Social Security Announces Workforce and Organization Plans
Reading Time: 2 MinutesLast Updated: February 28, 2025
Consistent with recent executive orders issued by the White House, the Social Security Administration will continue to implement efficiencies and reduce costs, with a renewed focus on mission critical work for the American people.
The agency plans to reduce the size of its bloated workforce and organizational structure, with a significant focus on functions and employees who do not directly provide mission critical services. Social Security recently set a staffing target of 50,000, down from the current level of approximately 57,000 employees. Rumor of a 50 percent reduction is false.
Initial steps to reduce the workforce included offering a limited number of employees the opportunity to leave the agency under the Deferred Resignation Program and Voluntary Early Retirement (VERA).
Yesterday, the agency announced to all employees that Social Security would soon implement agency-wide organizational restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions. The announcement includes offering Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP) to all employees on a first come first serve basis and expanding VERA to all employees. Both VERA and VSIP require employees to opt in and to separate from the agency by specific dates.
Social Security anticipates that much of the staff reductions needed to reach the target of 50,000 will come from retirement, VSIP, and resignation. Additional reductions will come from reduction-in-force (RIF) actions that could include abolishment of organizations and positions. RIF also can include directed reassignments from one position to another position in the agency. Agencies are required to submit their RIF plans to the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) by March 13, 2025. No date has been set when a RIF might begin after OPM approves the plan.
SSA has operated with a regional structure consisting of 10 offices, which is no longer sustainable. The agency will reduce the regional structure in all agency components down to four regions. The organizational structure at Headquarters also is outdated and inefficient. SSA will now have seven Deputy Commissioner level organizations.
These steps prioritize customer service by streamlining redundant layers of management, reducing non-mission critical work, and potential reassignment of employees to customer service positions. Also supporting this priority is looking for efficiencies and other opportunities to reduce costs across all spending categories, including information technology and contractor spending. SSA is committed to ensure this plan has a positive effect on the delivery of Social Security services.
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June C.
We know what is going on so don’t try to patronize the elderly with your agenda . We worked many many yrs for our checks and this is not charity . Donating to ASPCA is a charity and I’m a human and not a dog , don’t treat me like one . This road is leading to poverty
Rafael
To those SSA employees who voted for Trump, you got what you voted for and I’m glad you screwed yourselves. You voted yourselves out of a job and I couldn’t be happier.
Bob Z.
Rafael, I agree with you 100%!
PJ
Our government is bloated and unsustainable. Our debt is hamstringing our economic growth. No Democrat has the COURAGE to correct either because they FEAR backlash. I’m grateful the Republicans are in office.
Jack k.
Staffing at SSA is at a 50 year low. I used to work in a SSA field office. We were constantly understaffed. Training of new employees was always undercut by the need to put them on the front line answering the phone or working the front window. The myth of lazy government employees sitting around doing nothing is just that-a myth. This article was written by someone who was told to disparage SSA for political reasons. Don’t believe the current propaganda.
Carolyn
That’s exactly what I thought when I read this information. I was surprised by the biased political slant in providing information on an official SSA website. Words like “bloated workforce” do not belong, especially as you know that the workforce is already at a 50 year low. Truly disgusting actions by DOGE to eviscerate our SSA.
GM
Where have you been for the last 4 years that you missed Biden’s appointees slant?
Ana
I thought the same thing. What a crock!
Bob Z.
Jack, I agree with you completely! I also understand that outdated computers and other outdated hardware are in dire need of being updated and replaced. I’m 73, my wife is 70. If we need answers from our local S.S.A. office, we’ll have to call and make an appointment which could take weeks or months!
Syl
All I know is my local office has been very busy. Thankfully, those people do their best and are very helpful and respectful when I’ve had to contact them. For those still working and having to deal with this fiasco, I thank you. You deserve better.
MAO
@WHY did it take an order from the president to do this. I guess, when it isn’t YOUR $$$ that is being spent, you, the SSA kept adding staff, contractors and OTHER UNNESSASARY expenditures.
KFX
You have no idea what you are talking about. Maybe listen to the people who are actually doing these jobs and listen to what their experiences are.
Gracie
Can you hear what you are saying? Completely opposite of reality…..
Cynthia
By closing so many offices, you are going to deny needed help to disabled, elderly, and minor children receiving benefits, when problems arise that are complicated. As it is, the wait times and difficulties of getting appointments in the 10 centers are unacceptable. Slashing the office numbers in half will make the problem dramatically worse
DG
The expectation is to remove the bloated bureaucracies and poor decisions making which will allow for more efficient actions by a more limited and productive workforce. This will lead to more optimal processes and systems with have less failures and require less human intervention who do not just patch 1000 of issues one-by-one but instead fixes the root cause to resolve all issues and prevents them from recurring. It is totally doable with the right leadership just as is done in the private sector.
Donal J.
That seems to be the objective.
BTW
It took a change in top leadership with a mission to preserve Social Security to get the ball rolling.
pauline n.
To Leland Dudek, acting Commissioner of Social Security. Your bosses, Trump and Musk, do not understand nor care to fix customer service at the local offices. Customer service is always at the bottom of political issues. Let the masses wait. Their time is not important.
June C.
Agree I called many times to discuss what is happening and wanting answers . The taped message said 120 minute wait. The SS updates online are joke because all you get is propaganda
Kitty
So the entire staff is currently at just over 1100 people per state—— to serve how many people average? In my mind-that’s not really a lot. No wonder wait times are long for everything you do. Maybe there needs to be more people instead of less. Efficiency doesn’t always mean less- it does mean getting the job done correctly in the shortest reasonable amount of time.
CeeCee O.
I am very concerned at these cuts in staffing and office locations. This will impact the most vulnerable people who need assistance. It is my understanding that staffing levels were already stretched. This is all but a default of the social contract. These changes are very unpopular with my family, and seniors I know and work with are very worried.
Brent F.
If an agency needs a reorganization, that’s fine. If it has too much “bureaucracy,” OK then make cuts to make it more efficient. But to refer to agency that has a record of not spending money unnecessarily on administration, then calling the agency “bloated” is a way to justify your cuts.
This is what happens when you put people in charge from business world who are trying to get by with the least number of employees to prioritize profits. Government is a service business that needs to be concerned with the public’s concerns. Often it takes more time with someone to satisfy their needs, which requires having more people available.
William W.
you are right, the service to the people must not be infringed by a corrupt government official!
Laura G.
I would be grateful to see the author address these comments.