5.1 INTRODUCTION AND EXPLANATION OF STRATEGY

Our employees are the primary way we instill confidence in taxpayers and increase trust in tax administration. IRS employees must be well trained, adept, and knowledgeable to provide exceptional taxpayer service. To implement our Taxpayer Experience Strategy and improve training across the IRS, we will strive to create a centralized educational organization, or “IRS University,” to support the IRS mission. This will allow for a strategic curriculum that will instill the importance of taxpayer service in all employees. High-quality, taxpayer-first training will further develop employee skill sets, improve morale, increase productivity, enhance knowledge transfer between employees, and foster innovation.

Based on clear goals and long-term strategic plans, we will align our training with the Taxpayer Experience Strategy and Organizational Redesign Strategy to provide IRS employees with developed curricula, “just-in-time” courses, continuous learning, and professional development. Our Training Strategy will enhance previous efforts and our Service-wide approach will enable training to be more relevant and holistic for employees. Updating and integrating innovative technological tools will further ensure employees across the IRS receive consistent, high-quality training. A continued commitment from leadership is critical to meeting employees’ training and development needs now, and in the future.

We developed this strategy after months of outreach and extensive research. As part of this effort, we visited IRS locations around the country to observe work processes and interview employees at all levels of the organization. Additional focused interviews gave us insight into the current training environment and helped us to pinpoint where key stakeholders (including partners and parties both internal and external to the IRS) think improvements are needed. We also assessed best practices across government and the private sector to identify ways to better meet the needs of our high-performing workforce.

Employees emphasized the importance of investing in development throughout their careers. Training should be timely and interactive and should use multiple delivery methods to ensure a high quality and engaging training experience. Stakeholder feedback revealed that we need to better use internal resources to eliminate knowledge gaps and centrally manage vendor contracts for improved economies of scale. Stakeholders also stressed the importance of

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using integrated technology and data to drive decision-making about training needs. The IRS must also provide adequate IT infrastructure to support a variety of online and virtual learning opportunities in addition to supporting our core business of tax administration.

Training Strategy Key Components With a university model as the centerpiece of our new approach, our Training Strategy has several critical components:

IRS University (IRSU) to establish an innovative, centralized learning function within the IRS that relies on technology to provide enhanced training experiences for employees. IRSU will begin by establishing four academies including Taxpayer Service, Tax Administration, IT and Operations Management and Leadership to organize all training curricula and developmental activities that align under IRS functions discussed in Section 6. The four-academy structure will meet the needs of IRS as it transitions to a more taxpayer centric approach and structure and also supports continuous employee learning and development around structured yet flexible career paths.

Taxpayer-First Training to equip all IRS employees with a working knowledge of our Taxpayer Experience Strategy, Taxpayer Rights, and organizational awareness through a standardized curriculum, while encouraging professionalism, effective communication and empathy. The IRS will also emphasize training on civility, inclusive behaviors, cultural competency, taxpayer rights, understanding taxpayer needs, and multi-language access.

Continuous Learning For All Employees to establish and promote a continuous learning environment. This will equip employees to perform their current role, develop higher levels of technical expertise along a career path, and support the acquisition of portable skills (such as project management, effective communication and risk management) that allow individuals to change roles within the IRS. Since the last substantial reorganization the IRS has undergone a variety of changes in how it conducts its business. As technology advances so must the IRS workforce. Continuous learning allows us to reskill employees based on changing organizational needs as we implement the key components of the taxpayer experience strategy and adjust the organizational structure to better serve the public. Our approach includes the use of competency assessments, career pathing and career planning tools that provide employees opportunities to re-skill and upskill.

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Utilizing Technology to improve technology to create accessible, high-quality and effective training programs to optimize the employee training experience. We will implement new technology to accommodate the administration, delivery and tracking of the training lifecycle.

