A new report from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration found that many new IRS employees didn’t receive required equipment, like work laptops, on time or weren’t told performance expectations within 30 calendar days of their start date.
TIGTA reviewed how the tax agency has used the additional funding it received from the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 to redesign the hiring and onboarding processes and improve the employee experience. The watchdog also evaluated the IRS’s efforts to provide more effective employee onboarding programs.
The review was done before President Donald Trump issued an executive order shortly after he took office in January 2025 freezing the hiring of federal civilian employees with additional restrictions for IRS hiring.
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In addition, the National Taxpayer Advocate reported that between January 2025 and December 2025, the number of IRS employees decreased from more than 102,000 to about 74,000, a 27% reduction. These employees either separated or accepted a deferred resignation program offer or another incentive to leave.
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During the hiring freeze, the IRS was allowed limited hiring exceptions, TIGTA said. For example, the agency was able to pursue hiring customer service staff to help with filing season and criminal investigators to assist with other government-wide initiatives.
Onboarding process improvements
According to TIGTA, the onboarding process at the IRS includes a five-day new employee orientation and continues throughout the new employees’ first year, equips them with the necessary tools and resources, and provides resources to managers for onboarding their new employees.
“In addition, training during the onboarding period provides employees with a better understanding of their responsibilities and the knowledge and skills they need to do their job. Trained employees have better skills and confidence, which can positively impact service for taxpayers,” TIGTA said in the report. “When the onboarding process is effective, it can improve employee productivity, performance, retention, and engagement.”
In fiscal year 2024, the IRS onboarded nearly 19,000 external hires—and efforts to improve the onboarding process were generally successful, TIGTA noted in the report. The agency’s Human Capital Office created and delivered a comprehensive new employee orientation program that reduces managerial burden and resolves new employee concerns in-person.
The report states:
Onboarding begins once the employee accepts the job and continues through the end of the first year of employment. The IRS has several resources available to managers to assist with onboarding, including an internal virtual community site, an orientation program, and a Quarterly Touchpoint Program.
The virtual community site, located on the IRS’s intranet, contains targeted information, advice, and interactive features to help managers work more efficiently. For example, the Hiring and Transition section of the site provides procedures and guidance to assist managers with onboarding new employees. This section also outlines the activities, detailed tasks, website links, and due dates that IRS managers should follow in each of the three phases of onboarding: pre-arrival, orientation, and acclimating new employees.
- Pre-arrival provides information on first day logistics, including a welcome letter, request for building access, and basic computer applications and equipment. It also instructs managers to prepare the employee performance folder.
- Orientation sets the tone for first impressions including the oath of office, the welcome and overview briefing, and a payroll and benefit presentation.
- Acclimating New Employees recommends IRS managers communicate performance expectations, identify and schedule essential training, implement career learning plans, and complete annual appraisals.
The HCO’s Human Resources Shared Services (HRSS) Orientation Center team is responsible for coordinating the orientation program and providing a five-day orientation. During orientation, new employees obtain their access card, receive their laptop, meet with their manager, and learn about IRS policies. Following orientation, critical job elements (CJE) must be discussed with the employee. CJEs are performance expectations that managers use to rate their employees. In addition, Form 6774, Receipt of Critical Job Elements and Fair and Equitable Treatment of Taxpayers Retention Standard (hereafter referred to as the CJE form) must be completed, signed, and filed in the employee’s performance folder within 30 calendar days of their start date.
HRSS also administers a Quarterly Touchpoint Program to promote consistency for all new employees at the IRS and enhance their experience. The Quarterly Touchpoint Program is designed to guide managers’ discussions with new employees during the first year, and covers topics such as training, employee development, and performance. The Quarterly Touchpoint Program activities are tracked and managed in the Integrated Talent Management (ITM) system, which helps with the completion of required discussions between managers and new employees.
Not all requirements were met
But the improved IRS onboarding process still had some issues, according to TIGTA:
40% of the employees in TIGTA’s sample received their laptop more than five workdays after their start date: TIGTA estimates that 7,505 employees hired in FY 2024 didn’t get their laptops on time. As a result, employees may be unable to perform job duties, participate in online training, access agency systems, connect with colleagues, or complete necessary onboarding tasks, TIGTA says. For example, a tax examining technician may be unable to review and analyze internal documents and taxpayer returns, one of their major duties.
There’s no formal guidance mandating the timeframe when new employees should receive their laptop, the report states. However, the new employee orientation playbook says that employees should receive their laptop and any other equipment on the third day of new employee orientation. TIGTA said it chose five workdays because it’s the typical orientation period.
44% of new hires didn’t receive their critical job elements, such as their performance expectations, within 30 calendar days of their start date: Based on these results, TIGTA estimates that 8,253 employees hired in FY 2024 had this issue. According to TIGTA, CJEs are important because they are how a supervisor assesses an employee against their performance plan.
The report states that the manager’s onboarding checklist doesn’t include a step to issue the CJE form within 30 calendar days of the employee’s start date. Managers reported that some new employees, such as those that process tax returns, may work in temporary areas and are assigned to different managers while waiting to receive training.
In addition, the new employees’ permanent manager may not be determined until after the employee completes training. This could make it difficult for managers to consistently verify whether new employees did or didn’t discuss their CJEs and/or have a completed CJE form in their employee performance folder, TIGTA says.
Not all managers completed quarterly touchpoint activities: TIGTA determined that 13 (65%) of the 20 employees in a separate judgmental sample of FY 2023 new hires didn’t participate in quarterly touchpoint meetings in their first year. The remaining seven employees participated in quarterly touchpoint meetings, but not all meetings were completed within the established timeframes.
IRS management confirmed to TIGTA that these meetings are required but acknowledged that not all managers are completing them, and there’s no formal policy for this program. Instead, there are informal guidelines and process documentation, such as the March 2024 Manager’s Quarterly Touchpoint Activities training.
Recommendations
TIGTA made five recommendations to the IRS, including to determine when managers must request new laptops and formalize standard new employee orientation guidance with the requirements; alert managers when the performance plan is past due; and establish guidance requiring managers to hold quarterly touchpoint meetings.
IRS management agreed with four recommendations and partially agreed with one stating they will require managers to conduct a minimum of three touchpoints during each annual appraisal period, the report states.
“This planned corrective action meets the intent of our recommendation,” TIGTA said.
Photo credit: Westy72/iStock
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