Dec 10, 2024

Will Frank Bisignano Telework?

Coming back to Social Security?

     You may remember that former Social Security Commissioner Andrew Saul tried to end telework at Social Security while he was teleworking himself. He never moved from New York City to the Baltimore area. That didn't go over well with agency employees.

    The newly nominated Commissioner of Social Security is the CEO of Fiserv which is based in Milwaukee. However, Bisignano never moved from his hometown of New York City when Fiserv moved its corporate headquarters to Milwaukee raising the question of whether Bisginano will move to the Baltimore area if he is confirmed as Commissioner. I don't think that we can say he's teleworking at Fiserv. There may be good reasons why the CEO of a financial services company would be located in New York City but after Saul you have to wonder whether Bisignano intends to move. Trying to end telework for everyone else when you're teleworking yourself isn't a good look. In any case, if you're serious about being Commissioner of Social Security you should be living and working in the Baltimore area.

    I hope this issue comes up in Bisignano's confirmation hearing.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do birds fly?

Anonymous said...

I dont get the whole telework debate. Honestly, I simply dont. I guess since i am getting older it just doesnt matter. I wasnt a big fan of working at home during the pandemic, it pollutes my sanctuary. Some folks make it a hill to die on. I really dont care where you work, just work. I am cleaning up so many horrible overpayments these days because of sloppy negligent work that it is ridiculous. People are losing housing, Medicare assistance, food and security because the workmanship now is horrid, disgusting and not acceptable. If you want to work in your pjs at least do the dang job right!

Anonymous said...

For Commissioner Saul and Bisignano to telework themselves, while ordering everyone else to return to office, is not a good look.

That is the definition of hypocrisy (the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's own behavior does not conform) .

Commissioner O'Malley was generally in the office 5 days a week.

Anonymous said...

I am shocked-lol. an apparent “coastal elite” who refuses to move to the Rust Belt HQ city of his employer Looks like the MAGA faithful are getting bigger and bigger doses of reality !

Anonymous said...

Of course the rules won’t apply to him. For management positions, it’s always ALWAYS “rules for thee, not for me.”

Anonymous said...

Back in the day, it was a practice for the COSS to work out of the DC office frequently as opposed to simply working out of Woodlawn. Not sure if the practice has continued, but they all did this up through Colvin.

Anonymous said...

This is like comparing Gordon Ramsay to the line cook at McDonalds.

Anonymous said...

@9:30AM - Spot on!

Anonymous said...

It may well be out of Bisignano’s hands. There have been reports Trump plans to issue an executive order shortly after he takes office, RTO for all federal employees. If Trump does that I hope Bisignano is forced to commute to an office like everyone else.

Anonymous said...

How would an executive order work to return everyone back to the office full time? If an XO can be used to return everyone why didn’t Biden do that instead of directing cabinet heads to do it?

Anonymous said...

Current state of affairs for federal employees.


Federal employees scrub social media accounts of any negative posts about Trump as they scramble to save their jobs.

Anonymous said...

Work for lawyers at SSA has been gamechanging and lifechanging. We are no longer saddled with 1-to-2 hour commutes and can get so much more done. We've improved productivity and morale across the board. Those of us subjected to the RTO have watched morale plummet to never-seen-before levels. Please keep and expand telework.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it matters much for the Commissioner to be physically located in Baltimore. Someone as dynamic as Frank will find a way to win regardless. As the CEO who doubled Fiserv's stock price, he no doubt has tricks to double production at SSA. When leaders like Frank lead, the public sees great results.

Anonymous said...

You've said twice in two threads now that Bisignano doubled FI's stock price in four years. But President Biden in that same stretch oversaw the market more than double. So maybe FI is not what you think it is.

Anonymous said...

If Frank is so fantastic, why does he need cheerleader trolls like the last commenter defending him in the comments of this blog?

Anonymous said...

@10:41pm Hey, Bisignano, if you’ve got time to post you have time to work. And don’t let me catch you updating your own page on Wikipedia.

Anonymous said...

Time spent commuting could be spent on work instead

Anonymous said...

He just cut staff to inflate the short-term profit margin. It was something any idiot with a child's understanding of numbers could’ve achieved, and a blunder that tremendously undermined the company’s long term viability. Is that really impressive to you? And is that really what you want done to your Social Security programs?

Anonymous said...

Because Biden was at least playing lip service to the unions that support the Democrats. By doing it the way he did, the agencies still had some leeway to continue and maintain certain levels of telework. An executive order would have taken that leeway away.

It won't matter, anyway. The Democrats are already going to loose some big time support from a lot of federal annuitants and federal unions over the games Schumer is playing in the Senate with the "Social Security Fairness Act" by not letting it have a vote. I don't personally support it at all, but it ought to at least have a vote.

Trump knows the unions won't support anything he does and he simply doesn't care. As a result, he will issue that executive order to thumb his nose at the unions and federal employees in general. And, no matter what anyone says, the union agreements don't mean squat. If the President orders an executive branch employee to do something, they do it or get terminated from employment with cause. The unions will sue over it, but litigation will take years. And, under Trump, union membership is going to essentially become meaningless when he pushes all employees to his "Schedule F" and makes them all at-will employees with no protections.

Anonymous said...

Hypocrisy is a Democratic part word. For Republicans, it represents business as usual.

Anonymous said...

Too many in here get mired down in politics. Biden's Chief of Staff Jeff Zients ordered everyone to return to the office, which O'Malley dutifully enforced. Now it is the GOP's turn and they will one-up Biden. All to the loss of the American federal employee. I work hard at the agency and enjoy keeping the system going. But if forced to return to the office will sadly part ways. It's a promise broken to us by Biden, Trump, or whoever's turn it is on the revolving stage.

Anonymous said...

All this angst about telework. In the FOs, we didn't even have it until COVID (except for some pilot offices where the employees teleworked one day a week). Despite all the wringing of hands and gnashing of teeth over this issue, in the end you will either do what the boss orders or decide you might be happier working somewhere else.

Anonymous said...

Being forced to commute long distances for no good reason, will result in the resignation or retirement of many SSA employees. While some of them are expendable, losing experienced and trained Operations front line employees, will be devastating to the agency.

The SSA workers who are left will be expected to do the impossible, and management pressure will increase.

Who wants to have an overbearing manager standing nearby in the office, demanding ever more work, when one is already doing their best. And no telework either. Morale will plummet.

Anonymous said...

The agency doesn't determine where you live. You don't have to commute long distances. You never did.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but plenty of employees have been hired by SSA using telework as an incentive & benefit. People have made life choices (childcare, eldercare, etc) based on this. Employees are fed up & burned out! Telework is the only positive thing about working for this agency. Just a warning to whomever is driving the wrecker for Trump's administration: If telework is yanked again, this agency will be wheels up in the ditch.

Anonymous said...

Who says life has to be fair? You roll with the punches or you move on.

Anonymous said...

I'm not sure where everyone thinks they are going if telework ended. Sure, if you are retirement eligible, I guess go for it. For those not eligible you think you are going to stroll into another place of work and pick up that great telework job? I believe many will be disappointed in their findings.

Anonymous said...

And that’s a feature, not a bug. Then they can privatize.

Anonymous said...

I know someone who works for Target who has 100 percent work from home.

And I know several people who work for a life insurance company, which has allowed 100% telework since Covid started almost 5 years ago.

The private industry jobs which allow telework are out there, and SSA employees will find them if they have to.

Anonymous said...

Good luck