Measuring Success to evaluate feedback on training from employees, taxpayers and key stakeholders. The IRS will use this feedback to make necessary training adjustments and continuously improve our training capabilities. ³⁴

Our Training Strategy is closely aligned with the Taxpayer Experience Strategy and the Organizational Redesign Strategy. Improved fundamental

regardless of their roles within the IRS, have a positive effect on the taxpayer experience. We will integrate new

training to ensure employees are well equipped to solve taxpayer issues. A more unified approach to employee development will make us more flexible and responsive to the ever-changing needs and priorities of taxpayers and our partners. Successfully implementing this agency-wide strategy will require leadership commitment and a strategic governance structure to ensure accountability and effectiveness.

34 U.S Office of Personnel Management Training Evaluation Field Guide Demonstrating the Value of Training at Every Level January 2011.

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5.2 IRS UNIVERSITY

IRS will strive to establish an innovative, centralized learning organization that relies on technology to provide enhanced training experiences for employees

private sector organizations. A newly-created IRSU within IRS would seek to serve as the umbrella for developing and educating employees to deliver the IRS mission and our strategic plan by strengthening individual and organizational learning, knowledge, competencies and skills. In this university model, experts in learning and education delivery, policies and guidelines will support the development and execution of training activities and content to ensure a consistent, high-quality experience. IRSU will initially establish four academies, Taxpayer Service; Tax Administration; IT and Operations Management; and Leadership Development, that will serve to unify and organize training and development activities across the agency. IRSU will partner closely with operating divisions to provide subject matter experts from across the IRS to develop and deliver training activities and content. Coordination across the IRS will support the development of relevant and high-quality content, skilled instructors, strong delivery platforms whether in person or virtual. Continued commitment from leadership will enable employees to develop along career paths. IRSU will identify the offerings in these areas that best meet IRS organizational and employee needs. We will establish these key areas with an emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion. This model will provide numerous benefits to the IRS, including consistent training across organizations; improved alignment between learning, development, and the IRS Strategic Plan; and reduced resource duplication between operating divisions.

The IRS University will feature—

• Requirements Planning: We will use organizational workforce planning data and skills

assessment tools to create an agency-wide, standardized needs assessment process. We will develop this needs assessment process to continuously identify skill gaps based on input from key stakeholders to ensure employees’ training needs are met. This approach will help us identify opportunities to enhance the taxpayer experience through training and developmental activities.

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• Multi-year Training: We will use results from the needs assessment and ongoing input from key stakeholders to develop a multi-year training plan that reflects the IRS’s strategic goals and objectives. The multi-year training plan will also consider workforce planning, projected hiring needs and leadership succession planning. A multi-year training strategy will promote collaboration across the IRS, provide more advanced notice about upcoming training, and realize economies of scale when acquiring external course materials. We will also be able to time training delivery to avoid peak workload periods.

  • Leadership Development: We will establish a centralized leadership and management development function within the IRSU to train and develop employees continuously at each step of the leadership journey. Developing strong and effective leaders at every level is critical to the IRS’s long-term success. We will design learning and career development activities, including assessments, coaching, mentoring, and group and self-directed learning that instill the competencies and behaviors needed to build strong leaders. We will also equip leaders with the skills needed to support employee development and ensure leaders are accountable for their employees’ development. Together, supervisors and their employees will design developmental activities and training to track progress along desired career paths.

  • Strategic Sourcing: We will strategically acquire and manage learning platforms, design and delivery tools, as well as learning content from external providers and partners. By making these tools available to each operating division across the IRS, we will eliminate duplicative purchases of learning content and reduce overall costs.

  • Blended Learning Model: We will use a mix of on-site learning centers and virtual training to deliver technical skills. Training may be delivered through traditional classroom training, virtual courses, micro-learning activities (such as videos or podcasts, simulations, job aides, wikis or blogs, coaching and on-the-job instruction) and developmental assignments. Our blended approach will use adult learning principles and accommodate different learning styles, enhance employees’ training experiences and provide the agency with greater ability to address changes and challenges in the workplace through training. Training plans will include developmental assignments such as shadow or detail assignments, growth opportunities, and coaching or mentoring. We will look to identify the most effective ways to support employee needs and the delivery of training materials.

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5.2 IRS UNIVERSITY

• Expanded Learning Management System (LMS): We will establish a centralized hub for all training administration by adding capabilities to our existing LMS under Treasury’s Integrated Talent Management (ITM) system that supports the activities and operations of IRSU. The improved system will create a single access point for employees and training personnel to define and prioritize requirements, register for classes, attend virtual classes and submit training evaluations. Stored training data will also support reporting, analysis and evaluation.

