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More than 100,000 federal employees are preparing to leave their jobs this week, in what will be the largest coordinated resignation in US history.
The exits are part of the Trump administration’s deferred resignation initiative, a central element of its workforce reduction agenda.
The total number of planned departures through resignation programs, attrition and early retirement is estimated at 275,000, alongside additional layoffs mandated by reduction in force orders. Officials say it represents the most significant single-year contraction of the federal civilian workforce since World War II.
Congress is simultaneously racing to authorize funding and avert a government shutdown. Agencies have been instructed to draft termination plans should lawmakers fail to reach a deal.
Several employees say they felt driven out by months of “fear and intimidation.” One Federal Emergency Management Agency worker said: “Federal workers stay for the mission. When that mission is taken away, when they’re scapegoated, when their job security is uncertain, and when their tiny semblance of work-life balance is stripped away, they leave. That’s why I left.”
Billions spent on exits, promised in savings
The resignation program carries a projected $14.8 billion price tag, with 200,000 employees receiving full pay and benefits while on administrative leave for as long as eight months, according to a Senate report.
Administration officials have defended the costs as temporary. The Office of Personnel Management described the move as a way to create “a modern, at-will employment framework like most employers.”
A White House spokesperson added: “This is the largest and most effective workforce reduction plan in history and will save the government $28bn annually.”
Employees describe fear, grief and uncertainty
Some departing staff describe leaving as a painful but unavoidable choice. A Department of Veterans Affairs employee said: “Myself and many others that I know really hoped that we would finish our careers with the government. We felt very tied, especially in the VA, to the mission. Many of us thought we could do better for our clients, for our veterans outside of the VA, and a lot of us were so burnt out from the six months before the deferred resignation that it was actually a mental health decision.”
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A Department of Agriculture archaeologist and veteran said: “I was forced to accept the resignation plan. Not physically, or through any legal means, but through fear and intimidation.”
Unions have criticized the plan from the start. Everett Kelley, president of the American Federation of Government Employees, said: “Purging the federal government of dedicated career federal employees will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government. This offer should not be viewed as voluntary.”
Legal challenges to the program are ongoing, with unions arguing the scheme bypasses Congress and undermines agencies’ ability to fulfill their missions.
