IRS Transformation Must Include Workforce Transformation
The prompt for this round of the FEDforum is The importance of professional development. This week, hear from the Professional Managers Association (PMA).
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is using Congress’s historic investment in the Service to shepherd one of the largest modernization efforts in IRS history. But IRS transformation will be meaningless without workforce transformation. IRS employees must prepare for the future of their work–a future that includes modernized technology, better customer service, and additional support and resources to meet their mission. Through this change, continuous professional development will be critical to ensure the workforce has the skills to succeed and is invested in their organization’s modernization.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) gives the IRS the tools to significantly improve taxpayer services and capacity to meet the needs of our nation. But as the IRS workplace improves, employees must improve with it. Many IRS employees are accustomed to the current environment of outdated technology, personnel shortages, and resource constraints. They are used to doing more will less, and it will take a culture change to learn to do more with more.
To start, employees must be trained in how to use new technology and incorporate additional resources into their work. In the IRA implementation plan, the IRS has pledged to expand digital services and increase data driven decision making. To do these things, the IRS must also pledge to improve employee digital awareness and increase data literacy. Employees must be skilled at maintaining data privacy and understand how to navigate a new technology infrastructure. Employees cannot be left behind or expected to catch up, the IS must offer ongoing and continuous professional development.
As job requirements change, employees should have opportunities to upskill and develop latent skills that the IRS needs. There are talented people across the Service who have been eager to see change. Now that the IRA has provided room for modernization, the Service should tap into the potential of its workforce to fuel their development alongside the IRS’s development.
This would significantly improve turnover at the IRS as well. The IRS has long struggled with workforce attrition, as a significant portion of the workforce is retirement eligible, and many employees leave after only a few years. However, regular access to professional development opportunities has been proven to decrease turnover because it fuels employee buy-in with the organization’s long-term goals. For example, LinkedIn’s 2023 Workplace Learning Report found that “providing learning opportunities” was the number 1 way organization are working to improve retention. According to LinkedIn, “Three of the top five factors that drive people to pursue new jobs reflect their desire to stretch, grow, and develop new skills.”
Additionally, as the IRS works to onboard as many as 30,000 employees over the next two years, it will be critical that existing employees have the interpersonal and communication skills to integrate with their new colleagues. More than a decade of budget cuts and workforce reductions have deeply damaged the IRS culture. Professional development aimed at improving soft skills can help re-energize the workforce and build a culture of psychological safety.
As the IRS navigates its historic investment from the IRA, the people behind the transformation will be the key to its success. Continuous professional development aimed at ushering the workforce into the new era and providing pathways for career growth will be critical. Agencies are only as strong as their people, and the people at the IRS are ready for the change ahead.
The column from Professional Managers Association is part of the FEDforum, an initiative to unite voices across the federal community. The FEDforum is a space for federal employee groups to share their organizations’ initiatives and activities with the FEDmanager audience.
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