Trump administration offers federal workers payouts for resignations in move mirroring Elon Musk's memo at Twitter
CHEYENNE HASLETT, BENJAMIN SIEGEL, LUKE BARR and KATHERINE FAULDERS
Tue, January 28, 2025
Showing the significant influence of Elon Musk's leadership style in President Donald Trump's new administration, a memo sent to government employees Tuesday night informing them of an ultimatum between significant job changes or severance was found to closely mirror an email Musk sent to Twitter employees in 2022, shortly after taking over the company.
The emails — one from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent Tuesday night and the other from Musk to Twitter employees in November 2022 — share the same subject line: "A Fork in the Road," the emails, both obtained by ABC News, show.
The memo sent to government employees Tuesday evening informed them of their offer for "deferred resignation," which would begin effective immediately and offer pay and benefits until Sept. 30, for those who accept.
Tue, January 28, 2025
Showing the significant influence of Elon Musk's leadership style in President Donald Trump's new administration, a memo sent to government employees Tuesday night informing them of an ultimatum between significant job changes or severance was found to closely mirror an email Musk sent to Twitter employees in 2022, shortly after taking over the company.
The emails — one from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent Tuesday night and the other from Musk to Twitter employees in November 2022 — share the same subject line: "A Fork in the Road," the emails, both obtained by ABC News, show.
The memo sent to government employees Tuesday evening informed them of their offer for "deferred resignation," which would begin effective immediately and offer pay and benefits until Sept. 30, for those who accept.
Any government employee can qualify through Feb. 6, "except for military personnel of the armed forces, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security, and those in any other positions specifically excluded by your employing agency," the memo said.
The memo, which called for an end to working from home and dedication to more intense work, immediately sparked confusion among federal employees over whether they were expected to cease work if they took the "deferred resignation," or work remotely through September. A follow-up memo from the government said employees who accept the resignation offer would "promptly" have their duties reassigned or eliminated, and be placed on administrative leave.
OPM said each agency should report updates on the number of employees who have accepted resignations every Friday, starting this week.
PHOTO: Tesla, SpaceX and X CEO Elon Musk arrives for the Inauguration of Donald J. Trump in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda, Jan. 20, 2025 in Washington.
(Chip Somodevilla/Pool via Reuters)
The four pillars of change outlined in the OPM memo included returning to office five days a week and possibly facing physical office relocations, restructuring or layoffs at the majority of federal agencies and committing to "excellence" at every level of government, subject to "enhanced standards" of conduct.
"The federal workforce should be comprised of the best America has to offer. We will insist on excellence at every level - our performance standards will be updated to reward and promote those that exceed expectations and address in a fair and open way those who do not meet the high standards which the taxpayers of this country have a right to demand," the memo read.
It mirrors the 2022 language Musk used when he asked Twitter employees newly under his purview to commit to being "extremely hardcore" and working "long hours at high intensity."
"Only exceptional performance will constitute a passing grade," Musk wrote to Twitter employees at the time.
PHOTO: Elon Musk, left, and President-elect Donald Trump embrace as they look at Musk's son X Æ A-Xii, at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration, Sunday, Jan. 19, 2025, in Washington. (Alex Brandon/AP, FILE)More
The emails also ended the same way. While the OPM memo requires employees to only respond "Resign" to the email in order to report their decision, Musk asked Twitter employees to "click yes on the link below" if they wanted to stay on at Twitter.
"Whatever decision you make, thank you for your efforts to make Twitter successful," Musk wrote in 2022.
And on Tuesday, the closing message to government employees by OPM: "Whichever path you choose, we thank you for your service to The United States of America."
Musk developed a close relationship with Trump in the final months of his campaign and was tapped to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, in order to eliminate what the Trump administration considers to be wasteful spending. Musk tweeted a reply on X to a post by his Super PAC on the buyouts simply saying, "A fork in the road."
The America super PAC tweeted an estimated 5% to 10% of the workforce was expected to take the buyout, "which could lead to around $100 billion in savings."
Trump administration offers federal workers payouts for resignations in move mirroring Elon Musk's memo at Twitter originally appeared on abcnews.go.com
Donald Trump offers eight-month buyouts to all federal employees
Joey Garrison and Jessica Guynn,
Catherine Stoddard
Tue, January 28, 2025
The Brief
President Donald Trump is offering federal workers a buyout in an attempt to shrink the size of the government.
