The Federal Emergency Management Agency has shed staff at an alarming rate in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and an increasing number of disasters, with a watchdog warning in a recent report it has struggled to rebuild its disaster response workforce.
FEMA is 35% short of its staffing needs according to its own statistical modeling, the Government Accountability Office said, leaving it more than 6,000 employees shy of what it requires to confront modern demands. Agency officials blamed increasing burnout and attrition for the shortfalls, though GAO cited the agency for a lack of metrics to improve its hiring processes.
“FEMA currently faces an all-time high in disasters and an unparalleled demand on its workforce,” GAO said, adding the agency will struggle to overcome that challenge without better hiring targets and clearer ways to measure success. The auditors noted the shortages were exacerbated by “the year-round pace caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing number of disasters.”
FEMA’s disaster response workforce has dipped by more than 20% since 2020. Its cadre of public assistance staff went from 100% capacity before the pandemic to just 55% in the years that followed the outbreak, in part due to attrition and in part because the need grew by 130%.
FEMA is looking to grow its workforce by the equivalent of nearly 1,500 full-time employees in fiscal 2024—a figure that includes both its regular, permanent staff and its corps of reservists. Combined with the...
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