PDF - Department of the Treasury

Human Capital
The IRS first implemented its telework
program (known as the Flexiplace Program)
in 1995. Despite widespread participation
in the IRS Flexiplace Program, the IRS has
not implemented adequate policies or
guidelines for the Program. Employee
participation in the Program is not tracked,
which makes it difficult for the IRS to
accurately report to the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM) on Program
participation. Not tracking employee
participation also makes it difficult for the
IRS to ensure employees have the needed
support and equipment to work successfully
at alternate locations. It also limits the
ability of the IRS to identify office space
that is not needed for employees who
telecommute most of the time.
Additionally, some IRS managers
expressed concerns that the productivity of
employees participating in the Flexiplace
Program is reduced. Although IRS
managers have received training on the
provisions of the Union agreement related
to the Flexiplace Program, the training did
not address how to determine which
employees are suited to work away from
the office, how to assess employee
performance, or the other challenges of
managing employees working in remote
locations. Surveys of IRS managers
indicated that better equipment and
telecommunications access would improve
employee productivity. Furthermore,
guidelines are needed to ensure that
employees participating in the Flexiplace
Program receive the correct locality pay.
TIGTA recommended that the IRS develop
overall program guidelines that conform to
the OPM guidelines, implement a system to
accurately determine the number of
employees participating in the Flexiplace
Program, implement guidelines to assess
employees’ abilities to participate without a
loss of productivity, and provide training to
address productivity issues. Additionally,
the IRS should determine what logistical
support and equipment employees need,
and ensure that employees get the proper
equipment to enable employee productivity
and security of sensitive data. IRS
management agreed with the
recommendations and proposed corrective
action.
Report Reference No. 2005-10-107
The Federal Workforce Flexibility Act of
2004 14 requires agencies to regularly assess
their training efforts to determine whether
their training is contributing to the
successful completion of the agencies’
missions. The IRS has training assessment
procedures; however, they were generally
not followed by the IRS operating divisions
that TIGTA reviewed.
In 24 (56 percent) of the 43 training courses
sampled, there was no evidence that an
assessment was performed to support
changes or updates to the courses. The lack
of documentation of the actions taken
prevented verification of whether the IRS
is taking steps to ensure that employees are
getting the right training to perform their
jobs effectively.
Additionally, the IRS’ usage of the
Integrated Training Evaluation and
Measurement Services system is limited.
This system gathers and analyzes training
14 Pub. L. 108-411, 118 Stat. 2305 (2004).
20 April 1, 2005 to September 30, 2005