SSA's Organizational Culture and Its Compatibility with the Mission of Returning People with Disabilities to Work

摘要

With the passage of the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999, return to work became a central part of the Social Security Administration's (SSAs) mission. Up to that point, the Agency's culture had been one that was adapted to distributing the right check to the right person at the right time. The nature of the disability programs bred a culture in which frontline workers were: required to be skeptical of applicants claims to eligibility for program benefits; committed to helping them through benefit payments if they were eligible; not committed to helping them return to work, regardless of eligibility; and accepting of the idea, imbedded in the medical eligibility criteria, that they could not work if they met those criteria. At worst, beneficiaries and others have characterized the frontline workers as the Trust Fund police an extreme and inaccurate characterization, to be sure, but one that has a ring of truth because of SSAs role as guardian of the Social Security Trust Funds. To be successful in its pro-work mission, SSA needs to develop a pro-work culture, but one that is consistent with its responsibility to taxpayers.