SSA Reassigns Hundreds of Employees to Answer Phones after 2025 Staffing Cuts

After about 7,400 employees separated voluntarily or involuntarily from the Social Security Administration (SSA) in 2025, the agency reassigned hundreds of employees to help answer phones in early 2026. According to a news report, SSA reassigned employees from disability adjudication, financial and management, field office services, risk and quality, digital services, and chief information officer units. Employees reported receiving only a few hours of training before being placed on phone duty and expressed concerns that the reassignments would cause a backlog of other types of work. This came after a "pilot" program in summer 2025 reassigning SSA employees to phones, which was an apparent response to lengthy wait times when calling SSA.