美国国家公共电台 NPR Social Security Workers Make Dent In Case Backlog Working Rem

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

The Social Security Administration says it has 53,000 employees teleworking. And they like it so much that they want to keep working from home even after the federal government reopens. Here's NPR's Brian Naylor.

BRIAN NAYLOR, BYLINE¹: The social security field offices are closed. But that hasn't stopped the agency from processing claims for new benefits and appeals of benefit denials. According to statistics, the agency said, its workers, they've been doing so at a faster pace than before. Ralph deJuliis works at the Tulsa, Okla., office.

RALPH DEJULIIS: Telework is proving a great boon² to the service Social Security provides to the American people. We are getting the checks to people faster and quicker.

NAYLOR: DeJuliis is president of the American Federation³ of Government Employees local that represents many Social Security employees. And he hopes the SSA will continue allowing its workforce⁴ to do so from home. He says telework is a good thing.

DEJULIIS: Good for the employees. Good for the public. We got the work done. We kept the public out of harm's way because, let's face it, we deal with mostly people who are old or disabled. They are at the highest risk.

NAYLOR: DeJuliis says the Social Security Administration has found that its backlog⁵ of pending⁶ cases has fallen by 11% since March 23, when the agency instituted widescale telework. And calls from recipients⁷ are answered more quickly. Isabel Sawhill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, says there's evidence that productivity is improved when workers are able to telework.

ISABEL SAWHILL: Actually, there are studies that have been done, including studies in government agencies - small-scale studies, to be sure. But they have shown that productivity does rise when people get to work from home.

NAYLOR: Jeffrey Neal is a former director of human resources at the Department of Homeland Security. He says it's not surprising that people become more productive when they work from home.

JEFFREY NEAL: The really good workers might be sitting there at their home desk, wherever that is - you know, the desk or the breakfast table, whatever it is. And they're supposed to stop at 5 o'clock. And they look at their watch or their computer. And they realize it's 7 o'clock. And they've still been working.

NAYLOR: It's unclear how many federal workers across government are teleworking. The most recent statistics available from two years ago found that 42% of government employees were eligible⁸ to telework. Although, only about half of those were working from home. The Trump⁹ administration had been hostile to teleworking, Neal says, because he believes it sees it as a benefit to federal workers. But Neal says it's also a benefit to taxpayers¹⁰.

NEAL: If people view it as what it really is, which is something that is in the interest of the federal government to have, then they would continue it because it helps them hire. It helps retain people. And most importantly, it helps them remain operational during a national emergency. So it's a very good thing.

NAYLOR: The federal government has not given any guidance as to when it expects federal workers to return to their offices. The Social Security Administration issued a statement saying it continues to monitor the COVID-19 situation across the nation, promising¹¹ that when it does reopen its offices, it will provide a safe environment for the people it serves and its employees.

Brian Naylor, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF SOULAR ORDER'S "KEYFRAMES")

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 boon   

n.恩赐，恩物，恩惠

参考例句：

• A car is a real boon when you live in the country.在郊外居住，有辆汽车确实极为方便。
• These machines have proved a real boon to disabled people.事实证明这些机器让残疾人受益匪浅。

3 federation   

n.同盟，联邦，联合，联盟，联合会

参考例句：

• It is a federation of 10 regional unions.它是由十个地方工会结合成的联合会。
• Mr.Putin was inaugurated as the President of the Russian Federation.普京正式就任俄罗斯联邦总统。

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 backlog   

n.积压未办之事

参考例句：

• It will take a month to clear the backlog of work.要花一个月的时间才能清理完积压的工作。
• Investment is needed to reduce the backlog of repairs.需要投资来減轻积压的维修工作。

6 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

7 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

8 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

9 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

10 taxpayers   

纳税人，纳税的机构( taxpayer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Finance for education comes from taxpayers. 教育经费来自纳税人。
• She was declaiming against the waste of the taxpayers' money. 她慷慨陈词猛烈抨击对纳税人金钱的浪费。

11 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。