The IRS could more effectively manage HR by documenting the skills of its IT workforce, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration has said.
It said that while the IRS’s IT organization has a process for identifying its resource needs for completing its priority work, the process relies on management’s knowledge and judgment about each employee’s skills and does not consider resource needs for other mission-related work.
Further, the IT organization lacks a system that provides information about employee skills and competencies, TIGTA said. It called on the IT organization to implement a tool that the IRS human capital office developed to help assess employee skills and competencies and link that information with training.
Such a tool would reduce management’s burden, is a cost-efficient means for identifying skills gaps, and it allows for quick and easy access to employee data for development and training purposes, the IG said.
Management said it is in the process of developing its own IT workforce tool to gather technical competencies, skills, and areas of expertise and proficiency-level ratings. It also agreed to develop an inventory list of key skills (and skill level) needed for each IT position.