Report called on the IRS to expand use of special payment incentives to hire or retain mission-critical personnel. Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock.com
By: FEDweek StaffIn two reports raising concerns about staffing at the IRS, the GAO has called attention to recommendations for workforce planning that have not been carried out, while the IRS inspector general has urged the agency to make fuller use of special pay authorities for recruitment and retention.
The GAO said the agency “faces capacity challenges with skills gaps in mission-critical roles and must cultivate a well-equipped, diverse, flexible, and engaged workforce to address internal challenges and effectively enforce tax laws. With the influx of Inflation Reduction Act funding, it is critical that IRS implement two priority recommendations, including executing a detailed workforce planning strategy and developing a plan to more efficiently use expensive employee overtime.”
It pointed to recommendations first made in 2019 that the agency put in place and carry out a strategic workforce plan. While the agency agreed with those recommendations, it delayed implementation, most recently putting it off until next March.
It also noted that with funding from the Inflation Reduction Act, the agency was able to hire additional employees for the 2023 filing season and did not need to use mandatory overtime. “Nevertheless, we continue to believe that a strategy, in collaboration with IRS’s strategic workforce planning initiative, would help ensure the efficient use of overtime. If not well managed, overtime can be costly, contribute to skills gaps, and could negatively affect employee morale,” it said.
The separate IG report found that the agency paid recruitment, retention, or relocation incentive payments to nearly 1,500 employees in occupations apart from IT, totaling just over $1.5 million, over 2019-2022. Auditors found that all those payments in a sample were awarded properly. However, the large majority of the payments and the dollar value were paid in 2020 in response the pandemic, it said.
It also said that while the agency has tested the use of “critical position pay” authority allowing for higher salaries in selected positions, “it took almost three years” to get internal approval for its use and the agency does not plan to continue using it.
The IRS “needs to expand its use of special payment incentives to increase efforts to hire or retain mission-critical personnel and reduce related personnel shortages,” it said.
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