More than 20,000 federal employees have opted for a resignation package allowing them to leave their jobs while continuing to receive taxpayer-funded salaries until the end of September. This accounts for roughly one per cent of the US federal workforce.
The initiative is expected to accelerate resignations as the Thursday, 6 February, deadline approaches. The offer is part of a broader effort to reshape the federal workforce under the administration’s efficiency drive.
President Donald Trump, along with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, aims to reduce the federal workforce by up to 10 per cent. However, reaching this goal could be difficult. The nearly 2.3 million civilian federal employees include defence, intelligence, postal, and law- enforcement personnel who are ineligible for the programme.
Under the buyout terms, employees who resign by February end are permitted to seek other jobs as long as they do not conflict with federal employment restrictions. They must also agree not to take legal action against the government. Interest in the programme continues to grow, with numbers expected to increase before the deadline.
Recently, the White House introduced this separate buyout offer for federal employees who refused to return to in-person work. Currently, only about six per cent of the more than two million federal employees work full time from office locations. The administration expects the new buyout programme to attract between five per cent and 10 per cent of the workforce, potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of employees.
This buyout initiative is part of a larger workforce restructuring strategy. The administration is focused on mandating in-person work, holding senior officials accountable, and overhauling federal hiring to prioritise merit-based selection.
Employees have until 6 February, 2025, to accept the offer. However, military personnel, postal workers, immigration enforcement officials, and national- security employees are excluded from the programme.
