Rich Couture, president of AFGE Council 215 and the union’s chief negotiator with Social Security management, speaks during a rally Wednesday to protest staffing levels at the Social Security Administration.

Rich Couture, president of AFGE Council 215 and the union’s chief negotiator with Social Security management, speaks during a rally Wednesday to protest staffing levels at the Social Security Administration. Erich Wagner / GovExec

Social Security’s staffing crisis is getting dire, union says

Agency management is doing “the bare minimum” to improve workplace conditions amid a daunting workload and morale that is among the worst in the federal government, union officials argue.

Updated: 10 a.m., June 22

The Social Security Administration’s recent hiring spree simply isn’t enough to stem the agency’s decades-long ebb in staffing or to improve agency backlogs, officials with the nation’s largest federal employee union said Wednesday at a rally on Capitol Hill.

The American Federation of Government Employees has been sounding the alarm about the agency’s staffing crisis for more than a year, most recently last April. The Social Security Administration’s staffing levels are at a 25-year-low, despite an ever-increasing number of beneficiaries. That higher workload distributed among fewer workers has led in part to high profile backlogs for service—the House Oversight and Accountability Committee’s Government Operations and the Federal Workforce Subcommittee hosted a hearing on customer service at three agencies, including SSA, after the rally Wednesday.

Agency leaders are in the midst of a hiring spree, fueled by more than $700 million in new funding appropriated for fiscal 2023 and a new special hiring authority from the Office of Personnel Management, hoping to relieve some of the pressure on employees.

“We’re using social media, going to job fairs, and getting referrals and resumes from interested applicants through common job application platforms like Handshake and Indeed,” said acting Commissioner Kilolo Kijakazi, on an agency podcast last month. “If you or anyone you know is interested in coming to work with us, let them know: we’re hiring and it’s easier to apply. We’re really focused on recruiting and hiring efficiently.”

But AFGE officials said Wednesday that these measures just aren’t enough to make a meaningful difference for the Social Security workforce. AFGE Council 220 President Jessica LaPointe, whose union represents field office, teleservice center and workload support unit workers at the agency, said those new hires are only making “a little above” the minimum wage, not enough for the complexity and size of their workloads.

“With falling budgets and staffing levels to meet public demand, the workers that remain are, in a word, demoralized, left with feeling overworked, underpaid and undervalued,” she said. “And an AFGE member poll shows over 50% of respondents are still considering leaving the agency within the next year. The reason: employees are citing toxic levels of work-related stress as they struggle to control impossible workloads.”

Rich Couture, president of AFGE Council 215 and the union’s chief negotiator with Social Security management, said a poor “self-taught” training model employed by the agency is leaving new hires unprepared for their duties and already looking for work elsewhere. Council 215 represents Office of Hearing Operations staffers.

“We have folks leaving the agency, because the training stinks,” Couture said. “I’d use another word, but we’re in polite company, but the training is terrible. The mentoring, based on an agency focus group report we just got last week, it looked like it was written by us, saying all the same things [we’ve been saying]. There’s not enough time; there’s not enough accommodation to make sure that it actually works. So instead, our folks are telling us, and they’re telling management when they leave, ‘I feel unsupported, I feel unprepared and I feel set up to fail.’ ”

Couture said the agency has been doing “the bare minimum” in contract negotiations. Management continues to resist proposals to offer new benefits to employees, including student loan repayment and child care subsidy programs, that he said are “standard” at other federal agencies. And although the agency has relented on reestablishing a labor-management council to rebuild the relationship between the parties, Couture said the agency’s plan still falls short.

“The problem is that they just want to do the bare minimum: four meetings a year at the national level for three hours apiece,” he said. “I don’t know about you, but we’re not solving any major problems in only 12 hours a year. Our employees, as Jessica and others have stated, more than half of them have a foot out the door. They’re actively looking for a better deal for themselves and for their families. And who can blame them?”

In prepared testimony ahead of the subcommittee hearing, Chad Poist, SSA’s deputy commissioner for budget, finance and management, touted the agency’s hiring efforts, though he acknowledged their impact on service delivery and workloads will be delayed.

