With a typical buyout, a company offers workers money and maybe some benefits, and in exchange they quit. It's a gentler way to reduce headcount, and things typically go fairly smoothly. Why it matters: Smooth is not the word for what's happened to the federal workforce over the past day and a half, not that things were going great before that either. • An offer to pay federal workers through September, if they resign in the next week, is creating confusion, sowing doubt and surfacing mistrust among government employees, who...

After the Trump administration offered two million federal employees buyouts on Tuesday, Elon Musk -- the world's richest man and the architect of Trump's effort to reduce the size of the government -- took to his own social media platform to boast and joke about the offer, leaving some federal employees who spoke to ABC News dismayed. By replying to an email sent out Tuesday, all full-time federal employees -- with the exception of military personnel and postal workers -- have the option to get eight months' salary if they...

President Trump has offered to buy out federal workers who voluntarily resign from their posts, but Democrat lawmakers argue that the administration will renege on the incentives that have been promised. Newsweek has reached out to the White House via email for comment. The U.S. government employs around 3 million people, excluding military personnel, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data. However, slimming down the federal workforce has been touted as one of Trump's key priorities, one of the means by which the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)...

Echoing Elon Musk's approach to thinning out Twitter's staff in 2022, Donald Trump's plan to significantly slash the government workforce now, for a limited time only, includes offering resignation buyouts. In a Tuesday email that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent to nearly all federal employees, workers were asked to respond with one word in the subject line—"resign"—to accept the buyouts before February 6. "Deferred resignation is available to all full-time federal employees except for military personnel of the armed forces, employees of the U.S.

In one of its latest decisions this week, the Trump administration has announced that all federal employees who choose not to return to the office are eligible for an eight-month buyout. The offer, outlined in a memo the U.S. Office of Personnel Management sent to employees Tuesday, would give federal workers eight months of pay and benefits through September if they resign by Feb. 6, USA TODAY reported. "If you choose not to continue in your current role in the federal workforce, we thank you for your service to your...

The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week — an unprecedented move to shrink the U.S. government at breakneck speed. A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, also said it would begin subjecting all federal employees to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and ominously warned of future downsizing. The email sent to millions of employees said those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about eight months of...

The White House issued a memo Tuesday offering to pay federal workers who don't want to return to the office through Sept. 30, as long as they resign by Feb. 6.

Why it matters: The action, first reported by Axios, marks an acceleration in President Trump's already unprecedented purge of the federal workforce.

Driving the news: The Office of Personnel Management described the offer as administrative leave with pay and benefits.

The Trump administration is offering eight-month buyouts, but only to workers who resign within the next week, according to a White House memo. The buyouts were offered on Tuesday, January 28, to 2.3 million federal employees. Every full-time federal employee is eligible, but it excludes members of the military, employees of the US Postal Service, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and other jobs excluded by agencies.

By Mark Sherman and Will Weissert, The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced Tuesday that it is offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week — an unprecedented move to shrink the U.S. government at breakneck speed. A memo from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources agency, also said it would begin subjecting all federal employees to “enhanced standards of suitability and conduct” and ominously warned of future downsizing. The email sent to millions of employees said those...

The emails sent to some federal employees offered buyouts if they resign. Showing the significant influence of Elon Musk's leadership style in President Donald Trump's new administration, a memo sent to government employees Tuesday night informing them of an ultimatum between significant job changes or severance was found to closely mirror an email Musk sent to Twitter employees in 2022, shortly after taking over the company. The emails — one from the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) sent Tuesday night and the other from Musk to Twitter employees in...