In what could result in an unprecedented purge of the federal workforce, the Trump administration is offering a seven-month buyout to employees who don’t want to return to their offices — but only if they quit by next Thursday.
The White House’s Office of Personnel Management sent an email blast to federal government workers asking them to reply to an email if they want to take the offer, which will only be available until February 6. If they give up their jobs they’ll be paid until September 30.
The email states a new federal workforce will be built around four pillars: Return to Office, performance culture, more streamlined and flexible workforce and enhanced standards of conduct.
Not all employees will be eligible, the office said, according to The Washington Post. Some exceptions will be up to agency heads to implement.
Additional carveouts exist for immigration officers, the Postal Service, armed forces and some in national security-focused roles, the outlet stated.
The move is part of President Donald Trump’s agenda to eliminate large swaths of the federal workforce.
The administration reportedly expects at least five to 10 percent of the workforce to accept the offer, totaling potentially hundreds of thousands of people.
The administration projects the buyouts could ultimately save up to $100 billion a year. But the collapse of the workforce could gut the provision of public services and crush crackdowns on lawbreakers like tax cheats.
Tech billionaire Elon Musk and his now jettisoned DOGE ex-partner Vivik Ramaswamy appeared to be the first to float the idea of encouraging remote federal workers to voluntarily quit as a way to slash the federal workforce in November.
“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome,” they wrote in an op ed in The Wall Street Journal after they were named co-heads of the Department of Government Efficiency by Trump.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.