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The Internal Revenue Service must develop strategies for retaining employees to offset a looming staffing shortage due to retirements over the next four years, a panel of agency overseers declared last week.

Members of the IRS Oversight Board, which met on Aug. 15, said human capital issues represent a major strategic challenge for the IRS as its workforce ages and talented employees in critical jobs retire from the agency.

"About 4,000 IRS employees a year for the next four years are expected to retire, taking with them years of experience and valuable skills," said Paul Jones, chairman of the Oversight Board. "Maintaining and growing workforce skills during this period of change must be addressed in a strategic manner."

The agency already has proposed an overall strategy for retaining employees that includes offering bonuses and waiving restrictions on rehiring retired annuitants. Currently, retirees have little incentive to return to federal service because the law cuts their salaries by the amount of their pensions. (Earlier this month, two senators introduced legislation that would allow federal retirees to return to government service without taking pay cuts.)

The IRS' priorities for fiscal 2008 include boosting hiring programs for revenue agents, increasing recruitment for jobs needed during tax-filing season and targeting key demographics in the recruitment pool, the board said.

According to a July report by the nonprofit Partnership for Public Service, the IRS plans to hire 4,600 tax examiners and 3,350 revenue agents through fiscal 2009 to help boost enforcement activities.

Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said the IRS should seek adequate funding and resources to offset staffing shortages. She also recommended that the agency scale back its efforts to outsource some of its debt collection efforts to private companies.

"The IRS doesn't seem to understand that putting the jobs of present employees at risk, even by threatening to contract out their work, is a strong disincentive to recruitment," Kelley said. "That is the opposite of what it should be doing -- which is investing in its workforce."

At the Aug. 15 meeting, members of the Oversight Board also discussed whether the IRS has measures to adequately assess its pay for performance system. And they received a status report on the IRS Business Systems Modernization program, an effort to upgrade the agency's tax administrative and financial systems. The project has suffered delays and cost overruns, but board members indicated they are encouraged by the IRS' recent progress on the project.

COMMENTS

• After 21 years in IRS I can honestly say that I have had a reasonably good career under a few great managers that offered progresive management technics and generated mutual respect. Unfortunately they are the minority. The majority of comanagers and managers have been self serving vindictive individuals that use counter productive management techniques that neither motivate employees or treat our customers fairly. Very sad that we as an organization have so many great employees that leave because they are simply fed up. The Union is ineffective in dealing with abusive and hostile work environments. I will probably be one of the 4000 retirements leaving earlier than full career because I am simply tired of being treated like chattel. Terri Willert Posted September 28, 2007 12:26 PM
• Arrogant management has driven both new hires as well as experienced employees through the doors in their desire to secure their own performance bonuses at the sacrifice of the well being and morale of their employees. Case loads were consistantly held to the maximum though employees were ill and were immediately pressured to maximum performance standards upon return no matter the severity of the illness. Pre leave letters were flying around to intimidate anyone who had the audacity to be ill or to care for an ill person. Managment additionally withheld relative information to employees if and what medical documentation was necessary in order in order to comply with these phony letters in order to maximize the intimidation aspect. The rate of retention of new hires is lower than McDonalds and those nearing retirement are ticking off the days like inmates. The emperor managers have now built their little kingdoms, they are only now beginning to realize that they can not stop the expatriation that they have so foolishly began. Executive bonus should be converted to retention bonuses in order to retain the knowledge of emploees in non management ranks in order to save this agency. RO Posted September 8, 2007 9:51 AM
• The agency needs to stop spending money on ways to recruit and retain employees and start listening to the employees that they have, who have great ideas. Employees and managers have been saying for years that they needed to have some employees shadows other employees who are currently in the process of retiring. IRS have loss so much experiences of employees who have retired, some who left voluntarily and some who were force to retired. IRS have a lot of areas that need improvement, but like anything else they need to stop and LISTEN. Sharon Harper Posted September 5, 2007 9:34 AM