The buyout offers eight months’ pay for federal employees who agree to leave their jobs by Feb. 6.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is offering buyouts worth eight months’ salary to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by Feb. 6, according to a memo from the Office of Personal Management.
The buyout is part of Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the United States government.
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/aFxOeLazUTXzt4KM8pKX3w--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD02OTc-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/the_hill_articles_341/052cd2c89906b56c1ea2ebc83ef5b0e1)
Trump administration to offer buyouts to all federal workers ahead of return to office
The Trump administration is offering all 2 million federal employees what amounts to a buyout if they do not intend to return to work in person later this year, sources confirmed to The Hill.
Four sources confirmed to The Hill that the emails are set to go out beginning Tuesday evening to the federal employees informing workers that they can retain benefits and be paid through September if they hand in their resignation by Feb. 6.
The buyouts are available to all full-time federal employees, excluding military personnel, U.S. Postal Service workers and positions related to immigration enforcement and national security.
The offer sparked concern among employee unions as well as some Democratic lawmakers who cautioned against accepting a buyout.
The emails are expected to come from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), two sources said.
One buyout email reviewed by The Hill was sent with the subject line “fork in the road” and noted that “return to office” was one of four pillars of Trump’s “reformed” federal workforce.
Elon Musk, who President Trump has tapped to help lead efforts to reduce the federal workforce, wrote on X last month that he commissioned a sculpture also titled “A Fork in The Road.” He used the same subject line in 2022 when encouraging employees at what was then Twitter to leave or commit to being “extremely hardcore.”
The Tuesday email to federal workers instructed them to reply to the email with “resign” if they wish to leave.
The email also indicated that continuing to remain in service amid the return to office work did not guarantee employment – a nod to multiple Trump efforts to shrink the workforce.
“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people,” the email states, adding, “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position.”
“If you chose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country,” it says, adding that employees will receive a “dignified, fair departure.”
An OPM memo to agency leaders seems to imply that they have the power to exclude certain positions from taking the deal, writing that it applies to all employees other than “positions specifically excluded by your employing agency.”
The Association of Federal Government Employees said the move seeks to shrink a federal workforce that has essentially remained flat over the last 50 years.
“The number of civil servants hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services. Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
An earlier email reviewed by The Hill suggested the notices would reach employees at each agency separately but would arrive “starting tonight.”
Many employees who opt to resign will be placed on administrative leave, according to a document explaining the process obtained by The Hill.
Individuals who choose to resign will receive a confirmation email within 48 hours, according to the document. Employees are not obligated to respond, and any decision to resign is voluntary.
Those who choose to take the buyout could choose to accelerate their resignation and leave their job before the end of September, the document states. The buyout will not be available after Feb. 6, though exceptions might be made for those who were on approved leave leading up to that date.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) noted there was no assurance that federal employees would receive the funding should they choose to resign.
“Trump sows chaos in federal workforce then says ‘resign within a week and I’ll give you 7 months severance.’ Don’t fall for it! Trump told innumerable contractors he’d pay—then stiffed them. He has no authority to promise severance pay. Wait him out!” he wrote on X.
Axios, which first reported on the buyout offer, reported that the White House expects 5 percent to 10 percent of federal employees to take the offer, which would amount to hundreds of thousands of workers.
Remote work became common for federal employees during the coronavirus pandemic, but Trump and his allies have sought to get workers back in the office.
While the Trump team has complained about the level of employees working from home, the majority of federal employees are not eligible to do so.
A prior report from OMB that has since been removed from the White House website found that 54 percent of federal employees have a job that requires being on site — a group that includes Pentagon employees, those working in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and more.
Of those who are permitted to telework, more than 60 percent of their working hours were spent at the office.
Trump on his first day in office signed a memorandum directing all departments and agencies in the executive branch to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
Trump has sought to remake the federal workforce in other ways since taking office. He has fired more than a dozen inspectors general across different agencies; his Justice Department ousted prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s team; and he signed an executive order giving him greater authority over federal employees.
Updated 9:29 p.m. EST
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Trump offering federal workers buyouts with about 8 months’ pay in effort to shrink government![](https://img1.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png)
The Associated Press
Wed, January 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM MST
5 min read
2
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience.Generate Key Takeaways
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The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week — an unprecedented move to shrink the U.S. government at breakneck speed.
A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, also said it would begin subjecting all federal employees to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and ominously warned of future downsizing. The email sent to millions of employees said those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about eight months of salary, but they have to choose to do so by Feb. 6.
