Social Security Employees Grill Management During Tense Shutdown Meeting

""It's hard to keep morale going with the way the staff is going and they also know that as soon as this shutdown is over, we're going to hit 'em hard with [more work]," said one employee. "It's very frustrating when we have to keep those staff motivated and we need 'em for the long haul, not just for this fiscal year.""

""Now my public is waiting two hours in [the] reception area, hour and hour and a half on phones," said the same employee, who noted there used to be around a half hour wait time. The SSA has been embroiled in chaos throughout president Donald Trump's second term. WIRED reported in March that almost a dozen operatives from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency had been deployed to SSA, including big-name early operatives, including Luke Farritor, Marko Elez, and Akash Bobba.""

SSA managers reported low employee motivation during the shutdown as staff anticipate heavier workloads after the shutdown ends. Staff shortages in some offices caused beneficiary wait times to rise from about a half hour to up to two hours in reception and long phone holds. Nearly a dozen operatives from the Department of Government Efficiency were deployed to SSA during the administration, with several gaining access to sensitive datasets such as Numident. Court filings and sworn statements allege DOGE operatives made inaccurate claims about the agency and mishandled confidential data, and the chief data officer filed a whistleblower complaint about insecure uploads of citizens' information.

Read at WIRED