Social Security Administration Reviews

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration

Pros – Okay atmosphere and okay management

Cons – pay is not as competitive

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than a year

Pros – --Public service. You are the lifeline for so many people and it's extremely rewarding to make a difference every day.
--Benefits. The benefit package is great; flexible work schedules, good pay, and plenty of leave availability. Some managers and positions are more flexible than others.
--Co-workers. At least in Kansas City, the people I work with are extremely hospitable and committed to providing great service to the public.

Cons – --BUREAUCRACY! Some of the policies and procedures the agency uses are so pointless and unworkable--all it does is make life that much harder on the beneficiaries and employees. I wish people who worked the frontline jobs actually designed the policies.
--Nepotism. Too often, people are promoted/detailed based on who they know rather than how well they do their jobs. It's an extremely insular environment, and the lack of opportunities for advancement have a major demoralizing effect.
--Outdated, inefficient equipment and lack of adequate training. The stuff we use is from the stone-age. SSA seems to be under the impression that online services will be the savior of the administration yet the systems that are used are ridiculously behind the times. Additionally, it does no good to introduce new technologies without providing adequate training. We can't serve the public well if we don't have the time to learn the ins and outs of new changes ourselves.

Advice to Senior Management – Listen to younger, frontline employees. We do the job every day and many of us have valuable suggestions for making life easier for those we are employed to serve. Stop being so married to outdated policies and focus on making government SMARTER and more efficient. Provide us with adequate resources to do the job and we will find ways to save money without derailing our mission. If SSA continues to be so inwardly focused, bright, young stars are only going to continue to leave at the first available opportunity.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Co-workers are friendly and helpful

Cons – Depends on your branch chief.

Advice to Senior Management – promote based on quality of work, not quantity.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – --pay & benefits are good for the region
--quiet, physically comfortable environment
--co-workers are decent people
--you can work fairly independently
--the organization has an important mission; you are helping people
--it's stable and fairly predictable
--they make an effort to train you
--great job is you are smart but have only a HS degree

Cons – --senior managers have few management skills and spend 75% of their time managing up
--promotion is largely based on seniority, favoritism, and nepotism
--it's fine for 2-3 years then the lack of mobility becomes apparent...and, when combined with the favoritism, it becomes obvious it may take 10 years to get promoted
--it's difficult to do quality work because this is a white-collar factory environment - the emphasis is on numbers & once you figure out the best (only?) way to meet those, you have to sell your soul to meet your quota....in rare instances you may deny claims you think could be allowances because taking the risk of an allowance may result in an "error" for you (you can only have two such "errors" per year). Doing high quality work takes more time and after awhile it's a losing game
--among all positions in the agency (management, IT, medical & psych consultants, and clerical staff) the DE job is the most stressful and the most mission-critical; however, you are treated like you are completely expendable and are not rewarded for measurably good performance
--you have lots of time off but good luck taking more than 1 week of vacation at a time, and always two months or more apart, because you will come back to a huge, ugly pile of work (it is impossible to avoid this no matter how much extra work you do beforehand) - whereas managers routinely take multiple weeks off at a time
--unless you started out with few skills, you will gain virtually no transferable skills in this position - the work is complex but it is a closed system and the knowledge you gain is only about adjudicating disability claims (again, few opportunities)
--high attrition, for all the reasons stated above
--due to current economic times, this agency is stagnant at a time when people desperately need services; therefore, you have a relentless caseload and claimants who've waited a long time for their claims to be processed

Advice to Senior Management – Management requires actual skills. If you have never received mentoring, education, or some type of training in these skills, please go find mentoring, training or education. Don't assume that because someone liked you, then you got promoted, that you instantly and magically understand how to manage people. It's a small agency, get a clue about what word on the street is....don't just talk to your friends, spouses, family members....

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than 7 years

Pros – Depending where you're placed there can be a good family atmosphere within the office

Cons – Administering Federal benefits is mentally draining

Advice to Senior Management – Do your best to make your offices work together

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time

Pros – Helping the public understand SSA's crazy benefit system is the best part of my day. Good benefits and job security.

Cons – Trying to outwit outdated computer systems from before I was born in order to get the public something Congress mandated about 40 years after the computer system was designed = not fun. Lots of politics. Lots of nepotism. If you are a master of social baloney, you will shine.

Advice to Senior Management – Learn to figure out which people just are full of baloney and which actually work. Then recognize the people who actually work not just the people who brown nose, are related to those in power, and / or are full of baloney.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – -federal pension
-past military time counts toward retirement
-good pay
-generous leave and credit hours are usually available

Cons – -extreme distrust of employees by management
-promotions can be hard to come by
-work can be tedious, little control for employees over how work is accomplished
-overwhelming workload
-no tuition assistance

Advice to Senior Management – Allow more of your employees to telework. It is incredible to me that legal assistants are only able to work from home with paper records, not electronic records. Attorney and judges in ODAR are able to work from home on laptops. Try to build more of a team atmosphere. Set realistic goals. Conduct monthly training to update employees on regulations are rules that are constantly changing. Pitch in to help when it is the end of the month and the office is trying to reach the dispositions goal!!!

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good healthcare, pension, 401k matching, and vacation policy.

Cons – You hit a glass ceiling after about 2-4 years where promotions become scarce, and you have to wait until somebody dies or retires. No real tuition assistance or meaningful help to better your career.

Advice to Senior Management – When the rare promotional opportunity arises, please promote on merit and skill, not on nepotism, seniority, minority quota considerations.

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend – I'm not optimistic about the outlook for this company

Former Employee – worked at Social Security Administration full-time for more than a year

Pros – Connections. You meet so many people. You have access to learn how to serve the public, have access to manage large projects and really stand out in the agency. It was worth working there once.

Cons – Management changes can sometimes be unsettling if you are not used to the politics that comes with it. They start you out very low on the salary tree, depending on your qualifications and make it almost impossible to get hired at a higher grade. Grade increase rules and the forms to fill out are not like a normal job promotion and you have to fight for that position.

Advice to Senior Management – Trust your employees. Just because you have the title of 'supervisory' in your grade description doesn't mean you have to micromanage. Those that don't do this, you already know how to run your business and are great managers!

Yes, I would recommend this company to a friend

Current Employee – been working at Social Security Administration full-time for more than 3 years

Pros – Good benefits, job security, good pay for average employee. TSP (401k) matching is excellent, as is pension. There are small bonuses available, but one has to be on a noticable and successful project to get them. Alternative work schedules are good, but they need to go farther.

Cons – Unfortunately, the pension, generous base salaries, and the virtual inability to be fired means that the average employee lacks an incentive to be innovative or leave for other opportunities. This leads to a conservative & insulative culture that tends to be more inward looking rather than risk taking. The hiring process makes it difficult to get the best employees with specific skill sets. Some federal benefits are quirky and not easy to use compared to other large private sector employers. At the executive level, pay is often not commensurate with the private sector or even other agencies. Work from home policies are a must.

Advice to Senior Management – The most difficult thing about the SSA workplace (HQ) is the human capital. Give more incentives to people (whether monetary or otherwise) to work harder and smarter. Push to reform hiring processes to accomodate new people with expertise. Push those who have been there for some time to change old patterns. There is no danger of too much dynamism in this workplace, so pushing for more will not hurt.

No, I would not recommend this company to a friend