President Donald Trump has built a political career around promising to disrupt Washington, and vowed that his second administration would go far further in shaking up traditional political norms than his first did. Still, the repercussions of so many government workers being invited to leave their jobs were difficult to calculate.
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Katie Miller, who serves on an advisory board to the Department of Government Efficiency, a special Trump administration department headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and tasked with shrinking the size of government, posted on X, “This email is being sent to more than TWO MILLION federal employees.”
The federal government employed more than 3 million people as of November last year, which accounted for nearly 1.9% of the nation’s entire civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to a Pew analysis of data from OPM.
Even a fraction of the workforce accepting buyouts could send shockwaves through the economy and trigger widespread disruptions throughout society as a whole, triggering wide-ranging — and as yet unknowable — implications for the delivery, timeliness and effectiveness of federal services across the nation.
Untold numbers of front-line health workers in the Veterans Affairs Department, officials who process loans for homebuyers or small businesses, and contractors who help procure the next generation of military weaponry could all head for the exits at once. It could also mean losing experienced food inspectors and scientists who test the water supply — while disrupting everything from air travel and consumer product protections.
In response, American Federation of Government Employees union President Everett Kelley said it should not be viewed as voluntary buyouts, but pressuring workers not considered loyal to the new administration to vacate their jobs.
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” Kelley said in a statement. “Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
In its emailed memo detailing its plan, OPM lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce going forward — including that most workers return to their offices full-time.
“The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since Covid will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week,” it reads. That echoes Trump, who said of federal employees over the weekend: “You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise, you’re not going to have a job.”
The memo also says Trump “will insist on excellence at every level,” and while some parts of the government’s workforce may increase under his administration, “The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized.”
Finally, it says, the “federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”
“Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward,” the memo reads.
The emailed message includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees to begin leaving their posts.
“If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30,” it says.
The email even includes instructions on how to accept, stating: “If you wish to resign: Select ‘Reply’ to this email. You must reply from your government account.” It adds: “Type the word ‘Resign’ into the body of this email and hit ‘send.’”
Meanwhile, OPM has released guidance for an executive order Trump signed on the first day of his second term known as “Schedule Career/Policy.” It replaces Schedule F, an order Trump signed late in his first term that sought to reclassify thousands of federal employees and make them political appointees without the same job security protections.
President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s Schedule F order almost immediately upon taking office in 2021, and under his administration, OPM issued a new rule last year designed to make it more difficult to fire many federal employees.
That move was seen as a safeguard against using a new Schedule F order to help carry out the key goals of Project 2025, a sweeping plan by a conservative Washington think tank to dismiss large swaths of the federal workforce in favor of more conservative alternatives while also cutting back on the overall size of government.
But that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from swiftly moving to gut the federal workforce and leave employees with little recourse to protest firings or reassignments.
Trump’s OPM on Monday set deadlines for agencies to begin to recommend workers for reclassification. Agency heads are being instructed to establish a contact person no later than Wednesday and begin to submit interim personnel recommendations within 90 days.
“Agencies are encouraged to submit recommendations on a rolling basis before this date,” Charles Ezell, the acting director of OPM, said in a memo.
Perhaps more stunning, the Trump personnel office simply did away with the Biden administration’s 2024 regulation to better protect federal workers. Monday’s memo said Trump’s new executive order used the president’s authority “to directly nullify these regulations.”
___
Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed to this report.
__
Trump Offers Buyouts to Federal Employees Resisting In-Person Work
Skylar Woodhouse and Mackenzie Hawkins
Tue, January 28, 2025
![](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/vbyp_a6M6sqWVt28SnQM.g--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjt3PTEyNDI7aD04Mjg-/https://media.zenfs.com/en/bloomberg_politics_602/7518ed7dccc7451e086c36a4d448c1a3)
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is offering buyouts to agency employees who don’t want to comply with his demands that they return to the office as he looks to reshape the federal workforce in his second term
The buyouts will run through Sept. 30 as long as the employees resign by Feb. 6. The Office of Personnel Management posted what it said was a copy of that email on a website page titled “Fork in the Road.”
The buyouts were offered in an email to federal employees that also warned that the administration was seeking a “more streamlined and flexible workforce.”
“While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” the email said. “These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.”
The Trump administration also plans for “meaningful consolidation and divestitures” of physical office space in the future, according to the memo.
Military personnel, the US Postal Service, and jobs related to national security or immigration enforcement were among a number of federal positions exempted from the offer. The buyout offers were first reported by Axios.
