IRS urged to take action on diversity in upper ranks

The Internal Revenue Service is more diverse than many workplaces, but more can be done, especially in the upper echelons, according to a new report.

The report, released Monday by the Government Accountability Office, noted that with about 90,000 employees, IRS is more diverse than the national civilian labor force in representing women, employees from historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups, people with disabilities and veterans.

But that diversity is mostly concentrated in lower ranks and jobs without senior-level advancement potential, according to the report. Those employees often face lower chances for promotions, lower salaries and greater likelihoods of separation from the agency.

The IRS is working to identify and address barriers to diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility in its workforce but can do more. The GAO offered eight recommendations to help.

From 2013 to 2022, the IRS’s workforce diversity increased, the report acknowledged. However, disparities persisted in the representation of women, employees from historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups, and persons with disabilities across ranks, occupations and divisions. For example, in 2022, 72% of IRS employees in General Schedule grades 10 and below were women, compared to 45.6% of employees at the executive level.

“The same groups also frequently faced lower likelihoods of promotion, lower salaries, and — for historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups — greater likelihoods of separation compared to their counterparts during this period,” said the report. “For example, when controlling for other factors such as occupation, employees from historically disadvantaged racial or ethnic groups were 9% to 34% less likely than white employees to be promoted across most GS grades. This analysis, taken alone, does not prove or disprove the presence of discrimination, completely explain reasons for different career outcomes, or establish causality but can provide important insight.”

From 2013 to 2022, the IRS reported eight trends, disparities or anomalies — referred to as triggers — related to workforce diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. However, the IRS faced challenges identifying and addressing barriers — policies, procedures, practices or conditions — underlying the triggers. The IRS overly relied on workforce data to identify triggers, conducted limited stakeholder consultation, and did not complete some barrier analysis steps or took them out of order. In January 2024, IRS issued draft policies and procedures that, once they’re implemented, should help address the last of these issues. However, without actions to use many information sources and improve stakeholder consultation, the GAO said the IRS would be limited in its ability to fully identify and address DEIA barriers.

The IRS also established multiple diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility goals in separate strategic plans, creating a lack of clarity about the agency’s DEIA efforts. In addition, GAO found that associated performance measures were incomplete. Without a unified strategy for DEIA goals and fully developed performance measures, IRS cannot effectively set priorities, allocate resources, assess progress and restructure efforts as needed to address DEIA barriers affecting its workforce.

The GAO made eight recommendations to the IRS, including that the IRS consult many information sources and regularly consult stakeholders to identify triggers and address barriers, and establish a unified DEIA strategic plan with associated performance measures. The IRS concurred with all eight recommendations.

“The IRS is deeply committed to investing in our workforce, including strengthening our diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility, and that work is necessary to address barriers,” wrote IRS deputy commissioner Douglas O’Donnell in response to the report.