Social Security expanding hours and adding staff
The stories are endless and often quite disturbing – how people trying to contact Social Security suffer excruciating wait times, often giving up in frustration, leaving their need unfulfilled or badly delayed. The Social Security Administration has been under considerable pressure to cut budgets and reduce operating expenses which, of course, translated to reducing staff to handle requests from those needing assistance. It also meant that most Social Security field offices were closed on Wednesday afternoons, in addition to weekends. In a very welcome announcement, Commissioner Andrew Saul reported that, effective in 2020, Social Security field offices will now be open on Wednesday afternoons to better serve the public. Commissioner Saul also announced that the agency is hiring 1,100 new “front line” employees to better handle beneficiary requests, all of which should mean more efficient service when you contact the Social Security Administration. Of course, handling as many requests as possible via online services is still an efficiency priority, which is easily accomplished by creating your own personal “My Social Security” online account at www.ssa.gov/myaccount. All of this was reported in this article at WBIW.com in Bedford, IN. Click here to read more.