Federal workers who want to leave are instructed to simply reply to the memo from their .gov government email account. “Type the word ‘Resign’ into the body of this reply email. Hit ‘Send’.” Those who didn’t reply to the memo were given another way to quit, by sending an email to an OPM human resources email account with the word “Resign” in the subject line.
Federal Fight
Many of Trump’s actions are likely to face court challenges. The head of the American Federation of Government Employees in a statement Tuesday said Trump’s “goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.
The National Treasury Employees Union, in a message to members late Tuesday seen by Bloomberg, said the email was “designed to entice or scare you into resigning,” and strongly urged its members “not to resign in response to this email.” The union represents about 150,000 government workers in 37 departments and agencies.
Trump in one of his first actions of his new administration, ordered government workers back to the office, revoking work-from-home accommodations under his predecessor Joe Biden.
On Monday, the Trump administration gave agencies until Feb. 7 to devise plans for the return of federal employees to in-person work. The return-to-office mandate applies to federal workers “unless excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head.” Military spouses working civilian jobs are also exempt.
In addition, separate guidance from the Office of Personnel Management on Monday gave Trump authority to hire and fire some employees who previously had civil service protection.
Musk Playbook
Return-to-work policies are a focus of Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla Inc. and SpaceX CEO heading the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk pushed for the mandate in an attempt to encourage some federal workers to simply quit or be fired as no-shows.
Musk took a similar strategy when trying to cut costs at Twitter after his $44 billion takeover in October 2022. Shortly after the deal closed, he sent employees an email titled “A Fork in the Road,” asking them commit to being “extremely hardcore” under Twitter’s new ownership. Those who didn’t commit to “working long hours at high intensity” were dismissed from the company with severance.
For Musk, it was an easy way to cut costs while simultaneously identifying people who he expected wouldn’t be loyal under new management. Roughly 1,200 of the company’s remaining workers — some 33% of the staff — took the severance, according to the New York Times.
In some cases, however, Musk’s rapid cost cutting led to new problems. Some people were laid off by mistake, while others were let go before management realized their work and experience were needed to build new features Musk envisioned. The company scrambled to try and bring dozens of them back. In another case, Musk closed one of Twitter’s data centers without realizing that doing so would cause widespread technical problems. He later called the plan a “mistake.”
Many federal workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements, including one that Social Security Administration workers secured in the final days of the Biden administration, that allow more flexible work arrangements.
Data from the Office of Management and Budget show that about 10% of the workforce is permanently remote — including disabled workers with a documented accommodation, military spouses and those where the nature of the work is mobile.
--With assistance from Gregory Korte, Kurt Wagner and Jennifer A. Dlouhy.
Bloomberg Businessweek
Joey Garrison and Jessica Guynn,
USA TODAY
Updated Tue, January 28, 2025
WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is offering buyouts to all federal employees who don't wish to return to work at the office, in a push to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce.
The offer, outlined in a memo the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent to employees Tuesday, would give federal workers eight months of pay and benefits through September if they resign by Feb. 6.
"If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program," the memo reads.
The move, first reported by Axios, comes after President Donald Trump signed an order last week requiring all federal workers to return to in-person work. Work-from-home policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic remain in place for many federal workers.
The memo was titled “Fork in the Road,” the same subject line that billionaire businessman Elon Musk used when he gave X employees a similar ultimatum in 2022.
Musk, who heads Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, has talked about a drastic reduction of the federal workforce to scale back the size of government and posted about the news on X.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 27, 2025.
It was not immediately clear how much the voluntary buyout program could cost the government or how many employees might participate.
The federal government employees approximately 2 million people.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned the Trump administration’s authority to offer government-wide buyouts. Speaking on the Senate floor, he said employees who accept it risk not being paid.
“Don’t be fooled," Kaine said. "He’s tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign he’ll stiff you just like he stiffed the contractors. He doesn’t have any authority to do this.”
Under federal guidelines, severance pay is offered only to employees who have worked at least 12 months of continuous service and were not let go for unacceptable performance or conduct.
Employees who accept the buyout should "promptly have their duties re-assigned or eliminated and be placed on paid administrative leave until the end of the deferred resignation period," Charles Ezell, acting director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, wrote in a memo to heads of departments and agencies.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union representing about 800,000 workers, slammed the buyout, noting the federal workforce is about the same size as it was in 1970 even though more Americans rely on government services.
"Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
"This offer should not be viewed as voluntary," Kelley added. "Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
Since his inauguration last week, Trump has also taken aim at federal employees his administration perceives as hostile to its policy aims. That includes firing Justice Department attorneys who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith's Trump investigations and placing dozens of top career employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave.
"There are two million employees in the federal government. Overwhelmingly, the career federal service in this country is far left, left wing," Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, told CNN on Tuesday. "The American people voted for dramatic change implemented by Donald Trump."
(This article has been updated to add new information.)
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump offers buyouts to all federal employees
Trump offers federal workers buyout with 8 months’ pay
Updated Tue, January 28, 2025
WASHINGTON ― The Trump administration is offering buyouts to all federal employees who don't wish to return to work at the office, in a push to significantly reduce the size of the federal workforce.
The offer, outlined in a memo the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent to employees Tuesday, would give federal workers eight months of pay and benefits through September if they resign by Feb. 6.
"If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal deferred resignation program," the memo reads.
The move, first reported by Axios, comes after President Donald Trump signed an order last week requiring all federal workers to return to in-person work. Work-from-home policies enacted during the COVID-19 pandemic remain in place for many federal workers.
The memo was titled “Fork in the Road,” the same subject line that billionaire businessman Elon Musk used when he gave X employees a similar ultimatum in 2022.
Musk, who heads Trump's Department of Government Efficiency, has talked about a drastic reduction of the federal workforce to scale back the size of government and posted about the news on X.
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters while in flight on Air Force One en route Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on January 27, 2025.
It was not immediately clear how much the voluntary buyout program could cost the government or how many employees might participate.
The federal government employees approximately 2 million people.
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., questioned the Trump administration’s authority to offer government-wide buyouts. Speaking on the Senate floor, he said employees who accept it risk not being paid.
“Don’t be fooled," Kaine said. "He’s tricked hundreds of people with that offer. If you accept that offer and resign he’ll stiff you just like he stiffed the contractors. He doesn’t have any authority to do this.”
Under federal guidelines, severance pay is offered only to employees who have worked at least 12 months of continuous service and were not let go for unacceptable performance or conduct.
Employees who accept the buyout should "promptly have their duties re-assigned or eliminated and be placed on paid administrative leave until the end of the deferred resignation period," Charles Ezell, acting director of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, wrote in a memo to heads of departments and agencies.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal employee union representing about 800,000 workers, slammed the buyout, noting the federal workforce is about the same size as it was in 1970 even though more Americans rely on government services.
"Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
"This offer should not be viewed as voluntary," Kelley added. "Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration's goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
Since his inauguration last week, Trump has also taken aim at federal employees his administration perceives as hostile to its policy aims. That includes firing Justice Department attorneys who worked for Special Counsel Jack Smith's Trump investigations and placing dozens of top career employees of the U.S. Agency for International Development on leave.
"There are two million employees in the federal government. Overwhelmingly, the career federal service in this country is far left, left wing," Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, told CNN on Tuesday. "The American people voted for dramatic change implemented by Donald Trump."
(This article has been updated to add new information.)
Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump offers buyouts to all federal employees
Trump offers federal workers buyout with 8 months’ pay
Catherine Stoddard
Tue, January 28, 2025
The Brief
President Donald Trump is offering federal workers a buyout in an attempt to shrink the size of the government.
The buyout offers eight months’ pay for federal employees who agree to leave their jobs by Feb. 6.
WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump is offering buyouts worth eight months’ salary to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by Feb. 6, according to a memo from the Office of Personal Management.
The buyout is part of Trump’s unprecedented overhaul of the United States government.
The buyout
Dig deeper
In a list of four directives issued by Trump, one of the mandates includes that most workers must return to their offices full-time.
It also includes a "deferred resignation letter" for federal employees who want to participate in the buyout.
"If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program," the email reads. "This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6."
It adds, "If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30."
Federal government overhaul
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump implemented a freeze on funding for federal grants and loans.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze just minutes before it was set to go into effect.
The pause will stay until Monday.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order requiring federal employees to return to in-person work.
The order comes after Trump indicated that he planned to push back on former President Joe Biden's move to allow federal workers to remain in a hybrid work arrangement through 2029.
"Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary," the order reads.
Agencies must begin the move to fully in-person work by 5 p.m. on Friday, the order stated.
In addition to the return-to-work order, Trump also signed an order freezing the hiring of federal civilian employees, to be applied throughout the executive branch.
