A heavy workload for program managers and chairs resulted in some leaving their roles, leading to overall high turnover. Image: CHRISTOPHER E ZIMMER/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffStaffing vacancies “have led to heavy workload and retention issues” in the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief program, GAO has said, with seven-tenths of positions in the State Department office overseeing the program vacant and nine-tenths of key overseas positions filled only on an acting basis.
A report credited the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy (S/GAC) for working to address issues that GAO previously identified with coordination with other agencies that carry out the relief programs, including USAID, the CDC and DoD. However, it said the understaffing issue has been “persistent” since at least 2017.
Participants in focus groups GAO convened “described instances when some country chairs and program managers performed their duties inconsistently because they were overstretched and covering multiple countries with chair or program manager vacancies,” it said. “These participants observed that this heavy workload for program managers and chairs had resulted in some leaving their roles, leading to overall high turnover in the positions.”
GAO also said that the office’s workforce planning approach does not “address program-wide staffing gaps and their causes” or include “strategies for acquiring, developing, and retaining staff.” It said the department agreed with its recommendations including to develop a strategic workforce planning process that meets GAO best practices.
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