President Donald Trump says the federal government will offer buyouts to federal workers as part of his effort to shrink the size of the government workforce. In an email sent Tuesday, Jan. 28, buyouts were offered to two million federal employees who agreed to leave their jobs by Thursday, Feb. 6.
The buyout option comes alongside the federal government mandating a return to office for all workers.
Outlets including Axios and NBC News report that a Trump administration official told them the White House expects between five and 10% of federal employees to take the offer. It could shrink the federal workforce by hundreds of thousands of people.
Workers who agree to the buyout would receive a roughly eight-month payout. The government’s Office of Personnel Management describes it as administrative leave with pay and benefits.
The White House official told Axios that only a small percentage of federal employees work full-time in the office, citing a December report by Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa.
However, the Office of Management and Budget reported last summer that, as of last May, approximately half of all federal employees worked jobs not eligible for remote work. There were no significant shifts in remote work policy between the release of the two reports.
Several classes of federal employees are not receiving the buyout offer, including military personnel, workers for the U.S. Postal Service, and staffers working in immigration enforcement and national security.
The Trump administration is also working to implement policies that will make it easier to fire career government officials. It aligns with the president’s executive order signed on his first day in office.