The order stated, "As part of this freeze, no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law."
The freeze excludes military personnel and positions related to immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
The Source
Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press, FOX Business, and previous reporting from LiveNOW from FOX. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
Trump administration to offer buyouts to all federal workers ahead of return to office
Dig deeper
In a list of four directives issued by Trump, one of the mandates includes that most workers must return to their offices full-time.
It also includes a "deferred resignation letter" for federal employees who want to participate in the buyout.
"If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country and you will be provided with a dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program," the email reads. "This program begins effective January 28 and is available to all federal employees until February 6."
It adds, "If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30."
Federal government overhaul
Earlier on Tuesday, Trump implemented a freeze on funding for federal grants and loans.
A federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze just minutes before it was set to go into effect.
The pause will stay until Monday.
Last week, Trump signed an executive order requiring federal employees to return to in-person work.
The order comes after Trump indicated that he planned to push back on former President Joe Biden's move to allow federal workers to remain in a hybrid work arrangement through 2029.
"Heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary," the order reads.
Agencies must begin the move to fully in-person work by 5 p.m. on Friday, the order stated.
In addition to the return-to-work order, Trump also signed an order freezing the hiring of federal civilian employees, to be applied throughout the executive branch.
The order stated, "As part of this freeze, no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law."
The freeze excludes military personnel and positions related to immigration enforcement, national security and public safety.
The Source
Information for this article was gathered from The Associated Press, FOX Business, and previous reporting from LiveNOW from FOX. This story was reported from Los Angeles.
Trump administration to offer buyouts to all federal workers ahead of return to office
Brett Samuels
THE HILL
Tue, January 28, 2025
Tue, January 28, 2025
Trump administration to offer buyouts to all federal workers ahead of return to office
The Trump administration is offering all 2 million federal employees what amounts to a buyout if they do not intend to return to work in person later this year, sources confirmed to The Hill.
Four sources confirmed to The Hill that the emails are set to go out beginning Tuesday evening to the federal employees informing workers that they can retain benefits and be paid through September if they hand in their resignation by Feb. 6.
The buyouts are available to all full-time federal employees, excluding military personnel, U.S. Postal Service workers and positions related to immigration enforcement and national security.
The offer sparked concern among employee unions as well as some Democratic lawmakers who cautioned against accepting a buyout.
The emails are expected to come from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), two sources said.
One buyout email reviewed by The Hill was sent with the subject line “fork in the road” and noted that “return to office” was one of four pillars of Trump’s “reformed” federal workforce.
Elon Musk, who President Trump has tapped to help lead efforts to reduce the federal workforce, wrote on X last month that he commissioned a sculpture also titled “A Fork in The Road.” He used the same subject line in 2022 when encouraging employees at what was then Twitter to leave or commit to being “extremely hardcore.”
The Tuesday email to federal workers instructed them to reply to the email with “resign” if they wish to leave.
The email also indicated that continuing to remain in service amid the return to office work did not guarantee employment – a nod to multiple Trump efforts to shrink the workforce.
“If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people,” the email states, adding, “At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position.”
“If you chose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your country,” it says, adding that employees will receive a “dignified, fair departure.”
An OPM memo to agency leaders seems to imply that they have the power to exclude certain positions from taking the deal, writing that it applies to all employees other than “positions specifically excluded by your employing agency.”
The Association of Federal Government Employees said the move seeks to shrink a federal workforce that has essentially remained flat over the last 50 years.
“The number of civil servants hasn’t meaningfully changed since 1970, but there are more Americans than ever who rely on government services. Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” President Everett Kelley said in a statement.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
An earlier email reviewed by The Hill suggested the notices would reach employees at each agency separately but would arrive “starting tonight.”
Many employees who opt to resign will be placed on administrative leave, according to a document explaining the process obtained by The Hill.
Individuals who choose to resign will receive a confirmation email within 48 hours, according to the document. Employees are not obligated to respond, and any decision to resign is voluntary.
Those who choose to take the buyout could choose to accelerate their resignation and leave their job before the end of September, the document states. The buyout will not be available after Feb. 6, though exceptions might be made for those who were on approved leave leading up to that date.
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) noted there was no assurance that federal employees would receive the funding should they choose to resign.
“Trump sows chaos in federal workforce then says ‘resign within a week and I’ll give you 7 months severance.’ Don’t fall for it! Trump told innumerable contractors he’d pay—then stiffed them. He has no authority to promise severance pay. Wait him out!” he wrote on X.