  • Ongoing Training Evaluation: We will apply the New World Kirkpatrick Model ³⁵ to evaluate training. By establishing additional guidelines and controls, this model will help us follow best practices to improve our training products and capabilities. ³⁶

35 Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation, James D. Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick, 2016, ATD Press.

36 See Section 5.6 for more details.

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5.3 TAXPAYER-FIRST TRAINING

With training centralized in the IRS, we will be better able to deliver consistent training with a focus on taxpayers’ needs. All IRS employees will understand how they contribute to the overall taxpayer experience. To support our Taxpayer Experience Strategy, the IRS will educate all employees about our different functions so they can easily navigate across the organization to resolve taxpayer issues.

We will develop a high-quality, agency-wide, core taxpayer experience curriculum for all employees. This curriculum will focus on organizational awareness to reduce knowledge gaps, key principles of customer service, taxpayer rights (including the Taxpayer Advocate’s role in tax administration), early dispute resolution, and research-based behavioral insights. Providing our employees with a working knowledge of taxpayer rights is essential to our efforts to provide high quality taxpayer service. Training on taxpayer rights is a key component of the core taxpayer experience curriculum. We will develop Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TBOR) Training for all IRS employees relying on the Taxpayer Advocate Service as a key partner and primary subject matter expert. Taxpayer Bill of Rights training will be delivered to all IRS Employees beginning in FY2021. This core taxpayer experience curriculum will be supplemented with on-the-job resources, references, and job aides. We will also train all employees to resolve taxpayer issues pertinent to their roles, and tailor role-specific training to help employees assist taxpayers based on their occupation and relationship to the taxpayer. This training will also emphasize how employees should guide taxpayers to the appropriate resources to resolve any issues beyond the scope of their knowledge to provide taxpayers with ‘concierge’ ³⁷ support through all stages of tax administration.

In addition to updates to the general curriculum for all IRS employees, we’ll update our taxpayerfacing training in phases over the next five years to provide role-specific, in-depth knowledge of the Taxpayer Experience Strategy and the tools and resources available to assist taxpayers. Taxpayer-facing training will be updated as the capabilities outlined in the Taxpayer Experience Strategy are introduced. We will also review emerging taxpayer behaviors to improve training content. This specialized curriculum for IRS assistors will focus on customer service principles, problem-solving and people skills such as active listening, cultural competency and how to use plain language to explain complicated concepts. We will teach IRS assistors to use internal resources and collaborate with other employees to provide outstanding taxpayer service and will use feedback from taxpayers and other key stakeholders to evolve our training over time.

37 See Seamless Experience Section 4.4 for additional detail on the concierge model.

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5.4 CONTINUOUS LEARNING FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

To truly put taxpayers first, we must promote the personal development and growth of our approximately 81,000 dedicated IRS employees. The IRSU will encourage active engagement with employees throughout their careers, ensure consistent access to information, and enable advancement along career paths. Continuous learning is a development concept that involves an employee receiving ongoing training throughout their careers. This includes requisite training to meet current job demands as well as long term career growth. The goal of the continuous learning approach is to create more ties between these different tools and programs to offer a more cohesive end to end development process.

An increased focus on continuous learning will help us:

• Boost employee engagement

• Retain a skilled and knowledgeable workforce

• Expand our ability to forecast and budget for training needs

• Increase taxpayer satisfaction with exceptional taxpayer service

• Understand taxpayer diversity

As part of our Training Strategy, we will provide training resources that are easily accessible, support technical training, equip employees to improve their performance, and explore careerbroadening opportunities. As explained below, we will create a continuous learning environment by focusing on employee training progression, structured career paths, knowledge management, and an interactive development environment.

Employee Training Progression To better prepare and retain employees, the IRS will offer ongoing training that progresses with employees’ careers. In addition to custom IRS developed content, we will make use of outside vendors, external training libraries, external university courses and other relevant sources to supplement training and maintain certifications. As employees continue to gain experience, training will focus on more complex tasks and subject matter. To facilitate this progression and offer employees the right training at the right time, supervisors and employees will have ongoing discussions about career goals, training plans, and new learning opportunities. Training will focus on role-specific skill building as outlined in the graphic below and will be delivered using digital and in-person platforms.

