A new report from the United States Government Accountability Office (GAO) says the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) could improve officer engagement.
TSA employs almost 50,000 transportation security officers (TSOs) who screen passengers and their baggage at airports across the US. TSA employees’ engagement has historically ranked among the lowest within the Department of Homeland Security and across the federal government. Agency leadership has previously identified the need to improve employee engagement, notably their sense of purpose in their job, as central to the agency’s security mission.
GAO found that the five key drivers affecting TSO engagement are managing and recognizing performance, demonstrating responsiveness to input, providing opportunities for career development, ensuring communication from management, and supporting work-life balance.
GAO noted in its February 27 report that TSA has taken actions to address all five key drivers but found that challenges related to each persist. For example, to address TSO concerns about managing and recognizing performance, in 2018 TSA began requiring supervisors to take a one-hour performance management course. In 2021, it set up two programs to reward top performance. However, GAO said these actions did not fully address the root causes of TSO dissatisfaction – namely, inconsistent management of TSOs’ performance.
GAO also found that TSA has not identified root causes of TSO dissatisfaction for three other drivers – career development, work-life balance and communication. Without doing so, the government watchdog said TSA will have difficulty implementing effective corrective actions that address the specific challenges for each of the drivers.
For the remaining driver, demonstrating responsiveness to input, GAO found that TSA has solicited TSO input on the root causes of low engagement at airports through a survey and other initiatives. However, GAO said that TSA has not tracked follow-through on these initiatives.
To address the shortcomings, GAO has made nine recommendations, with which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has concurred. These include conducting analyses, tracking and monitoring airport leadership progress, and implementing actions to address root causes. DHS noted, however, that GAO could have done more to acknowledge recent improvements in TSO engagement as demonstrated by the latest Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey in which TSA’s score increased by more than the government-wide average.
For more security news, please click here.