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 Feb. 6.
Katie Miller, who serves on an advisory board to the Department of Government Efficiency, a special Trump administration department headed by Tesla CEO 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% of the nation’s entire civilian workforce, according to the Pew Research Center. The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to a Pew analysis of data from OPM.
In its emailed memo detailing its plan, OPM lists four directives that it says Trump is mandating for the federal workforce going forward — including that most workers return to their offices full-time.
“The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since Covid will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week,” it reads. That echoes Trump, who said of federal employees over the weekend: “You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise you’re not going to have a job.”
The memo also says Trump “will insist on excellence at every level,” and while some parts of the government's workforce may increase under his administration, “The majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized."
Finally, it says, the ”federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work."
“Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward,” the memo reads.
The emailed message includes a “deferred resignation letter” for federal employees to begin leaving their posts.
“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,” it says.
The email even includes instructions on how to accept, stating: "If you wish to resign: Select ‘Reply’ to this email. You must reply from your government account." It adds: “Type the word ‘Resign' into the body of this email and hit ‘send.’"
