Social Security reassigns local staff to help with high call volume

• The social security Administration is experiencing a significant increase in call volume, receiving an average of 8.6 million calls monthly with average wait times of 93 minutes.
• To manage the high demand, the agency is temporarily reassigning approximately 1,000 field office employees, representing four percent of staff, to its 1-800 customer service line.
• This initiative aims to reduce call wait times and improve overall customer service, according to a spokesman for the agency.
• The surge in calls is attributed to thousands of job cuts within the agency that occurred during Donald Trump’s administration.
• A union representative for social security workers has criticized the temporary solution, stating it is merely a “band-aid” that will create further issues by delaying work in field offices.

IN FULL

Social Security is pulling workers from its field offices to man the growing number of calls at its 1-800 number