IRS – International Revenue Service – is looking to use $80 billion as part of the Inflation Reduction Act to rebuild its workforce. These resources aim to help staff up over the next decade as members of Congress said its current hiring efforts are falling behind.
According to a June report from the National Taxpayer Advocate, the IRS hired only 3,400 of the 5,000 customer services representatives planned to onboard before the end of the year.
IRS Will Use Remote Work to Hire and Retain Employees
According to lawmakers, the IRS needs to improve its recruitment and retention efforts. While the agency is getting enough funding to rebuild its workforce and IT over the next decade, its currently struggling with pay and time-to-hire challenges that persist across the federal workforce.
Consequently, the agency is looking for alternatives to attract employees. According to Chad Hooper, president of the Professional Managers Association, which represents IRS managers, the agency will use remote work and flexibility to earn a competitive advantage. During an interview last month, he mentioned (Federalnetwork):
“The IRS is really trying to step out in front of everyone else on telework, and we’re really impressed with them. I’m hoping that they learn to talk about this as a benefit because it is actually a tremendous one,”
He also noted the IRS future of teamwork to test this remote work experiment is considering launching a pilot in 2023 to compare the productivity of remote and hybrid IRS employees with those who are working from the office.
