The following message was sent to agency employees February 27: “The Social Security Administration (SSA) will soon implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions. Through these massive reorganizations, offices that perform functions not mandated by statute may be prioritized for reduction-in-force actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions, directed reassignments, and reductions in staffing. The agency may reassign employees from non-mission critical positions to mission critical direct service positions (e.g., field offices, teleservice centers, processing centers). Reassignments may be involuntary and may require retraining for new workloads.”
It is not known what effect these workforce reductions will have on services, including telephone hold times, field office wait times, or the accuracy of information given out by SSA representatives. Please urge your clients to utilize SSA’s automated systems as much as possible. And be prepared to pick up the slack! Tune in to my March 5 webinar for some tips on how you can help your clients with Social Security in the absence of government workers.
See the rest of the SSA press release here.