I Guess Their Regular Duties Aren’t That Important
There’s a report that 500 Social Security employees are being pulled off their regular duties as Claims Specialists and Technical Experts to answer the agency’s 800 telephone number lines effective Monday.
If all Congress asks about, and all the media reports on, is the Average Speed of Answer at the Teleservice Centers, then that's all the COSS will focus on. There are a million other metrics that are crap right now (wait times at recon, effectuation of awarded benefits--especially paying past-due benefits, not just putting people into pay) and ones that I don't know if they're bad because SSA doesn't publish the stats but I'm betting have not improved (processing times for retirement and survivor claims, wait times for appointments, PSC backlogs). And that's just whether the work is getting done...not whether it's getting done right (a lot of times it isn't).
100% true. We received notice at 10:30am to immediately add another person to the N8NN. In most offices managers are now processing SS5s and working reception and/or answering phones. There is not enough staff to process claims and we are being told to reschedule initial claims to make sure the N8NN is covered. THAT is the priority. Period.
In schools this is called teaching to the test. You focus on what provides the results, in this case numbers to report on phone calls, and ignore the true needs such as education or in this case actually processing the cases.
Big difference between answering the phone and answering the questions and fixing the problem. What i get a lot right now is "i can see the problem but this is not my case and i will forward an internal message" which is the same as writing the issue on a paper airplane and tossing it into the Grand Canyon. Same net result. NOTHING happens.
These are the same type of comments when PSC BAs and CAs were regularly scheduled on phones in the 1990s! The Clinton years. PSC managers and staff generally hated talking to the public and neglecting "their work". I was an OM at GLPSC. Senior management called the shots then and still.
Since the Trump administration took office in January, the Social Security Administration has experienced significant deterioration following cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Caseload backlogs have swelled to over 6 million, and applicants now face substantial obstacles in obtaining basic information.
According to a Washington Post report, "Long-strained customer services at Social Security have become worse by many key measures." Employees who were not terminated or resigned in response to the changes have been reassigned between departments with minimal training for their new roles, further compromising service delivery. As the report notes, those efficiencies put in place by DOGE staffers have left the agency in “turmoil" as multiple commissioners have come and gone, leading to “record backlogs that have delayed basic services to millions of customers, according to internal agency documents and dozens of interviews.”
The Post reported that “regional offices abruptly disappeared in a rushed reorganization. New policies to fight fraud were rolled out only to be canceled or changed, prompting confused customers to jam the phones and the website, which crashed repeatedly. Daily operations in some respects became an endless game of whack-a-mole as employees were pulled from one department to another.”
Wait times for callbacks remain over an hour, and more than a quarter of callers are not being served — by getting disconnected or never receiving a callback, for instance,” pointed out Jenn Jones, AARP’s vice president of financial security. The report notes that the remaining staff members have been forced to accept reassignment to new duties or face firing and that training for the new positions has, at times, been nonexistent.
Training on the phone system and complicated claims and benefit programs lasted four hours for some reassigned workers when it should have taken six months, another employee said. As a result, some customers still can’t get basic questions answered or are given inaccurate information, according to a half-dozen staffers who answer the phones or work closely with employees who do,” the Post reported, and one employee added: “They offered minimal training and basically threw them in to sink or swim.”
Answering the telephone calls is the headline number while processing claims is not. This is the new DOGE reality at SSA.
ReplyDeleteIf all Congress asks about, and all the media reports on, is the Average Speed of Answer at the Teleservice Centers, then that's all the COSS will focus on. There are a million other metrics that are crap right now (wait times at recon, effectuation of awarded benefits--especially paying past-due benefits, not just putting people into pay) and ones that I don't know if they're bad because SSA doesn't publish the stats but I'm betting have not improved (processing times for retirement and survivor claims, wait times for appointments, PSC backlogs). And that's just whether the work is getting done...not whether it's getting done right (a lot of times it isn't).
ReplyDeleteThat's correct
ReplyDeleteIt's true, and these 500 are CS, not just CSR.
ReplyDeleteIt’s true our district has 5 dedicated CSR’s on 1800 support daily
ReplyDeleteI know this was done in the past, is it new? Like is this another reassignment as of 12/29?
ReplyDeleteYes
DeleteIt’s true
ReplyDeletehttps://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/s/8AHHjvoM4n
https://www.reddit.com/r/fednews/s/8AHHjvoM4n
ReplyDeleteI’m not sure this is anything more than a rumor. We didn’t hear anything about this in my district
ReplyDelete100% true. We received notice at 10:30am to immediately add another person to the N8NN. In most offices managers are now processing SS5s and working reception and/or answering phones. There is not enough staff to process claims and we are being told to reschedule initial claims to make sure the N8NN is covered. THAT is the priority. Period.
DeleteAll these GS-9 / GS-11 are now doing a GS-8 job. The tax payers are getting their moneys' worth.
ReplyDeleteTruth. CSRs and CS-not CTEs. Yet
ReplyDeleteWhat a waste of time, money and talent. As a GS12-7 who answers phones and works reception instead of processing claims, if the public only new!
ReplyDeleteIn schools this is called teaching to the test. You focus on what provides the results, in this case numbers to report on phone calls, and ignore the true needs such as education or in this case actually processing the cases.
ReplyDeleteBig difference between answering the phone and answering the questions and fixing the problem. What i get a lot right now is "i can see the problem but this is not my case and i will forward an internal message" which is the same as writing the issue on a paper airplane and tossing it into the Grand Canyon. Same net result. NOTHING happens.
ReplyDeleteThese are the same type of comments when PSC BAs and CAs were regularly scheduled on phones in the 1990s! The Clinton years. PSC managers and staff generally hated talking to the public and neglecting "their work". I was an OM at GLPSC. Senior management called the shots then and still.
ReplyDeleteToday’s Washington Post…
ReplyDeleteSince the Trump administration took office in January, the Social Security Administration has experienced significant deterioration following cuts by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Caseload backlogs have swelled to over 6 million, and applicants now face substantial obstacles in obtaining basic information.
According to a Washington Post report, "Long-strained customer services at Social Security have become worse by many key measures." Employees who were not terminated or resigned in response to the changes have been reassigned between departments with minimal training for their new roles, further compromising service delivery.
As the report notes, those efficiencies put in place by DOGE staffers have left the agency in “turmoil" as multiple commissioners have come and gone, leading to “record backlogs that have delayed basic services to millions of customers, according to internal agency documents and dozens of interviews.”
The Post reported that “regional offices abruptly disappeared in a rushed reorganization. New policies to fight fraud were rolled out only to be canceled or changed, prompting confused customers to jam the phones and the website, which crashed repeatedly. Daily operations in some respects became an endless game of whack-a-mole as employees were pulled from one department to another.”
ReplyDeleteWait times for callbacks remain over an hour, and more than a quarter of callers are not being served — by getting disconnected or never receiving a callback, for instance,” pointed out Jenn Jones, AARP’s vice president of financial security.
The report notes that the remaining staff members have been forced to accept reassignment to new duties or face firing and that training for the new positions has, at times, been nonexistent.
Training on the phone system and complicated claims and benefit programs lasted four hours for some reassigned workers when it should have taken six months, another employee said. As a result, some customers still can’t get basic questions answered or are given inaccurate information, according to a half-dozen staffers who answer the phones or work closely with employees who do,” the Post reported, and one employee added: “They offered minimal training and basically threw them in to sink or swim.”
Thing is that’s job security because the first thing they will ask before you go on a pip is if you were trained.
Delete100% correct - thank you Dudek.
ReplyDelete