United States President, Donald Trump has offered buyouts to federal employees who are rejecting to return to the office, as revealed in a memo posted to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management’s website on Tuesday night.
CNN had previously reported that the buyout offers were anticipated, according to a source from the Trump administration and an OPM spokesperson.
The administration has mandated that federal workers, many of whom had flexible work arrangements during the pandemic, return to in-person work.
Workers who accept the buyout offer must resign by February 6, and they will receive severance pay through September 30.
Federal agency leaders were informed of this development within the past 24 hours, an official shared.
The memo, outlining the new policy, mentions that federal employees were emailed on January 28, 2025, with a deferred resignation offer.
The email was sent from hr1@opm.gov, utilizing the Trump administration’s new mass email system.
The message said, “The President required that employees return to in-person work, restored accountability for employees who have policy-making authority, restored accountability for senior career executives, and reformed the federal hiring process to focus on merit. As a result of the above orders, the reform of the federal workforce will be significant.”
Employees who decline the buyout offer cannot receive “full assurance regarding the certainty” of their position or agency. If their job is eliminated, they “will be treated with dignity and will be afforded the protections in place for such positions.”
The program started on January 28 and is available until February 6.
“If you resign under this program, you will retain all pay and benefits regardless of your daily workload and will be exempted from all applicable in-person work requirements until September 30, 2025 (or earlier if you choose to accelerate your resignation for any reason),” the email outlined.
One federal employee, who received the email, told CNN that reactions have been mixed, “Folks are variously stunned, pissed, baffled and a bit scared.”
The program offers all federal employees the option to go on what an OPM spokesperson described as paid administrative leave.
The Trump administration argues that this move could provide an exit for federal employees who do not want to return to the office full-time. The buyout is available to any government employee, but there are exceptions.
Postal workers, military members, immigration officials, certain national security roles, and other roles deemed essential by agencies will not be eligible for the buyout, sources noted.
Axios first reported on the buyouts.
The email to federal employees also mentioned that the effort to streamline and create a more flexible workforce may include “the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.”
Reports revealed that Donald Trump’s plan to reclassify tens of thousands of civil service workers as at-will employees would make it easier to fire them.
In a separate memo, OPM asked agency heads to provide weekly updates on the number of workers resigning or retiring until September 30.
The email to federal employees was titled “Fork in the Road,” a phrase famously used by Elon Musk in a 2022 ultimatum to Twitter employees. On the campaign trail, Musk frequently discussed downsizing the federal government and has played a key role in the rollout of the federal buyout, according to an official, due to his position leading the Department of Government Efficiency in the Trump administration.
“We will reduce a lot of government headcount, but we’re going to give very long severances,” Musk stated during an October rally in Philadelphia. “Like two years, or something like that.”
However, the buyout offered to federal workers on Tuesday falls short of that extended time frame.
This initiative is part of the Trump administration’s broader efforts to tighten control over the federal bureaucracy, which the president has long criticized as the “deep state” and promised to dismantle.
Following his inauguration, President Trump mandated that federal agencies require employees to return to the office full-time and signed an order aimed at weakening federal employee protections.
He also directed agencies to eliminate diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and positions within 60 days and to end the use of DEI in hiring and federal contracting.
These changes have caused concern among federal workers and their unions, with employees fearing for their jobs and their ability to fulfill the missions that drew them to public service.
The National Treasury Employees Union warned employees in a message sent Tuesday that the buyout offer was a scare tactic and urged them not to resign.
“Make no mistake: this email is designed to entice or scare you into resigning from the federal government,” the message said. “We are reviewing the email closely and will have more information tomorrow. However, we strongly urge you not to resign in response to this email.”
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest federal workers’ union, asserted that the buyouts were part of a broader strategy to eliminate civil servants.
“This offer should not be viewed as voluntary. 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,” said AFGE National President Everett Kelley in a statement.
