Social Security Announces Workforce and Organization Plans
WASHINGTON, DC (STL.News) Consistent with recent executive orders issued by the White House, the Social Security Administration will continue implementing efficiencies and reducing costs, with a renewed focus on mission-critical work for the American people.
The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission-critical services. Social Security recently set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees. The rumor of a 50 percent reduction is false.
Initial steps to reduce the workforce included offering a limited number of employees the opportunity to leave the agency under the Deferred Resignation Program and Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA).
Recently, the agency announced to all employees that Social Security would soon implement an agency-wide organizational restructuring, including significant workforce reductions. The announcement includes offering Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to all employees on a first come, first serve basis and expanding VERA to all employees. VERA and VSIP require employees to opt in and separate from the agency by specific dates.
Social Security anticipates that much of the staff reductions needed to reach the target of 50,000 will come from retirement, VSIP, and resignation. Additional reductions will come from reduction-in-force (RIF) actions that could abolish organizations and positions. RIF can also include directed reassignments from one position to another position in the agency. Agencies must submit their RIF plans to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by March 13, 2025. No date has been set when a RIF might begin after OPM approves the plan.
SSA has operated with a regional structure of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters is also outdated and inefficient. SSA will now have seven Deputy Commissioner level organizations.
These steps prioritize customer service by streamlining redundant layers of management, reducing non-mission critical work, and potentially reassigning employees to customer service positions. Also supporting this priority is looking for efficiencies and other opportunities to reduce costs across all spending categories, including information technology and contractor spending. SSA is committed to ensuring this plan positively affects the delivery of Social Security services.
