guess who has the federal government’s worst retention rate for employees under 40?
by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research
if you think it’s hard staffing a cpa firm, imagine the challenges at the internal revenue service where
- the pay’s not so good
- laws limit bonuses
- it takes three months to hire an applicant
- federal bureaucracy gums up the process
- the hiring process uses antiquated technology
- only a remote office can authorize many hires
more: eight ways the irs can speed up processing tax returns | irs plays whac-a-mole with the phones | vcs plunk $60 million into ai-powered ‘autonomous’ tax prep | how tax practitioners became cybersecurity risks
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- the recruitment and retention budgets are austere
- training programs, spaces and equipment are inadequate
- more than 100 full-time positions need to be filled every day
- over half of employees will be eligible to retire within five years
the taxpayer advocacy service says the irs needs to deal with these problems, and it’s going to take money, effort, technology and legislation to get it done.
don’t blame the agents
until last year, we saw irs services steadily getting worse. thanks to additional resources made possible by the inflation reduction act, which went into effect in 2023, services have improved, though they’re still inadequate.
according the national taxpayer advocate’s 2024 annual report to congress, “many of the irs’s challenges are traceable to simply not having adequate staffing. attrition compounds cause for concern because about 18 percent of irs employees are currently retirement eligible and can leave at any time, with 37 percent of irs employees estimated as retirement eligible in the next five years.”
so when your cpa firm or its clients suffer inadequate service at the irs, don’t blame the people who work there. their problem isn’t competence or attitude. it’s that there aren’t enough of these unsung heroes, and if nothing’s done, there will be fewer in the future.
significant threats
“consistent, significant employee attrition combined with the often lengthy process have left the irs severely understaffed and unable to adequately recruit, hire and train much-needed new employees over the past decade,” the nta report says.
warning of staffing shortages posing “significant threats to federal tax administration and taxpayer rights,” the report says the irs must
- increase hiring capacity
- remove obstacles in the hiring process
- reduce pay disparity between federal and non-federal employees
- enhance benefits packages
- increase staffing at the human capital office to allow more training
the hco has sped up the hiring process recently by using direct hire authority. dha gives agencies the power to hire more efficiently and quickly for jobs at general schedule levels of 15 or below. with dha, the irs was able to make 31,880 “hiring actions” in 2023, compared to 23,800 in 2022.
nonetheless, the irs still isn’t keeping pace with attrition.
who waits 98 days?
the office of personnel management has set a time-to-hire goal of no more than 80 days from a request to hire to an employee’s first day on any federal job. but the irs takes an average of 82 days for an external hire with dha and 98 days without dha.
who waits 98 days for a decision to hire? in today’s accounting market, almost nobody.
and those patient souls who wait tend to get anxious. they inquire. the inquiry takes time because there is no quick way to track a candidate’s progress through the process. the search takes up somebody’s time, delaying the process even more.
the nta suggests several ways to speed up the hiring process:
- additional technical capabilities
- a mechanism for the irs and candidates to track the process from start to finish
- better communication among everyone involved in the process
- more training for hco personnel so they can quickly determine whether candidates are qualified
the cost of a hire: $10,350
higher salaries would help, too. federal salaries in 2023 were 27 percent lower than non-federal salaries, worse than the 24 percent differential in 2022.
better benefits and workplace culture would increase the candidate pool and employee retention, the nta report says.
retention is a real problem, with the irs having the federal government’s worst retention rate for employees under the age of 40. with the hiring process costing an average of $10,350 per new employee, better salaries and benefits would be a prudent investment.
the nta report concluded with an urgent message: “to ensure fairness, efficiency and protection of taxpayer rights, the irs must urgently focus on resolving challenges with employee hiring, recruitment, retention and training.”