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Figure 5: Example technical and leadership career paths for a new hire. Individuals could shift from a

technical or leadership path as they progress in their career.

The IRS will introduce courses that prepare employees, especially frontline employees, to exhibit top customer service skills. In addition to assigning this curriculum to new employees, the IRS will regularly deliver training at a pre-set cadence to maintain familiarity. We will also continue to monitor the taxpayer experience and modify employee training to accommodate changing needs.

Progressive employee training will:

• Begin by assessing new hires to determine necessary role-specific training and equipping

them to advance in their career with the IRS

• Continue with technical professional education and the development of portable skills

• Advance toward either mastery as a subject matter expert or a career in leadership following

a well-defined career path

• Preserve agency expertise and resources

Based on feedback from operations, we will update and customize training regularly. By taking a holistic approach to developing our employees, we will build subject matter expertise and leadership capabilities, enabling employees to control their career paths and provide outstanding taxpayer service.

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5.4 CONTINUOUS LEARNING FOR ALL EMPLOYEES

Established Career Paths While we support our employees’ professional development, we must also consider our longterm workforce planning goals. We will expand upon ongoing IRS efforts to provide employees with structured, yet flexible career paths aligned with training and developmental activities to help them excel in their current role and plan for their future. Employees will also develop transferable skills that allow them to shift roles to meet changing taxpayer needs. For those who want to explore other roles, career paths will give them direction and the ability to evaluate skill gaps so that they can successfully transition to new opportunities. We will expand our current knowledge management activities and practices, such as virtual libraries, standard operating procedures, knowledge capture, communities of practice, self-help videos, and online tutorials, to provide employees with current training resources that improve their technical competencies and decision-making and ultimately improve the taxpayer experience.

The IRS is committed to providing a clear career path from novice to executive levels for all employees, recognizing that employees may choose a technical or leadership path. We will support employees’ efforts to obtain relevant job and professional certifications and to maintain them through continuing education.

IRS leadership will review strategic goals and objectives, workforce planning data, results from competency-based skills assessments, and employee career goals and interests to determine the number of employees pursuing different career paths. We will use this information to guide our training plan.

Together, supervisors and their employees will design developmental activities and training to track progress along desired long-term career paths. As a part of this process, the IRS will look to invest in technology that allows employees easy access to career path and training resources.

Comprehensive Development Environment Our Training Strategy will give employees a suite of resources for accessing training and knowledge resources at their convenience. These activities will support and supplement learning that occurs via traditional classroom and online, instructor-led courses. The IRS will expand our current knowledge management activities and practices, such as virtual libraries, job aids, communities of practice, self-help videos and online tutorials, to provide employees with

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up-to-date training resources that improve their technical competencies, improve IRS decisionmaking, and improve the taxpayer experience.

We will foster connections between employees by providing agency-wide forums to share best practices and provide coaching opportunities so employees can share their knowledge and experience. For example, as employees acquire new roles, skills or specializations, they will be able to engage with groups of subject matter experts, also known as communities of practice. These connections, integrated with existing developmental activities, will improve knowledge transfer across the IRS and support continuous employee learning. We will use “just in time” courses to train employees on procedural changes arising from new legislation or regulatory guidance. The graphic below demonstrates how the IRS will integrate its suite of learning and development tools into one Comprehensive Development Environment. We will develop and deliver competency assessments that will help employees identify areas of strengths and weaknesses for personal development. Assessments will allow the agency to target areas for additional employee development, reskilling opportunities, and future hiring needs. These integrations provide an ongoing, seamless experience for employees in their learning development and provide opportunities to share that knowledge with other members of the IRS workforce.

