Description of Employer Wage Reporting Journey Pilot

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 0960-0788)

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Employer Wage Reporting Journey File Upload Pilot

PURPOSE:

With the help of members of the Wage Reporting Community (employers), SSA has reengineered and modernized the Wage File Upload (Electronic Form W-2) functionality as part of the Electronic Wage Reporting process in the Social Security Administration’s (SSA’s) Business Services Online. This new functionality, delivered in December 2020 – January 2021, will provide real-time editing of files and responses to our customs (employers) in minutes. ¹ The current batch process runs overnight and employers have to return to BSO to learn the status of their file. SSA is conducting a pilot in December 2020 – February 2021 with a limited number of employers to gain knowledge about customer experiences before SSA requires all customers (over 1 million) to use this new process starting in December 2021. As part of the process, pilot volunteers will fill out an online survey with approximately 15 questions. SSA’s User Experience Group (UXG) will also contact each volunteer pilot participant to get additional detailed information from each pilot participant.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

SSA routinely works with national organizations representing the Wage Reporting Community, which is comprised of companies and third-parties that submit W-2s to SSA. We asked five organizations if they had any members who would participate in a pilot and 24 businesses volunteered. Representatives from 24 businesses that file W-2s with SSA using Business Services Online. We assume no more than 50 respondents.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[X] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Chuck Liptz, Senior Advisor, Social Security Administration

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, is the information that will be collected included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Applicable, has a System or Records Notice been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No not applicable

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [ X ] No

BURDEN HOURS

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time (minutes)	Burden (hours)
Internet Survey	50	15	13
Follow-up telephone interview	50	60	50
Totals	100		63

FEDERAL COST: The estimated annual cost to the Federal government is $1,950.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X ] Yes [ ] No

If the answer is yes, please provide a description of both below (or attach the sampling plan)? If the answer is no, please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them?

Employers/Businesses (24) volunteered to participate in the pilot. As part of this participation, they volunteered to participate in an online survey and a follow-up phone interview. We anticipate no more than 50 individuals (~2 per business) will participate.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X ] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[X ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

1 Wage reporting in the BSO is collected under OMB. 0960-0626 (Integration Registration Services (IRES) System).

3