The IG cited workload constraints, miscommunication, security checks exceeding their targeted completion time, and limitations in the IRS’s hiring management system. Image: Daniel J. Macy/Shutterstock.com
Human capital, especially hiring, has been listed as among the top management challenges facing the IRS by the inspector general’s office there, the latest in a series of reports raising that issue.
While the agency’s long-term transformation plan targets additional funds for hiring in tax enforcement, taxpayer service, and information technology, and the agency has “multiple authorities to expedite hiring and fill job vacancies,” it said, actual hiring “has been difficult.”
“We found that hiring has been delayed because of workload constraints, miscommunication, security checks exceeding their targeted completion time, and limitations in the IRS’s hiring management system. We have also reported that the IRS has an average three year attrition rate of 8.5 percent which is higher than the average for federal agencies,” a report said.
It credited the agency with carrying out past recommendations, including improved communication across business units to share information about hiring needs, incorporating future workforce needs with human resources strategies, and using recruiting and retention incentive payments.
The IG added: “We are reviewing the IRS’s efforts to implement efficient hiring processes that will fill critical program vacancies. Additionally, we are assessing the IRS’s implementation of the IRS University as its primary training resource. We also plan to review the IRS’s efforts to attract a talented and diverse workforce and review the IRS’s efforts to improve the onboarding process.”
Other top challenges, also similar to those listed in past reports, include managing the transformation initiative, protecting taxpayer data, customer service, modernizing IT, and more.
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