Figure 6: Comprehensive Development Environment

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5.5 UTILIZING TECHNOLOGY

To support the Training Strategy, the IRS will improve technology, subject to available funding, to create accessible, high-quality and effective training programs. We will build on lessons learned from the recent COVID-19 pandemic when we adapted classroom training material for virtual delivery and instructors were trained on the technology needed to teach remotely. We will implement new technology to accommodate the administration, delivery and tracking of the training lifecycle. This technology will support:

• The development and delivery of training to equip employees to provide excellent taxpayer

service

• A continuous learning environment for employees

• A learning function to provide a consistent, high-quality training experience for all employees

• The collection and evaluation of data to enhance our training capabilities

We will expand the use of Treasury’s Integrated Talent Management system to establish a centralized hub for all training administration that supports the delivery, documentation and

evaluation of learning and development activities. Enhancing our existing LMS with additional capabilities will allow us to create a single access point for employees

schedule, access and complete online training and followup activities designed to reinforce learning and skills

IRS improve training. Employees will receive guidance on accessing training resources from their manager, mentor and leadership team based on their career path and goals. Additionally, we will support leadership in analyzing development opportunities by providing access to critical organizational information such as IRS workforce planning data, the training budget, and the annual training plan.

We will invest in a collaborative virtual training system to integrate with the current LMS. Technology will enable the blended learning approach by creating additional avenues for learning and development activities. Improved technology will be flexible, allowing for the development of new capabilities and enabling training administrators to build plans for employees to grow beyond their current roles.

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5.6 MEASURING SUCCESS

We will design and evaluate training plans and programs to support our mission, improve training, increase performance goals and enhance the taxpayer experience. Our Training Strategy will include capturing data to determine the effectiveness of all training with special emphasis on our core taxpayer experience curriculum, Taxpayer Bill of Rights, organizational awareness and early dispute resolution. We will monitor data using existing or new key indicators, balanced measures, compliance data and customer ratings to track our progress.

We will apply industry standard learning evaluation principles to assess the effectiveness of training content. The Kirkpatrick Model ³⁸,with New World Kirkpatrick Model enhancements, is the training industry leader in its systematic approach to training evaluation. ³⁹ We will incorporate this robust approach to promote a data-rich decision-making environment. The model provides a four-level approach to training:

Figure 7: New World Kirkpatrick Model

38 Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation, James D. Kirkpatrick and Wendy Kayser Kirkpatrick, 2016, ATD Press.

39 U.S. Office of Personnel Management Training Evaluation Field Guide Demonstrating the Value of Training at Every Level January 2011.

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According to the New World Kirkpatrick Model, Level 1 and Level 2 evaluations are equally important in capturing the employees’ engagement in the course and the skills and knowledge they received from the course. Level 3 evaluations are critical in determining what effect training has had on employee behaviors and job performance. Level 4 evaluations reflect how these behaviors have contributed to organizational improvement. In this approach, the Level 3 evaluation serves as the target for effectively delivering on the taxpayer experience.

Level 1: Reaction The degree to which employees find the training favorable, engaging

and relevant to their jobs.

Level 2: Learning Tests comprehension and the degree to which employees acquire the

intended knowledge, skills, attitude, confidence and commitment based on their participation in the training.

Level 3: Behavior The degree to which employees apply what they learned during

training when they are back on the job.

Level 4: Results The degree to which targeted outcomes such as the taxpayer

experience or satisfaction are affected by training programs.

The Kirkpatrick evaluation model will provide data from multiple perspectives to evaluate our Training Strategy. Our evaluation approach will refocus on standardizing the use of Levels 1-3 training evaluations for more consistent data reporting and analysis. The team will identify additional surveys or measures for Level 4 using key indicators to determine if our training programs have a positive effect on the taxpayer experience. We will use this data to enhance our employees’ training experience, improve training content and delivery, and aid decision-making about training resources. Our approach will help us understand the relationship between training success and key customer satisfaction and organizational success measures. We will also monitor results from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. We will administer short but more frequent Pulse Surveys to increase our agility and responsiveness to employees’ needs. We will use this information to help us provide employees with a high-quality training experience to promote a continuous learning environment and the delivery of a top-quality taxpayer experience. We will have an accountability framework which allows us to monitor and track our effectiveness in the following areas: program execution, program and system evaluation, curriculum design, development and delivery. The framework also allows comparative analysis with respect to competency/skills assessment and training evaluation data.

