GAO: Find out why new federal employees quit

Federal agencies should interview employees who quit to find out why they're leaving, a new General Accounting Office report suggests.

GAO made its recommendation after reviewing the numbers of claims examiners who quit within the first year on the job at the Veterans Benefits Administration. About 16 percent of newly hired claims examiners have quit in less than 12 months on the job over the past four years, GAO found.

"Minimizing attrition is important because of the high costs of hiring and training new examiners," GAO said in the report, "VBA: Better Collection and Analysis of Attrition Data Needed to Enhance Workforce Planning" (03-491).

In any organization, newly hired employees tend to quit at higher rates than long-term employees. VBA's 16 percent quit rate for examiners is in line with the 17 percent quit rate for new hires in all occupations across government. The attrition rate for all federal employees in fiscal 2001 was 7 percent, GAO said.

New employees leave jobs for a variety of reasons. They may find that the job wasn't what they expected, that it is too demanding, that it is not demanding enough, that they can get a better-paying job elsewhere or that they're not getting enough training or the right tools to do their job. They may also find they're not good at the job.

At the VBA, attrition rates varied from regional office to regional office. For example, the Baltimore, Chicago, Newark, N.J. and New York offices lost more than one-third of their new claims examiners within a year of hiring them, while the Phoenix, Louisville, Ky., Huntington, W.Va. and Wichita, Kan., offices lost no new hires within the first year.

Conducting exit interviews can help managers figure out how to cut down on attrition. The Veterans Benefits Administration has conducted a few small-scale exit interview exercises in recent years. In those studies, quitters reported they were leaving because they weren't getting enough training, they were dissatisfied with the workload, or they found the jobs too difficult. Some employees quit because they anticipated that they were going to be fired for poor performance or conduct.

GAO urged the agency to have a standard exit interview process. The agency should analyze the data from exit interviews to identify common trends and problems, and then combine that information with attrition data analysis to determine an acceptable level of turnover, GAO said. GAO also urged the agency to figure out the costs to the agency of hiring employees only to lose them a few months later.

Sometimes a key factor is the assessment process for job applicants. The Internal Revenue Service, for example, has high turnover in its call centers. The agency has recently begun assessing candidates using simulations of taxpayer phone calls. Assessors call the candidates and pose as taxpayers. Candidates get a better sense of what the job is like and opt out if they don't enjoy the simulation. The IRS also gets a better sense of candidates' phone manners. From January 2002 to May 2002, the five IRS call centers that used simulations had a 17.5 percent turnover rate, compared with a 29 percent turnover rate at the seven centers that didn't use simulations.

Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi said in a letter to GAO that the agency has developed an exit interview process that is slated to begin July 1. Headquarters officials will then review the data. "Subsequently, training will be offered to VBA field managers on hiring and retaining employees," Principi said.

Several agencies have developed exit interviews over the years, including the Bureau of Reclamation at the Interior Department and the International Trade Administration at the Commerce Department.