Newsman: At least 20,000 federal employees have accepted the buyout offer President Donald Trump made to the entire federal workforce before Thursday’s deadline as White House official talked to news media on Tuesday. But the White House official said the number of deferred resignations is “rapidly growing,” and the White House expects the largest spike in sign-ups to come 24 to 48 hours before the deadline. the White House’s goal for 5% to 10% to accept buyouts. The numbers 20,000 represents about 1% of the more than 2 million federal employees.
Axios first reported the number of accepted buyouts.
In a push to drastically reduce the size of the federal workforce, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management last Tuesday offered all federal employees eight months of pay and benefits through September if they resign by Feb 6, this Thursday.
The offer, which came in a mass email to all employees, is part of billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk’s efforts to gut the federal bureaucracy and reshape the government through the Department of Government Efficiency he leads.
Federal employees who want to remain in the federal workforce were told via email they must return to in-person work, embrace new “performance standards” and be “reliable, loyal and trustworthy” in their work. The email also warned that most federal departments and agencies will be “downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force.”
Layoffs across the federal government are “likely” if not enough employees take the buyout, Erv Koehler, assistant commissioner of general supplies and services at General Services Administration, said in an email to GSA staff reported Tuesday by the Washington Post.
The buyout offer to federal workers came in an email titled “Fork in the Road.”
In a follow-up email titled “Fork in the Road FAQs,” the Office of Personnel Management clarified employees are not expected to work during the deferred resignation period and can accept a job elsewhere while still getting paid through September.
