Efforts to shrink Social Security's phone wait times are putting a strain elsewhere

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Source: NPR

July 22, 2025 5:00 AM ET


The Social Security Administration (SSA) recently reassigned a small share of its field office employees in an effort to bring down lengthy wait times for the agency's national 800 phone number. Workers at local offices across the country say these reassignments have been disruptive for staff and are increasing wait times for other services. Experts say the tradeoff is a byproduct of a declining Social Security workforce dealing with thousands more Americans who qualify for benefits every day.

Thousands of employees have left the government agency in recent months. "They are in a deep hole of their own creation on staffing and so you just don't have enough people to go around to serve the public," said Kathleen Romig, a former SSA official who's now director of Social Security and disability policy at the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP). "And so all you can really do at this point is rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic."

Earlier this month, about 4% of frontline workers were temporarily reassigned to cover the national 800 number, according to the SSA, which added that phone service has improved as a result. "Thanks to a new telephone platform, most callers are now served quickly through callbacks or automated options, and answer times have already improved significantly in field offices," the agency said in a statement to NPR. "By temporarily assigning a small percentage of field office staff to assist with 800 number calls, we can improve the 800 [number] average speed of answer without disrupting local services."

"The stress level is probably at a maximum for everyone"

But Nicole Morio, a field office worker in Staten Island and union representative, said these reassignments have forced frontline staff to take on more work. "The stress level is probably at a maximum for everyone," Morio said. "At one point I think we were doing the work of 1.8 people. Now it seems as though we're doing the work of 10 to 15."

Read more: https://www.npr.org/2025/07/22/nx-s1-5475151/social-security-phone-wait-staffing-crunch