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5.6 MEASURING SUCCESS

Ultimately, our comprehensive Training Strategy represents a holistic approach to improving employee training and development. This will enhance the taxpayer experience and empower IRS employees to take ownership of their professional development. Additionally, the investment in learning systems will allow us to increase virtual training and provide interactive and costefficient training nationwide. This will drive greater efficiency by providing training opportunities that yield better performance, preserve organizational knowledge, and improve employee retention. We are committed to implementing a training strategy that meets taxpayer needs, ensures employees are well-prepared for their roles and provides easy access to developmental resources. This approach will help employees advance in their careers while also developing the skills to backfill vacant positions as needed.

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TRAINING STRATEGY

GOALS VALUE FOR THE EMPLOYEE

Equip employees to provide

outstanding taxpayer service

Create a continuous learning

environment for employees

Expand our capability to

deliver learning and training

utilizing technology

Create an IRS University that drives

efficiency, effectiveness and agility

Implement governance measures

to continually improve employee

training experience

Corporate University that builds on established academies (IRS Leadership Academy, Human Resources Training Academy, IT University)

Established tools that assess the individual training needs based on occupation/career path

Training curriculum accessible to employees via an Integrated Talent Management System

Enhanced training governance and standards that ensure a high-quality training experience for employees

Access to guidance and training resources needed to provide taxpayer service ¬¬and to support continuous learning and career development

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Training Strategy Timeline and Measures

The Training Strategy will be implemented in phases that are closely aligned with the implementation of the Taxpayer Experience Strategy and plan for changing the IRS Organizational Structure. The implementation includes multiple phases.

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Training Strategy Timeline and Measures

Phase One Key Takeaways Phase one focuses on enhancing IRS capabilities to deliver on an enterprise training approach that supports continuous learning and that equips employees to provide top quality taxpayer service. Phase one activities include:

• The identification of career paths and the identification of supporting training curriculum to support career development

  • Identification of corporate training resources (Training Technology, External Providers) to support the implementation of the strategy

  • The identification of enhancements to the IRS Integrated Talent Management system and training technology to support the training approach

  • Defining training governance and training standards to support the implementation of the training strategy

  • Centralizing the acquisition of training tools and resources

  • Developing a plan to unify the IRS L&E Organizations under an IRS Corporate University that supports the Taxpayer Experience Strategy and plans for changing the IRS Organizational Structure

  • Realigning IRS L&E function under the IRS Corporate University

  • Developing and implementing Taxpayer Service, Taxpayer Bill of Rights and Organizational Awareness Training for all IRS employees

  • Establishing a Corporate University that incorporates existing academies (IRS Leadership Academy, Human Resources Training Academy, IT University)

Phase Two Key Takeaways Phase two focuses on establishing an enterprise-wide approach to training and employee development that supports continuous learning via a Corporate University. Key activities will include:

• I mplementing enhancements to the IRS Integrated Talent Management system and training

technology to support the training approach

• Making career paths and accompanying training curriculum accessible to employees via an

Integrated Talent Management System

• Implementing enhanced training governance and training standards to ensure a high-quality

training experience for employees

• Establishing tools to assess the individual training needs based on occupation/career path

• Developing and implementing role specific taxpayer service training for taxpayer-facing and

role specific training for taxpayer-facing employees

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Training Strategy Timeline and Measures

Phase Three Key Takeaways During the final phase we realize our vision of becoming an IRS University that serves one-stopshop that provides a continuous learning environment with accessible resources that equips our employees to provide top-notch Taxpayer Service and supports ongoing career development. Key activities include:

• A Corporate University fully implemented with academies focusing on key strategic areas

such as Taxpayer Service, Tax Administration, Technical and Operations Support Activities and Leadership Development

• Through a structured and collaborative approach, we will fully realize a continuous learning

environment that address organizational and individual employee needs

• Enhancements to the IRS Integrated Talent Management system to support the training

approach and a continuous learning environment are completed

• Employees have access to the guidance and training resources needed to provide taxpayer service in their current role and to support continuous learning and career development

  • An on-going system is implemented to evaluate and improve training programs and IRS employees training experience

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S E C T I O N