Axios, which first reported on the buyout offer, reported that the White House expects 5 percent to 10 percent of federal employees to take the offer, which would amount to hundreds of thousands of workers.
Remote work became common for federal employees during the coronavirus pandemic, but Trump and his allies have sought to get workers back in the office.
While the Trump team has complained about the level of employees working from home, the majority of federal employees are not eligible to do so.
A prior report from OMB that has since been removed from the White House website found that 54 percent of federal employees have a job that requires being on site — a group that includes Pentagon employees, those working in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and more.
Of those who are permitted to telework, more than 60 percent of their working hours were spent at the office.
Trump on his first day in office signed a memorandum directing all departments and agencies in the executive branch to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”
Trump has sought to remake the federal workforce in other ways since taking office. He has fired more than a dozen inspectors general across different agencies; his Justice Department ousted prosecutors who worked on former special counsel Jack Smith’s team; and he signed an executive order giving him greater authority over federal employees.
Updated 9:29 p.m. EST
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Trump offering federal workers buyouts with about 8 months’ pay in effort to shrink government
![](https://img1.blogblog.com/img/video_object.png)
The Associated Press
Wed, January 29, 2025 at 1:50 AM MST
5 min read
2
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The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week — an unprecedented move to shrink the U.S. government at breakneck speed.
A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, also said it would begin subjecting all federal employees to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and ominously warned of future downsizing. The email sent to millions of employees said those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about eight months of salary, but they have to choose to do so by Feb. 6.
President Donald Trump has built a political career around promising to disrupt Washington, and vowed that his second administration would go far further in shaking up traditional political norms than his first did. Still, the repercussions of so many government workers being invited to leave their jobs were difficult to calculate.
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Katie Miller, who serves on an advisory board to the Department of Government Efficiency, a special Trump administration department headed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk and tasked with shrinking the size of government, posted on X, “This email is being sent to more than TWO MILLION federal employees.”
The federal government employed more than 3 million people as of November last year, which accounted for nearly 1.9% of the nation’s entire civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to a Pew analysis of data from OPM.
Even a fraction of the workforce accepting buyouts could send shockwaves through the economy and trigger widespread disruptions throughout society as a whole, triggering wide-ranging — and as yet unknowable — implications for the delivery, timeliness and effectiveness of federal services across the nation.
Untold numbers of front-line health workers in the Veterans Affairs Department, officials who process loans for homebuyers or small businesses, and contractors who help procure the next generation of military weaponry could all head for the exits at once. It could also mean losing experienced food inspectors and scientists who test the water supply — while disrupting everything from air travel and consumer product protections.
In response, American Federation of Government Employees union President Everett Kelley said it should not be viewed as voluntary buyouts, but pressuring workers not considered loyal to the new administration to vacate their jobs.
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” Kelley said in a statement. “Between the flurry of anti-worker executive orders and policies, it is clear that the Trump administration’s goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
In its emailed memo detailing its plan, OPM lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce going forward — including that most workers return to their offices full-time.
“The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since Covid will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week,” it reads. That echoes Trump, who said of federal employees over the weekend: “You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise, you’re not going to have a job.”
The memo also says Trump “will insist on excellence at every level,” and while some parts of the government’s workforce may increase under his administration, “The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized.”
Finally, it says, the “federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”
“Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward,” the memo reads.
The emailed message includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees to begin leaving their posts.
“If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30,” it says.
The email even includes instructions on how to accept, stating: “If you wish to resign: Select ‘Reply’ to this email. You must reply from your government account.” It adds: “Type the word ‘Resign’ into the body of this email and hit ‘send.’”
Meanwhile, OPM has released guidance for an executive order Trump signed on the first day of his second term known as “Schedule Career/Policy.” It replaces Schedule F, an order Trump signed late in his first term that sought to reclassify thousands of federal employees and make them political appointees without the same job security protections.
President Joe Biden rescinded Trump’s Schedule F order almost immediately upon taking office in 2021, and under his administration, OPM issued a new rule last year designed to make it more difficult to fire many federal employees.
That move was seen as a safeguard against using a new Schedule F order to help carry out the key goals of Project 2025, a sweeping plan by a conservative Washington think tank to dismiss large swaths of the federal workforce in favor of more conservative alternatives while also cutting back on the overall size of government.
But that hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from swiftly moving to gut the federal workforce and leave employees with little recourse to protest firings or reassignments.
