Personnel Restrictions and Cutbacks in Executive Agencies: Need for Caution

For the Federal Government to be effecive, its programs and activities must be effectively implemented. Sound implementation can be weakened by too many employees, resulting in costly nonproductivity, or by too few, resulting in an unmanageable workload. Over the past several years, GAO has issued many reports illustrating the problems caused by insufficient staff. These problems, affecting a wide range of Government programs, include work backlogs, ineffective implementation of legislative mandates, excessive use of overtime and consultants, and, in several cases, criminal abuses.