Improving Operating and Staffing Practices Can Increase Productivity and Reduce Costs in SSA's Atlanta Region

As part of a series of reviews of productivity in government claims processing, GAO reviewed field office productivity in the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Atlanta Region.

GAO found that: (1) while the SSA Atlanta Region ranked at the top in productivity among SSA regions, productivity within the region varied widely because of inconsistent staffing and operating practices among field offices; (2) regional and area management staff did not allocate staff among field offices based on fluctuating work loads; (3) at a number of field offices, staffing levels remained unchanged over a period of several years, despite decreasing work loads; (4) some field offices supplemented staffing for reasons not related to work loads; and (5) SSA unjustifiably allows area directors to adjust staffing levels based on their perceptions of local conditions. GAO also found that: (1) field offices use a wide variety of processing practices, organization structures, and work load control practices despite similarity in work loads and services offered; (2) while some offices incorporate additional work steps and quality reviews into their processing procedures, these offices do not produce significantly better work than other offices; (3) those offices with lower productivity averaged 7-percent less staff devoted to positions directly related to claims processing; and (4) improved training for area and field office managers about efficient processing practices could stimulate significant productivity improvements in the region.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Brian L. Usilaner Team: General Accounting Office: General Government Division Phone: (202) 275-2718