‘Have a nice vacation’: Trump offers millions of federal bureaucrats a buyout to get rid of them

When it comes to shrinking the size of the federal bureaucracy, President Donald Trump evidently means business. The White House issued a memo Tuesday offering buyouts to millions of federal workers in an effort to expedite the downsizing process and to ultimately save American taxpayers oodles of cash.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management revealed Tuesday in a post titled “Fork in the Road” that an email was sent to all eligible full-time federal employees presenting them with a choice. They could either remain in their current position, meeting enhanced standards of conduct and working in their physical offices five days a week without any “certainty of their position or agency,” or they could alternatively opt for a “dignified, fair departure from the federal government utilizing a deferred resignation program.”

“The federal workforce is expected to undergo significant near-term changes,” noted the OPM. “As a result of these changes (or for other reasons), you may wish to depart the federal government on terms that provide you with sufficient time and economic security to plan for your future — and have a nice vacation.”

Federal workers who choose the second option will be able to retain all pay and benefits and will be exempted from in-person work requirements until Sept. 30, 2025.

The OPM email indicated that those bureaucrats looking to depart need only reply from their government account, “type the word ‘Resign’ into the body of this reply email,” and “hit ‘send.'”

The buyout agreement requires that outgoing bureaucrats assist their employing agencies with “completing reasonable and customary tasks and processes” to facilitate their departure.

Federal workers have until Feb. 6 to opt into the eight-month severance package. Military personnel, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, and those in positions related to immigration enforcement and national security are ineligible.

A senior official in the Trump administration told NBC News that between 5% and 10% of the federal workforce is expected to quit, which could result in an estimated $100 billion in savings.

‘If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work.’

Of course, many more bureaucrats may soon be kicked to the curb, in part due to Trump’s reinstatement of his previous policy establishing the Schedule F employment category for federal employees, which makes it easier to remove insubordinate and useless bureaucrats from an estimated pool of 50,000 eligible candidates.

“I will wield that power very aggressively,” Trump vowed in a March 2023 video. “We will clean out all of the corrupt actors in our national security and intelligence apparatus, and there are plenty of them.”

Other federal workers may also end up hitting the bricks following the Trump administration’s planned restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force.

“American taxpayers pay for the salaries of federal government employees, and therefore deserve employees working on their behalf who actually show up to work in our wonderful federal buildings, also paid for by taxpayers,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. “If they don’t want to work in the office and contribute to making America great again, then they are free to choose a different line of work, and the Trump administration will provide a very generous payout of eight months.”

Everett Kelley, president of American Federation of Government Employees, condemned the buyouts, stating, “Purging the federal government of dedicated career civil servants will have vast, unintended consequences that will cause chaos for the Americans who depend on a functioning federal government.”

“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,” added Kelley.

Leavitt rejected the suggestion that the house cleaning is a “purge,” telling reporters in Washington, D.C., Wednesday, “Six percent of the federal workforce in this city actually shows up to work. That’s unacceptable. We’re all here at work at the office. There are law enforcement officers and teachers, and nurses across the country who showed up to the office today. People in this city need to do the same.”

The Verge highlighted that the buyout offer not only resembled Elon Musk’s Nov. 16, 2022, ultimatum letter to then-Twitter employees but had the same subject line, “Fork in the Road.” Musk’s companywide email told employees they could either commit to working “long hours at high intensity” or opt to receive “three months of severance.”

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