Senate Democrats push Social Security on employee reassignments to phone line

"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. Several said that they only got hours of training."

"Employees moved to the phone line were told during that training on their new roles to tell callers expressing suicidal thoughts that suicide is "one option," Government Executive reported last month, a practice experts say doesn't follow best practices."

The Social Security Administration shifted thousands of employees to its phone lines following workforce reductions under the Trump administration. Over 1,000 employees from field offices, processing centers, technology departments, and financial units were reassigned to answer calls with only hours of training. Processing center staff now answer calls about benefit claims they normally handle, creating inefficiencies. Employees reported inadequate training and concerning guidance on handling callers with suicidal thoughts. Twelve Democratic senators requested detailed information about the reassignments, including employee numbers, training quality, operational impacts, and hiring plans. The agency currently has open positions for contact center representatives.

Read at Nextgov.com