Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority: Assessing Fiscal Risks and Improving Workforce Management Would Help Achieve Strategic Goals
Fast Facts
In recent years, Washington, D.C.'s Metro transit system has had serious safety problems and has lost revenue during lengthy maintenance. These conditions put pressure on Metro to effectively manage its most expensive resource—its workforce.
We found:
Metro's pension costs are increasing faster than other workforce costs, which could make it hard to continue providing employee benefits without compromising future service.
Metro's workforce management policies and processes don't help it achieve safety and customer service goals.
We recommended fully assessing Metro's pension risks and improving workforce planning and performance management.
Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority Train Station
Photo showing a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority train car departing a station.
Highlights
What GAO Found
The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority's (WMATA) workforce costs—including wages, salaries, and benefits for employees and retirees—increased on average by about 3 percent annually from fiscal years 2006 through 2017. This increase was largely driven by the cost of employee and retiree benefits. Specifically, the amount WMATA was required to contribute to its pension plans increased by an annual average of about 19 percent during this period. Due to their relative size, proportion of retirees compared to active members, and investment decisions, these pension plans pose significant risk to WMATA's financial operations, yet WMATA has not fully assessed the risks. Without comprehensive information on the risks facing its pension plans, WMATA may not be prepared for economic scenarios that could increase its required contributions to an extent that might jeopardize its ability to provide some transit service.
Workforce Costs for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Fiscal Years 2006 through 2017, in Inflation-Adjusted Fiscal Year 2017 Dollars
WMATA has implemented two employee performance management systems that cover all employees, but these systems lack some key elements of an effectively designed and implemented performance management system. For example, WMATA's performance management systems are not designed to make meaningful distinctions in performance, a key element of an effective system. This design is due in part to WMATA's lack of comprehensive policies and procedures for its performance management systems. In addition, WMATA lacks sufficient controls to ensure that supervisors complete required performance evaluations accurately and on-time. For example, in 10 of 50 performance evaluations we reviewed, we found scoring errors where employees were assigned a performance rating inconsistent with the supporting review. Without comprehensive policies and procedures or sufficient controls over its performance management systems, WMATA lacks tools and information to move employees toward achieving WMATA's strategic goals.
Why GAO Did This Study
WMATA transports more than 1 million rail and bus passengers each weekday in the nation's capital and surrounding areas. However, recent safety incidents and declines in ridership and revenues have focused public attention on how WMATA manages its workforce and associated costs.
GAO was asked to review WMATA's workforce management. This report examines, among other things, (1) how WMATA's workforce costs have changed from fiscal years 2006 through 2017 and factors contributing to those changes, and (2) how WMATA has designed and implemented its employee performance management systems. GAO reviewed WMATA's annual financial statements and budgets from fiscal years 2006 through 2017, and compared WMATA's workforce cost and performance management efforts to leading practices and internal control and actuarial principles. GAO also reviewed a non-generalizable sample of employee performance evaluations selected to include occupations with the highest number of evaluations.
Recommendations
GAO is making five recommendations to WMATA, including that it develop a comprehensive assessment of risks posed by its pension plans, comprehensive policies and procedures for its employee performance management systems, and controls to ensure supervisors complete required performance evaluations, among other actions.
WMATA agreed with four recommendations and neither agreed nor disagreed with the fifth.
Recommendations for Executive Action
| Agency Affected | Recommendation | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | WMATA's General Manager should conduct a comprehensive assessment of the financial risks to which WMATA is exposed from its pension plans and communicate the results to its pension plan trustees and other stakeholders, such as its Board of Directors. This assessment should include information about WMATA's current and potential future required payments and unfunded liabilities, including under potentially adverse economic scenarios. (Recommendation 1) | As of January 2025, WMATA has partially addressed this recommendation. Specifically, WMATA received a report from a contractor it hired to assess the financial risks of WMATA's five pension plans. This report summarizes the performance of the five WMATA pension plans as well as the projected future benefits, employer contributions, and the range of expected future returns for each plan, among other information. However, that report did not comprehensively assess financial risks to which WMATA is exposed from its pension plans, including under a range of potentially adverse economic scenarios, as GAO recommended. GAO has requested additional information from WMATA on this issue and will... continue to monitor WMATA's efforts to implement this recommendation.
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| Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | WMATA's General Manager should develop a strategic workforce planning process that (1) sets a strategic direction for WMATA's workforce planning and involves employees and other stakeholders in developing and communicating the process, and (2) includes a data-driven assessment of the critical skill and competencies WMATA needs to fill any gaps. (Recommendation 2) | WMATA provides rail and bus transit services that are critical to the mobility of the nation's capital and surrounding areas. However, WMATA's rail system has experienced safety lapses that have focused public attention on the management and performance of WMATA's workforce. In 2017, WMATA announced plans to reduce its workforce by eliminating 6 percent of its 13,000 positions to help bridge a $290 million gap in its 2018 operating budget. In 2018, GAO reported that although WMATA identifies the staffing levels it needs each year through its annual budgeting process, it does not have a strategic process to identify and address its long-term workforce needs to meet the agency's goals. GAO...
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| Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | WMATA's General Manager should establish comprehensive policies and procedures for both of its performance management systems that document the goals of the systems and individuals' responsibilities for implementing these systems; align employee performance objectives with all of WMATA's strategic goals; and define performance objectives, rating categories, and competencies tailored to individual positions' responsibilities. (Recommendation 3) | WMATA provides critical rail and bus transit services to the nation's capital and surrounding areas. However, WMATA's rail system has experienced safety lapses that have focused public attention on the management and performance of WMATA's workforce. In 2018, GAO reported that although WMATA had two performance management systems-PERFORMetro and Performance Conversations-in place to cover all WMATA employees, the design of these systems lacked three key elements of an effective performance management system as identified in prior GAO work. Specifically, WMATA's performance management systems did not (1) consistently align individual employee performance with all of WMATA's strategic...
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| Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | WMATA's General Manager should establish controls to ensure supervisors fully and accurately complete employee performance reviews and submit them to human resources within established timeframes. (Recommendation 4) | The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) provides rail and bus transit services that are critical to the mobility and productivity of the nation's capital and surrounding areas. However, since 2015 WMATA's rail system had experienced safety lapses that focused public attention on the management and performance of WMATA's workforce. In 2018, GAO reported that although WMATA had employee performance management systems in place to cover all WMATA employees, WMATA supervisors had frequently not completed required performance evaluations accurately and on-time. Specifically, GAO found that of the 50 employee performance evaluation files that GAO reviewed: (1) 25 were missing...
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| Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority | WMATA's General Manager should develop a documented process to use employee performance management information to monitor progress toward WMATA's strategic goals. (Recommendation 5) | WMATA provides critical rail and bus transit services to the nation's capital and surrounding areas. However, WMATA's rail system has experienced safety lapses that have focused public attention on the management and performance of WMATA's workforce. In 2018, GAO reported that WMATA had two performance management systems to cover its various employee groups, but that WMATA does not use performance management information to track progress towards strategic goals. GAO's prior work found that routinely using performance information to track individual contributions to organizational priorities, and then requiring follow-up actions to address gaps, are key performance management practices....
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