Americans love Social Security. Its overworked staff feels like ‘the enemy.’

Edwin Osario believes there’s a “sense of nobility” in his work at a New York-area Social Security office. For over three decades, he has answered phones, taken meetings, and helped ensure that thousands of retirees and people with disabilities receive their monthly checks.

“People who are downtrodden, people who are aged, people who just became recently disabled or widowed — they come here because we’re the last stop,” he said. “We’re the salvation.”

Lately, however, it seems to Osario like the agency he’s “cherished for many years” no longer wants him. It’s not personal to Osario; the Trump administration is working toward its goal of reducing spending by cutting 7,000 Social Security Administration employees through office closures, return-to-office mandates, and deferred resignations.

Business Insider spoke to nearly a dozen current and former employees who used words like “chaos,” “stress,” “confusion,” and “fear” to describe working at call centers and field offices every day. While Social Security remains immensely popular among Americans, with the majority thinking the country should spend more money on it, beneficiaries are taking out their anxieties on workers. They’ve flooded field offices and phone lines, overloading an already-stretched staff. Those who remain at their desks are concerned about the effect of the cuts on their ability to complete the work that ultimately provides monthly checks to 73 million Americans.

Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek told BI in a statement that the Trump administration is getting rid of “unnecessary bureaucracy” within the agency that “will deliver on President Trump’s promise to protect Social Security by providing the high-quality service and stewardship that the American people expect and deserve.”

The SSA told BI that its staff cuts are part of a “workforce optimization plan that focuses on reducing employees in non-mission-critical positions and bolstering staff in mission-critical roles,” adding that there will be no disruptions in service for beneficiaries.

With cuts ongoing, the pressure is mounting on the roughly 50,000 SSA workers who will remain to keep the nation’s largest safety net afloat— and tensions are bubbling over.

“We feel like we’re the enemy,” he said.

What it’s like to work at Social Security as cuts collides with a wave of boomer retirements

Social Security field office employees described two main parts of their job. There are the tasks the public sees: the hours they spend on the phone answering beneficiary questions or taking in-person meetings. Then, there are the more complex and time-consuming tasks that happen behind the scenes: completing paperwork, reviewing means-testing documents, updating bank information, and more.

Recent staff reductions mean workers have less time and resources to complete this crucial work. A pilot program at some field offices to give employees more time for these tasks was canceled this spring, and staff members involved said they received little communication from leadership about why.

Osario said he feels that work anxiety “stays with you at your dinner table” with family and friends. Jill Hornick, a field office employee of 33 years, said she regularly receives phone calls from colleagues “crying because they don’t know if they’re going to be fired,” and a customer service representative said “when you’re taking on so much sadness, it creates a level of sadness in you as well.”

Call center employees don’t have the same paperwork responsibilities, but Shaunellia Ferguson, AFGE Local 2014 president and a longtime customer service representative, said the demands of her role have grown, too. Call volume for the SSA’s 1-800 number has jumped in recent months, causing frustration among beneficiaries and raising alarms with AARP and lawmakers. An increasing share of callers have gotten a prerecorded disconnect message when they tried to reach a representative.

“A loss of seven to eight thousand employees is a huge crush, and the public is going to see worse than a two to three hour wait time — that’s going to increase exponentially,” another seasoned customer service employee told BI.

A BI analysis showed that the number of beneficiaries has grown much faster than the SSA’s staff in the last few decades. That comes as a wave of baby boomers prepares for retirement, with many in the peak cohort set to be reliant on Social Security as their primary income.

While it’s also not unheard of for a White House transition to prompt leadership and policy shifts at the SSA, several employees told BI that this time feels different. The most recent changes came as a surprise to many, as SSA staff were left out of the initial round of federal firings, and the president previously said he “would not cut one penny” from the program.

Prior to Trump taking office, employees said, their workload could be overwhelming, but now they are experiencing what one called “the most chaotic period in my 40-plus years that I’ve been here.”

“We’ve never seen something of this magnitude,” Laura Haltzel, a former Social Security associate commissioner, said, adding, “We have never seen anything this intentional, this effort of cutting — beyond cutting — to the bone.”

Employees also feel left in the dark about the new in-person ID requirement the administration has introduced to fight fraud, which makes up less than 1% of Social Security’s improper payments. The SSA rolled back the ID requirement multiple times before officially enforcing it in mid-April. Some employees said they didn’t receive training about it.

Several employees told BI they have learned about staff reductions and other updates from news reports, not SSA leadership. This also comes as acting commissioner Dudek is likely to be replaced by Trump appointee and finance industry executive Frank Bisignano, which employees feel both hopeful and apprehensive about.

One customer service representative said they hope Bisignano will “see the big picture here that the constant barrage of whippings towards federal employees isn’t productive.”

As customer service crumbles, the stakes are high for employees and beneficiaries

Social Security’s monthly checks are pivotal in keeping seniors, people with disabilities, and lower-income households out of poverty.

As the need for it grows and SSA staff numbers shrink, employees told BI morale within the agency has tanked.

This is coupled with personal safety fears, especially if desperation grows among beneficiaries: “It’s a potential tinderbox of people getting irate because of having to wait a long time,” SSA General Committee Spokesperson for the AFGE Rich Couture said, adding, “You’re looking at a potential security risk.”

Beyond the emotional toll on staff, employees said that the Trump administration’s changes to the SSA could have material consequences. As time and resources disappear, some employees warned that it will take longer for beneficiaries’ claims to be processed.

There have not yet been any reports of delayed or missing checks, and none of the White House’s cuts or policies at the SSA are expected to impact the amount of money beneficiaries receive. But several employees emphasized that there is a risk of delays if staffing conditions don’t improve.

Any delay in checks would be catastrophic for beneficiaries like Linda Hudak, 71, who relies on Social Security for all of her income and receives SNAP benefits for food. “It’s very depressing,” she said.

The SSA employees BI spoke with feel a heavy weight on their shoulders. Some took a job at Social Security because they’re veterans looking to serve their country in a different uniform; others are beneficiaries themselves who say the checks are important for their own livelihood. Most told BI they feel the public service mission they signed up for is falling apart — and they’re worried it won’t recover if Trump’s cost-cutting efforts continue.

“We’re at the tip of the iceberg,” Hornick, who is the administrative director for AFGE Local 1395, said. “This is just going to get worse and worse and worse. Humpty Dumpty has fallen off the wall, and all the king’s men can’t put them together again. I’m sorry I’m in a very pessimistic mood, but I don’t think the Social Security that we know is going to be something we’ll see again.”

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