Morale at the Social Security Administration — which is at a 59-year staffing low due to the Trump administration’s sweeping workforce cuts — is poor.
To fix it, SSA Commissioner Frank Bisignano has twice sent staff packages of chocolate-covered pretzels. They’re from his daughter’s company, Pretzables, emblazoned with Pretzable’s branding, website and phone number, as well as a line thanking employees for their work.
The pretzels, staff tell NOTUS, have not addressed the underlying morale issue. (“It’s tone-deaf,” one SSA field office employee said.) They have, however, raised even more questions around Bisignano’s leadership — specifically around the ethics of sending staff pretzels from his daughter’s company.
“It is a violation of ethics rules to use public office for private gain, especially for a family member, to endorse a product, or provide preferential treatment,” said Scott Amey, the general counsel for the Project on Government Oversight. “There may be a better way to send your regards or thank the staff for working hard.”
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No agency funds or staff were used for the pretzels, which were most recently sent out to mark America’s 250th anniversary, and the matter was reviewed and cleared in an ethics review, according to an SSA spokesperson. Pretzables and Bisignano’s daughter did not respond to requests for comment.
The chocolate-covered pretzels are “not the most twisted ethics violation of all time,” Amey noted. Even so, concerns remain.
“It’s at minimum raising the question of whether Bisigano is adhering to his obligation to avoid even the appearance of violating the rules,” Cynthia Brown, a senior ethics counsel at the liberal watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, said.
“When you’re picking up a relative’s business and giving that a megaphone of government access, that’s when it kind of crosses the line for me to say, ‘What is the purpose of this? Is this employee appreciation, or is this promotion of a family’s business opportunity?’” she said, noting that ethics violations can happen “with no harm intended.”
The apparent intention — as a pick-me-up for the strained workforce — did not land, however.
Some offices have “boycotted” the gesture by not touching the pretzels at all, the field office employee said, noting that actions like restoring telework flexibility and adding staff would be more helpful morale boosters. The staff unions have posted repeatedly about the pretzels on social media too, making memes about the treats coming at a difficult time for staff.
The patriotic pretzel trays aren’t the first Pretzable merchandise that SSA offices have received.
Months ago, field offices and some SSA hearing offices received plastic-wrapped trays of treats topped with bows for the holidays. This first round of thank-you snacks was “random,” a field office manager told NOTUS, with some offices getting them and others not receiving any. Some got large orders and others received small packages.
Additional staffing would have been more helpful for morale, the field office manager said.
“We have far too many employees getting sick and diagnosed with serious illnesses as the acute stress of being severely understaffed hits them,” they said.
Another field office employee told NOTUS that there weren’t enough pretzels in the recent package for everyone in their office to have one.
The agency spokesperson told NOTUS that at Bisignano’s direction, SSA has expanded the number of employees receiving performance awards and given the highest dollar amount of awards in agency history.
“Social Security is delivering better, faster, higher-quality service for the American people through technology and process improvements,” they said. “Callers to the National 800 Number are being served 75% faster than under the previous administration. Wait times for in-person field office visits have been reduced by 30%, and disability hearing wait times are down by 40%, reaching historic lows.”
Some of those gains are coming at least in part by shifting staff around the agency. SSA has been moving field office employees, workers who process claims and other employees to answer its phone line since last year. Just last month, the agency asked for more volunteers to move to the 1-800 number for 120-day stints.
One field office employee told NOTUS that their office got the package of pretzels last week, but they haven’t had time to eat their share yet.
“I’m on day two of being on the window either alone or with one other agent,” they said. “We saw 171 people yesterday and probably just under that today.”
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