Customers Give SSA a Thumbs Up

tomer service survey column I wrote about several years ago. I was getting lots of emails from readers critical of the SSA’s services or of the allegedly bad advice they were getting from the agency’s representatives. Once again, I figured that people were much more likely to write and complain about bad service than they were to send me accolades praising good service.

So, I decided to test my theory by conducting a survey of my readers. I got hundreds of responses. Long story short: The vast majority -- almost 90% -- of respondents said they were happy and satisfied with the service they got from the SSA.

That was the good news for the Social Security Administration and its employees. But there was another side to that coin. I was able to glean this bit of information from the responses. SSA’s front line employees did routine work very well. And fortunately, most of us have rather routine experiences with Social Security. We turn 62 or 67 and want to file for retirement benefits and that’s that. It’s all rather simple and cut and dried.

But if your Social Security situation is not quite routine, then, sadly, SSA reps sometimes fall down on the job. And I think a lot of this has to do with training. When I started working for the SSA in 1973, I went to a highly intensive and vigorous 3 month class that was taught by very expert trainers -- frontline supervisory people who had been with the agency for decades and who had seen it all. And they passed all this knowledge on to us young neophytes -- comprehensive facts and information that carried us through our careers. But regrettably, that’s not the way things work anymore. Today, new SSA hires get about 6 weeks of mostly online computer training. That’s just not the way to teach raw recruits about all the complicated Social Security rules and regulations.

So, if you are John Q. or Jane Q. Public, what are you supposed to do if you are pushing Social Security age and you are about to deal with the Social Security Administration for the first time?

Well, as I alluded to earlier, most of you probably have fairly routine situations. You are about to retire and you want to apply for your Social Security benefits, and that’s all. In that case, I recommend you get on your computer and go to www.socialsecurity.gov and file online. The whole process is really quite simple.

But if you’ve got a Social Security case with a few wrinkles -- like having a spouse eligible for Social Security benefits at the same time; like possibly being eligible for benefits on two different accounts (usually your own and a living or deceased or divorced husband or wife); or like wanting to file for benefits before full retirement age but continue working part time -- then I recommend you talk to someone in person by calling the SSA at 800-772-1213, If the first person you talk to seems a little hesitant or unsure of himself or herself, ask to speak to a supervisor.

Or send an email to a highly trained but now retired former SSA representative who writes a nationally syndicated column about Social Security issues. I can’t take your claim, but I certainly will be able to answer your questions.

If you have a Social Security question, Tom Margenau has two books with all the answers. One is called “Social Security -- Simple and Smart: 10 Easy-to-Understand Fact Sheets That Will Answer All Your Questions About Social Security.” The other is “Social Security: 100 Myths and 100 Facts.” You can find the books at Amazon.com or other book outlets.

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Crossword Puzzle

Answers on page 2

I am quite sure that all of those in the commercial real estate business are very well aware of the devastation that the Covid-19 Pandemic has caused to many segments of our economy especially the values of the commercial office sector in New York City as well as most major metropolitan locations. Prices have tumbled and there are those that are and have been bailing out of ownership of those types of investments. The Pandemic was and is the major factor contributing to the 35% of U.S. workers whose jobs can be performed remotely and are now currently working at home. Some have gone back to work part-time, 1-2 or more days per week as requested by various companies, and a few others, like Alon Musk at Tesla, that have demanded that everyone come back to work or get fired or laid off.

Statista, which takes surveys and compiles crucial information about the workforce here and around the globe about work habits, preferences, and opinions about work, did a survey on April 24, 2023, and I quote:

“Working remotely has been an emerging trend in recent years. Between 2017 and 2018, there were about 34.7 million full-time workers who had the option to work from home. Of these people, nearly 24 percent reported working from home due to personal preference. In 2019, 73 percent of people working from home said that the flexibility of working remotely had positively impacted their personal well-being and improved their ability to balance work with leisure and community activities. Additionally, more than 70% of people working remotely saw improvement in their mental health. In some cases, workers reported experiencing more distractions when working at home. However, many found a remote work environment to be more conducive to productivity, and saw improvement in their job performance; a factor that has made remote work appealing to employers. In the 2nd quarter of 2020, 70% worked remotely, due to the Covid-19 Pandemic. In the