Frank Bisignano is leading social security after the agency shed more than seven thousand employees in 2025, including about three thousand workers who handle direct customer service. The cut left the Social Security Administration with staffing at its lowest point since the late nineteen-sixties.
That comes at an agency that serves 75 million Americans through 12 hundred field offices open five days a week. For people seeking help in person, the drop reaches the front line first: fewer staff are available to answer claims, fix records, and handle walk-ins.
Bisignano Takes Over
Bisignano was confirmed by the Senate in May to lead the agency, after telling managers he had not known anything about Social Security when Trump tapped him. He later was appointed to run the Internal Revenue Service as well. In an early meeting with Social Security Administration managers, he said, “Well, what am I gonna do?” and, “So, I’m Googling ‘Social Security,’ you know?”
Early last year, Donald Trump and Elon Musk accused the agency of widespread fraud and listed dozens of offices for closure. Musk said on X, without evidence, that millions of centenarian “vampires” were collecting checks from the agency. After those moves, Trump appointed Leland Dudek as acting commissioner after Dudek said he had “circumvented the chain of command” to help DOGE access confidential data.
Field Offices Shrink
Most of Bisignano’s reforms seemed to shrink the role of field offices and nationalize operations. Jean, a manager in the Midwest, saw her region combined with much of the West, stretching from Ohio to Alaska. Her service area spans hundreds of square miles, and people sometimes drive two and a half hours to get help.
The headquarters side also narrowed. The head count at the consolidated headquarters went from around five hundred to just sixteen, a shift that leaves fewer people handling the work that used to be spread across the agency.
Social Security Satisfaction
The staffing loss landed after employee morale had already weakened. In 2024, an employee satisfaction index gave the agency a score of 54 out of 100; in 2025, a similar index gave it a score of 15.
For beneficiaries, the practical result is a tighter system with fewer hands in the places people still use most. The next pressure point is whether the agency can keep its local offices functioning five days a week while managing a workforce that has fallen below its recent baseline.