“We are making progress with our hiring, even as tight labor markets make it challenging to retain experienced employees and attract talented new ones,” Poist said. “This fiscal year through May 20, we have made more than 2,000 net gains in our full-time permanent workforce, and we expect further gains due to the positive effects of direct hiring authority . . . We expect that starting in fiscal 2024, as new hires become more proficient, they will help us reduce growing backlogs and improve service to the public.”

And in a statement to Government Executive, SSA spokesman Mark Hinkle disputed the labor leaders' claim that the agency has been dragging its feet in negotiations.

"Regarding our employee unions, our approach to labor-management relations goes far beyond the 'bare minimum' and we engage often with our unions to meet our bargaining obligations," he said. "SSA voluntarily agreed to immediately modify six articles in the collective bargaining agreement with AFGE last summer; and agreed to renegotiate six additional articles, years ahead of their expiration. AFGE joined SSA in informing all employees that this was an 'important step forward.' SSA and AFGE have now made progress in those negotiations and SSA expects continued progress throughout the mutually agreed upon bargaining schedule. We are committed to good faith negotiations and are optimistic for a deal that will advance both employee satisfaction and the public interest."

X
This website uses cookies to enhance user experience and to analyze performance and traffic on our website. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners. Learn More / Do Not Sell My Personal Information
Accept Cookies
X
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Do Not Sell My Personal Information

When you visit our website, we store cookies on your browser to collect information. The information collected might relate to you, your preferences or your device, and is mostly used to make the site work as you expect it to and to provide a more personalized web experience. However, you can choose not to allow certain types of cookies, which may impact your experience of the site and the services we are able to offer. Click on the different category headings to find out more and change our default settings according to your preference. You cannot opt-out of our First Party Strictly Necessary Cookies as they are deployed in order to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting the cookie banner and remembering your settings, to log into your account, to redirect you when you log out, etc.). For more information about the First and Third Party Cookies used please follow this link.

Allow All Cookies

Manage Consent Preferences

Strictly Necessary Cookies - Always Active

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data, Targeting & Social Media Cookies

Under the California Consumer Privacy Act, you have the right to opt-out of the sale of your personal information to third parties. These cookies collect information for analytics and to personalize your experience with targeted ads. You may exercise your right to opt out of the sale of personal information by using this toggle switch. If you opt out we will not be able to offer you personalised ads and will not hand over your personal information to any third parties. Additionally, you may contact our legal department for further clarification about your rights as a California consumer by using this Exercise My Rights link

If you have enabled privacy controls on your browser (such as a plugin), we have to take that as a valid request to opt-out. Therefore we would not be able to track your activity through the web. This may affect our ability to personalize ads according to your preferences.

Targeting cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.

Social media cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the site to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites and building up a profile of your interests. This may impact the content and messages you see on other websites you visit. If you do not allow these cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.

If you want to opt out of all of our lead reports and lists, please submit a privacy request at our Do Not Sell page.

Save Settings
Cookie Preferences Cookie List

Cookie List

A cookie is a small piece of data (text file) that a website – when visited by a user – asks your browser to store on your device in order to remember information about you, such as your language preference or login information. Those cookies are set by us and called first-party cookies. We also use third-party cookies – which are cookies from a domain different than the domain of the website you are visiting – for our advertising and marketing efforts. More specifically, we use cookies and other tracking technologies for the following purposes:

Strictly Necessary Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Functional Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Performance Cookies

We do not allow you to opt-out of our certain cookies, as they are necessary to ensure the proper functioning of our website (such as prompting our cookie banner and remembering your privacy choices) and/or to monitor site performance. These cookies are not used in a way that constitutes a “sale” of your data under the CCPA. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not work as intended if you do so. You can usually find these settings in the Options or Preferences menu of your browser. Visit www.allaboutcookies.org to learn more.

Sale of Personal Data

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Social Media Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.

Targeting Cookies

We also use cookies to personalize your experience on our websites, including by determining the most relevant content and advertisements to show you, and to monitor site traffic and performance, so that we may improve our websites and your experience. You may opt out of our use of such cookies (and the associated “sale” of your Personal Information) by using this toggle switch. You will still see some advertising, regardless of your selection. Because we do not track you across different devices, browsers and GEMG properties, your selection will take effect only on this browser, this device and this website.