From NEXTGOV/FCW:
Twelve Democrats want answers from the Social Security Administration about its decision to shift employees that normally perform other jobs to its phone line last month with only hours of training, a move employees have said risks adding to backlogs.
SSA pushed out over 7,400 employees last year, including 1,387 contact representatives, as the Trump administration sought to reduce the size of the government’s workforce.
Since last summer, the agency has moved over a thousand employees from its field offices to answer its phone line, and last month, Nextgov/FCW
reported that the agency was shifting employees from its processing centers, technology office, financial unit and other offices to the phone line, too.
Employees told Nextgov/FCW at the time that it made little sense for those processing benefit claims to answer calls, many of which may be about the status of those very claims. …
The senators want an array of details about the reassignments, including how many employees have been moved and from what posts, the training they received, why the agency moved them, how the agency’s reassignments have impacted its functioning and any hiring SSA is doing. It recently had open jobs listed for contact center representatives.
The letter’s signatories include Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis., Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Ben Ray Lujan, D-N.M., Patty Murray, D-Wash., Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore. …
13 comments:
Political theater... The agency has had longstanding problems, which both parties ignored... This administration has finally reduced the number of regions, which should have been done decades ago... With advances in tech, front line workers are needed, rather than the behind the scenes dead weight, who refuse to retire
I don’t know, sounds to me like maybe those 1387 contact reps are needed
Except one of those parties has regularly tried to provide increased funding to SSA only to be stonewalled by the other. So explain again why it’s fair to describe that partys efforts to provide oversight as political theater?
Obvious MAGA troll is obvious…
Yeah, the democrats have always wanted to fund the SSA! If only they had the presidency, senate, and the house from 2021-2023. Oh wait, they did.
Long wait times, then the person on the other end can only leave a message for whomever is working a case. VERY inconvenient, to say the least. Leaves one wondering why they called in the first place.
@12:55: Uh, the democrats increased the budget rather massively during that period.
Care to try again? And maybe this time reach past Joe Rogan or whatever for your info?
The Senator's should be asking when SSA will comply with the recent Arbitrator's ruling reinstating telework.
Omg. Enough with the telework whining
@ 11:08 - That might make sense short-term if the advances in tech ever actually showed up and impacted productivity and quality. Still waiting …
Frankly, I’ve had enough of the whining about the whining about telework. It’s a social security blog, and it occasionally addresses topics relevant to the size and quality of the workforce. The size and quality of the workforce are affected by the elimination of telework, so people bring up telework. It’s not complicated, unless you’re a Republican.
People working in an office was not an issue when they accepted the job before COVID. Accepting a job during COVID did not guarantee an entire career of telework and management did not sell new hires on telework lasting their career lifetime. If employees would rather telework, go work in a call center somewhere or at a private employer who allows it. The public pay taxes for rent/utilities at field offices. They pay for people to be there to serve them. If face-to-face service makes you “uncomfortable” find a different job. Your decision to work for SSA was on you. SSA is not begging you to stay. Find the job that allows you to stay home.
For those of us detailed to the 800NN from other components, every day seems like a week. Our training was 8 hours. We were trained on few tasks. Trying to locate a supervisor who can assist is near impossible.
My supervisor at my home component has asked if I have time, can I work on my own workload no one has touched? All this because the answer rate remains the highest priority? I want answers, too. Like when do they plan on ending this detail?
My job was advertised as hybrid before COVID and it remained hybrid until Elon/Leland/Frank came in to execute the Project 2025 playbook. The only people who think telework was a COVID invention are MAGA Republicans and cranky boomers.
Some employees who were kicked to the curb are now being asked to return to their old jobs (quietly, of course, because Frank doesn’t want to publicize the agency’s miscalculations). There’s a reason some of those people are not interested in returning. I’m leaving this week for a higher-paying hybrid job at a company run by an executive who isn’t being sued for investor fraud and doesn’t slur his way through media interviews. If you think all SSA work can be done by replacement robot monkeys who are willing to commute to worksites where they don’t even interact with other humans, fair enough. Just don’t complain if service suffers because the new robot monkeys can’t keep up with the demands.
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