Trump says administration will offer buyouts to most government employees

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Lauren Taylor Anchor

By Lauren Taylor (Anchor), Roey Hadar (Producer), Harry Fogle (Video Editor)

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.

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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.

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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.

Tags: Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE, Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Government funding, Remote work

LAUREN TAYLOR: President Donald Trump says the federal government will offer buyouts to federal workers as part of his effort to shrink the size of the governmental workforce.

The government sent an email out Tuesday offering buyouts to all two million federal employees who agree to leave their jobs by February 6th.

It’s coming 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 ten percent of federal employees to take the offer, something that could shrink the federal workforce by hundreds of thousands of people.

Workers who agree to the buyout would receive an eight-month payout that the government’s Office of Personnel Management describes 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 office, citing a December report by Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa.

But the Office of Management and Budget reported last summer that, as of last May, approximately half of all federal employees worked in jobs not eligible for remote work. There were no major 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 US 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, in line with an executive order the president signed on his first day in office.

For Straight Arrow News, I’m Lauren Taylor.

And for all the latest updates on this and other top stories, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit SAN.com.