Rising workloads, staffing losses and limited resources — now coupled with recent benefits policy changes for employees — are hindering the Social Security Administration’s ability to deliver to the public, a federal union warns.
During an online press briefing last week, the American Federation of Government Employees made an urgent pitch to support what it says is a workforce that has long been under-resourced and understaffed. Union officials also heightened calls on Congress to pass additional funding for SSA, $3 billion above its currently enacted spending levels.
AFGE’s spending proposal would put resources toward hiring an additional 20,000 SSA employees, “to begin to dig us out of the backlogs and service delays that have worsened since 2011,” said Jessica LaPointe, president of AFGE Council 220, which represents thousands of SSA workers in field offices and teleservice centers.
“We are simply bleeding staff and have problems with recruitment and retention as a result,” LaPointe told reporters.
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During 2025, SSA lost more than 7,000 employees, as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to shrink the federal workforce. With further employee separations in 2026, coupled with some limited hiring, SSA has seen a net loss of nearly 8,000 employees since President Donald Trump took office, Office of Personnel Management data shows.
Following the workforce reductions, SSA has reassigned over 2,000 agency employees to staff its national 800 number, pulling them away from processing claims and providing in-person help at field offices.
“That was not efficiency. That was waste,” said Rich Couture, a spokesperson for AFGE’s general committee for SSA. “This further shows that SSA needs more staff, not less.”
SSA currently has a workforce of about 50,000 employees, its lowest headcount in decades. On average, it has about one field office employee for every 4,000 beneficiaries.
For the fiscal 2027 budget cycle, SSA is focusing on what it describes as a “digital-first” strategy. The agency is requesting an increase in IT funding to put toward modernizing legacy systems and improving its digital and automated services. The proposal includes $1.9 billion total for IT spending in the upcoming fiscal year.
“SSA’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2027 will enable the agency to continue executing on our digital-first agenda and streamline operations,” an SSA spokesperson said in an email to Federal News Network. “Our hiring efforts this year are aligned with the commissioner’s goal to transform service delivery across all channels by leveraging new technology, implementing process improvements and updating tools to better serve the public.”
While expressing support for “responsible and reasonable use of technology,” AFGE officials argued that the 2027 budget request does not include sufficient investments in SSA’s workforce. The union is pushing for a reversal of budget reductions and staff reassignments, which it says have led to longer wait times and worsening service delays.
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“We believe in a human-first strategy,” Couture said.
Earlier this year, SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano told House committee members that the agency is seeing its “best all-around performance ever,” and that it is doing more with fewer employees.
“What I think, in fact, is we have the right amount of staff in the right places,” Bisignano said during a June committee hearing.
Also in June, SSA issued a press release that touted significantly reduced phone call and field office wait times, lower disability claims backlogs and increases in online transactions.
“Commissioner Bisignano has consistently pledged to have the right level of staffing to ensure Social Security operates at peak efficiency, meets customers where they want to be served and delivers better, faster, higher-quality customer service,” the SSA spokesperson said. “Today, SSA is serving more people at quicker speeds, whether it’s on the phone, in-person or online.”
AFGE officials, however, have called for more transparency in how SSA’s service metrics and data are being calculated.
“None of that is on the website to indicate if service is actually improving, or if the metrics are just changing to be able to give the appearance of improvements,” LaPointe said.
Suspending advanced leave options
At the same time, AFGE is calling for a reversal of SSA’s recent suspension of advanced annual and sick leave for agency employees. In July, SSA began barring employees from requesting sick or annual leave in advance of having their full leave balances available to them.
“This change ensures that SSA’s workforce is available to deliver the high-quality service the American people rely on and deserve,” the SSA spokesperson said.
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Advanced leave allows federal employees to dip into their leave banks and use time off that’s expected to accrue within the following year. It’s often used during a serious health condition of an employee or family member, for the birth or adoption of a child, and in other specific instances.
Per AFGE’s collective bargaining agreement with SSA, employees can use up to 30 days of sick leave in advance if they don’t have any sick leave immediately available, if they fulfill other qualifying criteria. Employees can request advanced annual leave that is expected to become available to them as it accrues throughout the year.
The SSA spokesperson emphasized that the new leave policy will not impact earned annual leave, earned sick leave, the Voluntary Leave Transfer Program or leave allowed under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA).
But without advanced sick leave or annual leave options, AFGE officials raised concerns about impacts on recruitment, retention and burnout of SSA employees.
“You’re putting people into a situation where they have to choose between their health or their paycheck,” said Angela DiGeronimo, executive vice president of AFGE Council 220. “It is creating an environment where we are no longer competitive to be able to attract talent, and employees are getting very disheartened to be able to continue to work for the agency.”
“If we cannot attract talent to do the work of the federal government, how are we going to serve the public?” DiGeronimo continued. “It’s going to become increasingly harder, and the public is going to have a harder time accessing these benefits.”
Government Executive first reported the suspension of advanced annual and sick leave at SSA, as well as at the IRS — where Bisignano is simultaneously serving as chief executive officer.
Going forward, AFGE officials are moving to grievance and arbitration proceedings over SSA’s suspension of advanced leave.
More broadly, Couture said offering flexible benefits to employees is crucial for recruitment and retention at SSA. He pointed to a recent Government Accountability Office report, which said SSA’s removal of telework options for employees puts the agency at risk of losing even more staff.
“Telework, flexible schedules, credit hours, advanced leave and other benefits are recruitment and retention tools to keep the best employees employed here and to serve the public,” Couture said.
LaPointe added, “You can’t do anything with Social Security if you don’t protect the workers — the actual men and women that have dedicated their career to this program, the new generation of Social Security workers that we are hopefully hiring now, that will stay and they’ll see this program for more than just the conditions that we’re working under now.”
If you would like to contact this reporter about recent changes in the federal government, please email drew.friedman@federalnewsnetwork.com or reach out on Signal at drewfriedman.11
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