During a town hall meeting, employees were informed that the IG's IT department conducted the review and a top official warned in a 'threatening manner' that a demonstrated failure to work dutifully would result in severe discipline. That would represent about 7% of the IG’s Office of Investigations workforce. One employee estimated that nearly two-dozen employees are facing potential discipline. She explained that employees must put forward an honest effort in their duties and maintain “high standards of integrity, conduct, and concern for the public interest.” Ennis cautioned employees that moving forward, they must remember that public service is a public trust and that we have a duty first and foremost to the Constitution, laws, and ethical principles.” “Regretfully, some employees did not, and they will be held accountable for their conduct,” she said. She said the 'vast majority' of employees worked the hours they said they did and 'met their obligations as public servants.'Įnnis added, however, that not all employees performed so admirably. She noted the agency found, as a general matter, the IG's office remained consistently productive and had 'demonstrated an ability to produce meaningful results' in extraordinary circumstances brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. In a message to employees in July on 'reentry planning' obtained by Government Executive, Ennis announced to employees she had requested an assessment of the workforce's remote work productivity. “Failing to do so would be detrimental to public service, the OIG mission, and the morale of the many employees who go above and beyond in their contributions every day,” Ennis said in a letter to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, which had raised concerns about the investigations.

She added it was necessary 'as stewards of taxpayer dollars' to hold employees accountable 'when appropriate.' Gail Ennis, SSA's inspector general, has defended the agency's actions as obtaining 'organization-wide data' to 'inform decision-making regarding post-reentry work arrangements.' Ennis said she was merely following a directive by the Biden administration to use data for back-to-office decision making and her own agenda promoting evidence-based policy making. The probes have resulted in employee discipline, including firings, according to SSA IG staff. The Social Security Administration’s inspector general office has in recent months conducted surveys of computer logs and telephone records of its employees, aiming to ensure its employees were engaging in work activities at the proper times. One federal agency is weighing disciplinary action for some of its employees after monitoring their workflows remotely, ushering in a new layer of managerial oversight to match the mass telework era.

Employees on computers at work