The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration yesterday released Improvements Have Been Made to the Recruitment Process, but Continued Focus and Additional Enhancements Are Needed (2010-10-113):

Like many Federal agencies, the IRS will be challenged to replace existing talent because of a large number of expected retirements. More than a third of IRS executives are already eligible for retirement while more than half of the IRS’s 106,000 employees and managers have reached age 50 and can retire within 10 years. Many of these employees possess unique skills and institutional knowledge that will be difficult to replace.

TIGTA found that in the approximately 18 months since it completed its last audit of the IRS’s recruitment process, the IRS has taken significant actions to improve its ability to recruit qualified workers. Notably, the IRS has developed a comprehensive agency-wide recruitment strategy designed to attract outstanding candidates from diverse backgrounds to fill vacant positions, TIGTA found.

While the IRS has made significant progress, long-term commitment and focus is required, and the IRS needs to better measure and monitor program effectiveness, according to the report.