Trump’s OPM on Monday set deadlines for agencies to begin to recommend workers for reclassification. Agency heads are being instructed to establish a contact person no later than Wednesday and begin to submit interim personnel recommendations within 90 days.
“Agencies are encouraged to submit recommendations on a rolling basis before this date,” Charles Ezell, the acting director of OPM, said in a memo.
Perhaps more stunning, the Trump personnel office simply did away with the Biden administration’s 2024 regulation to better protect federal workers. Monday’s memo said Trump’s new executive order used the president’s authority “to directly nullify these regulations.”
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Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Lisa Mascaro in Washington and Brian Witte in Annapolis, Maryland, contributed to this report.
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Trump Offers Buyouts to Federal Employees Resisting In-Person Work
Skylar Woodhouse and Mackenzie Hawkins
Tue, January 28, 2025
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump is offering buyouts to agency employees who don’t want to comply with his demands that they return to the office as he looks to reshape the federal workforce in his second term
The buyouts will run through Sept. 30 as long as the employees resign by Feb. 6. The Office of Personnel Management posted what it said was a copy of that email on a website page titled “Fork in the Road.”
The buyouts were offered in an email to federal employees that also warned that the administration was seeking a “more streamlined and flexible workforce.”
“While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force,” the email said. “These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.”
The Trump administration also plans for “meaningful consolidation and divestitures” of physical office space in the future, according to the memo.
Military personnel, the US Postal Service, and jobs related to national security or immigration enforcement were among a number of federal positions exempted from the offer. The buyout offers were first reported by Axios.
Federal workers who want to leave are instructed to simply reply to the memo from their .gov government email account. “Type the word ‘Resign’ into the body of this reply email. Hit ‘Send’.” Those who didn’t reply to the memo were given another way to quit, by sending an email to an OPM human resources email account with the word “Resign” in the subject line.
Federal Fight
Many of Trump’s actions are likely to face court challenges. The head of the American Federation of Government Employees in a statement Tuesday said Trump’s “goal is to turn the federal government into a toxic environment where workers cannot stay even if they want to.”
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government,” AFGE National President Everett Kelley said.
The National Treasury Employees Union, in a message to members late Tuesday seen by Bloomberg, said the email was “designed to entice or scare you into resigning,” and strongly urged its members “not to resign in response to this email.” The union represents about 150,000 government workers in 37 departments and agencies.
Trump in one of his first actions of his new administration, ordered government workers back to the office, revoking work-from-home accommodations under his predecessor Joe Biden.
On Monday, the Trump administration gave agencies until Feb. 7 to devise plans for the return of federal employees to in-person work. The return-to-office mandate applies to federal workers “unless excused due to a disability, qualifying medical condition, or other compelling reason certified by the agency head.” Military spouses working civilian jobs are also exempt.
In addition, separate guidance from the Office of Personnel Management on Monday gave Trump authority to hire and fire some employees who previously had civil service protection.
Musk Playbook
Return-to-work policies are a focus of Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla Inc. and SpaceX CEO heading the Department of Government Efficiency. Musk pushed for the mandate in an attempt to encourage some federal workers to simply quit or be fired as no-shows.
Musk took a similar strategy when trying to cut costs at Twitter after his $44 billion takeover in October 2022. Shortly after the deal closed, he sent employees an email titled “A Fork in the Road,” asking them commit to being “extremely hardcore” under Twitter’s new ownership. Those who didn’t commit to “working long hours at high intensity” were dismissed from the company with severance.
For Musk, it was an easy way to cut costs while simultaneously identifying people who he expected wouldn’t be loyal under new management. Roughly 1,200 of the company’s remaining workers — some 33% of the staff — took the severance, according to the New York Times.
In some cases, however, Musk’s rapid cost cutting led to new problems. Some people were laid off by mistake, while others were let go before management realized their work and experience were needed to build new features Musk envisioned. The company scrambled to try and bring dozens of them back. In another case, Musk closed one of Twitter’s data centers without realizing that doing so would cause widespread technical problems. He later called the plan a “mistake.”
Many federal workers are covered by collective bargaining agreements, including one that Social Security Administration workers secured in the final days of the Biden administration, that allow more flexible work arrangements.
Data from the Office of Management and Budget show that about 10% of the workforce is permanently remote — including disabled workers with a documented accommodation, military spouses and those where the nature of the work is mobile.
--With assistance from Gregory Korte, Kurt Wagner and Jennifer A. Dlouhy.
Bloomberg Businessweek
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