Trump offers millions of workers eight months’ pay if they quit their jobs next week

Washington: The Trump administration announced it is offering buyouts to all federal employees who opt to leave their jobs by next week — an unprecedented move to shrink the US 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 salary, but they have to choose to do so by February 6.

President Donald Trump has built a political career around promising to disrupt Washington and vowed that his second administration would go far further in shaking up traditional political norms than his first did. Still, the repercussions of so many government workers being invited to leave their jobs were difficult to calculate.

Katie Miller, who serves on an advisory board to the Department of Government Efficiency, a special Trump administration department headed by Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and tasked with shrinking the size of government, posted on X, “This email is being sent to more than TWO MILLION federal employees.”

The federal government employed more than 3 million people as of November last year, which accounted for nearly 1.9 per cent of the nation’s entire civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Centre. The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to a Pew analysis of data from OPM.

Even a fraction of the workforce accepting buyouts could send shockwaves through the economy and trigger widespread disruptions throughout society as a whole, triggering wide-ranging — and as yet unknowable — implications for the delivery, timeliness and effectiveness of federal services across the nation.

Untold numbers of front-line health workers in the Veterans Affairs Department, officials who process loans for homebuyers or small businesses, and contractors who help procure the next generation of military weaponry could all head for the exits at once. It could also mean losing experienced food inspectors and scientists who test the water supply — while disrupting everything from air travel and consumer product protections.

In response, American Federation of Government Employees union President Everett Kelley said it should not be viewed as voluntary buyouts, but pressuring workers not considered loyal to the new administration to vacate their jobs.