Social Security

The Social Security Administration (SSA) runs a nationwide toll-free telephone number and is testing enhanced local office telephone service at selected offices. Beginning in February 1995, SSA began installing new telephone equipment, called automated attendant and voice mail, at 30 of its 800 nationwide field offices that list their phone numbers in local telephone directories. The equipment was installed in different configurations. Telephone access--calls reaching an SSA employee with the caller spending less than two minutes on hold--improved 23 percent under one of the configurations being tested by SSA. In addition, busy signals dropped by more than 55 percent. Staffing, however, did not increase, and many callers reaching SSA did spend some time on hold before reaching an SSA representative. SSA field office staff viewed the installation of voice mail equipment at their desks as having a very positive effect on office efficiency and public service. SSA has not yet completed its two internal evaluations of the demonstration project. GAO concludes that the technology tested in the demonstration projects has the potential to further SSA's public service goals. Public reaction and the effect on operations, however, will need to be considered as SSA weighs the costs and the benefits of this technology.

GAO found that: (1) under one of the two telephone demonstration project configurations tested, telephone access improved significantly, busy-signal rates dropped, and the number of callers reaching SSA improved; (2) although improvements were statistically significant under a broader access definition, more callers were placed on hold because staffing had not increased; (3) configuration results varied among SSA offices; (4) SSA field office staff believe that the installation of voice mail equipment has improved office efficiency and public service; (5) SSA expects to complete its internal evaluations of the project's effect on local operations, employees, and public relations by the end of February 1996; and (6) the equipment tested in the demonstration project has the potential to further SSA public service goals, but SSA must assess the costs and contributions of the equipment before installing it systemwide.