SSA Employees Not So Happy

From: ^Commissioner Broadcast
Sent: Thursday, April 28, 2022 1:15 PM
Subject: Government-wide “Employee Voice” Pulse 3 Survey Results

A Message to All SSA Employees

Subject:  Government-wide “Employee Voice” Pulse 3 Survey Results

A few weeks ago, you received the third Government-wide “Employee Voice” pulse survey as part of a pilot series.  I’m writing to you to share the results and to thank you for taking the time to participate.  Overall, 35 percent of our employees responded, which is higher than the 17 percent Government-wide response rate and suggests that you are invested in improving our agency. 

The President’s Management Council —of which I am a member and is the primary Government-wide body that advises the President and the Office of Management and Budget on management issues across agencies—is using the data from your responses to understand how we can best support you.

You can review our results at the following dashboard: https://d2d.gsa.gov/report/government-wide-pulse-survey-pilot.

Although I am encouraged to see a slight improvement in the opinion that your workload is reasonable, I remain concerned about the level of exhaustion and lack of engagement you report feeling at work.  Please know that I am working with the Administration to make clear the very real effects of the budget we received, which drives hard choices.  I am hopeful that Congress will join me in supporting you as we work to improve service.

I am also concerned that many of you do not feel supported regarding issues of equity, work-life balance, and career advancement.  When I assumed the position of Acting Commissioner, one of my stated goals was to support all employees in pursuing their chosen career path.  We are working to make this a reality.

In the coming weeks, we will be in touch with more details about actions we are taking as we learn from you.

Kilolo Kijakazi, Ph.D., M.S.W.

Acting Commissioner

 

Note: I have had difficulty accessing the dashboard. It's confusing. While I was trying to figure it out, it locked up on me. Now, I  get an error message when I try to go back to it. 

Good luck.

CTH

You Snooze, You Lose

     Social Security got 1,000 applications for the position of Administrative Law Judge by midnight last night and closed the window to new applications.

    I wonder about a couple of things. First, is a process that requires an immediate response a good idea? I know that there are practical reasons for limiting the number of applications but the current process prioritizes those who follow these things closely, often for many years, and most of those are insiders. Second, how many applications would there have been by now if the same job bore the title of "Hearing Examiner"? Is it a good thing if the inclusion of the word "judge" in the job title is the biggest attraction of the job? The word "judge" helps attract qualified applicants and it helps the agency fill positions in areas of the country that aren't generally so attractive to job applicants, but I've always been a bit uncomfortable with the idea of dangling the word "judge" to attract applicants, even though my experience is that the vast majority of Social Security's ALJs try hard to live up to all the good things that the word "judge" implies.

Wanna Be An ALJ?

     Social Security has just announced that it is taking applications for the Administrative Law Judge position (ALJ) with the agency. 

    Act fast. They're only going to consider the first 1,000 applications.

Is There Any Way This Sort Of Thing Happens Without A Malicious Intent?

      From WOIO:

The Cleveland Social Security Office was evacuated Tuesday afternoon after white powder fell out of an envelope an employee opened. …

According to first responders, one employee was opening up a letter in the hallway when the white powder came out of the envelope. …

According to the FBI, after an assessment of the situation on the scene, it was determined there was no threat and employees were allowed to return to work.

9th Circuit Rules That New Regs Supercede Prior Court Precedent

      From the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals' summary of its April 22, 2022 opinion in Woods v. Kijakazi:

... [T]he panel held that recent changes to the Social Security Administration’s regulations displaced longstanding case law requiring an administrative law judge (“ALJ”) to provide “specific and legitimate” reasons for rejecting an examining doctor’s opinion. For claims filed on or after March 27, 2017, that are subject to the new regulations, the former hierarchy of medical opinions – in which the court assigned presumptive weight based on the extent of the doctor’s relationship with the claimant – no longer applies. While the panel agreed with the government that the “specific and legitimate” standard was clearly irreconcilable with the 2017 regulations, the panel held that the extent of the claimant’s relationship with the medical provider – the “relationship factors” – remained relevant under the new regulations. An ALJ can still consider the length and purpose of the treatment relationship, the frequency of examinations, the kinds and extent of examinations that the medical source has performed or ordered from specialists, and whether the medical source has examined the claimant or merely reviewed the claimant’s records. However, the ALJ no longer needs to make specific findings regarding those relationship factors. ...

There Is No Free Lunch Nor Is There Any Free Way To Improve The Customer Experience At Social Security

     From Government Executive:

The White House wants to fundamentally change the way Americans access government services and benefits by focusing on the "life experiences" of those seeking assistance. ...

One type of improvement the administration is aiming for is decreasing the number of applications people have to fill out to get government programs.

Efforts to remake how people connect with government programs as they retire will include making a system where "any route you begin (via SSA, Medicare, other supports) leads you to an integrated experience that only requires giving the government information once," for example. ...

A new goal: for Americans seeing services to be able to apply in 20 minutes, enroll in 24 hours and get services in a week. ...

In terms of funding, "in many cases, service design improvements can be made at little to no cost. Depending on the life experience, digital design may need IT or people investments in order to design and build new digital solutions," the OMB spokesperson said, continuing on to say that the new framework ultimately "isn't about net new things" but instead "doing what we're already doing better." ...

CDR Coming For PA Lt. Governor Candidate?

 

No Kidding

      From Julia Manchester, writing for The Hill:

A poll conducted on behalf of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee found that a majority of battleground state voters would be less likely to support Republicans if the GOP moved to end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. 

Sixty-five percent of respondents said they would be less likely to support the GOP “If Senate Republicans have a new plan that would end Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security in five years,” according to the poll ...

The findings come as Senate Democrats launch an onslaught of attacks on their GOP colleagues, pointing to Sen. Rick Scott’s (Fla.) GOP platform proposal that his office independently released in February. 

While Senate Republicans have not released their official agenda, Scott, who also chairs the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, released one in his own capacity. ...

In the plan, Scott calls for all federal legislation to sunset within a period of five years. Such an action would allow the possibility for those programs to end if Congress did not approve them.  ...