily the worst Commissioner I've seen across decades, and those cheering him are being fooled by a clear hack.

Anonymous said...

Interesting! 6/25 9:39 brought up another presidential run. I’ve been wondering what his plans are.

Anonymous said...

@11:43--you say he won't talk to employees...that is surprising. He spent the first quarter of this year touring all 10 regions, hosting townhalls, and sitting with bargaining unit employees in the TSC, PSC, and FOs. Through the Engage platform he has given employees an opportunity to share ideas for improvement and he has responded to many of them in video remarks. He meets with labor unions regularly. And apparently he was at this townhall referenced in the comment (although I'm not aware of what this was). I mean, ok, there can always be improvement, but my goodness don't tell me he doesn't listen to employees.

And as has been mentioned, I'll take him picking the low hanging fruit any day to what we had previously. As an FO employee, I and my colleagues, may not like everything he has done, but we are supporting him because he's actually taking action to help us in the field and taking his message to Congress. I don't care if he has aspirations for President, I just care that things are getting done.

Anonymous said...

Hi @1:13. You bring up excellent points, but you're missing the nuances I previously had mentioned. True, Commissioner O'Malley came on in December 2023 and held what is likely a record number of townhalls. BUT those townhall meetings ended on January 20, 2024, and he made his sweeping return-to-office announcement on January 30th. In other words, he gave impacted employees no chance for rebuttal and reserved his big life-altering announcement until AFTER the townhalls. That's dirty pool.

Correct you are again that O'Malley created EngageSSA and allowed employees to speak up. BUT you're missing that he ignored most telework questions, and especially those questioning about HQ and OGC and why those employees were ordered to come in for MORE days than prior to the pandemic. These were the third- and fourth-ranked ideas at the time, and he skipped right past them. What good is a forum if you won't answer the toughest and most popular questions?

Yes he meets with labor unions, while penalizing non-unionized employees. He releases videos, but never meets with employees requesting meetings. And he's won over enough employees with low-rent stuff to keep his popularity high. He is a masterful politician, but a lousy Commissioner.

Anonymous said...

Yes, the townhall exchange about bullying and suicide was gut wrenching. I had to leave the Teams meeting because it hit too close to home and was too painful to listen. Reaffirms "it's not me, it's you" and the importance of staff not internalizing management's nonsense. When will the rehoming of SSA bosses begin?