Washington, 29 January 2025: President Donald Trump has announced a plan allowing most federal employees to resign by next week in exchange for eight months of severance pay, marking his administration’s most significant step yet to reduce the size of the federal government.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memorandum on Tuesday outlining the buyout offer, aligning with Trump’s longstanding pledge to shrink government operations. The memo also indicated that all federal employees would now be subjected to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct,” signaling potential future cuts.
Federal employees were notified of the offer via email, which specified that those opting for voluntary departure had until February 6 to decide. Katie Miller, an advisory board member at the Department of Government Efficiency—a newly established department led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk—posted on X: “This email is being sent to more than TWO MILLION federal employees.”
The U.S. government employed over three million people as of November, comprising approximately 1.9 percent of the nation’s civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. The average federal employee has been in service for nearly 12 years, Pew data shows.
A senior administration official told NBC News that the White House anticipated a 5 to 10 percent reduction in staff, estimating savings of around $100 billion. Even a partial acceptance of the buyouts could have widespread economic and societal consequences, potentially disrupting federal services nationwide.
The plan has drawn sharp criticism from labor groups. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, described the offer as coercion rather than a voluntary buyout.
“Purging the federal government of dedicated career 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.”
The email to federal employees bore similarities to a message sent to Twitter staff when Musk took over the platform in late 2022. At the time, workers were given an ultimatum to confirm their intent to remain at the company, which Musk later rebranded as X.
Musk, who contributed over $270 million to Trump and other Republican candidates in the recent election, has been appointed to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, a central figure in the administration’s effort to streamline federal operations.
