Inside federal agencies' rush to reshape their workforces—and spare employees from layoffs

Federal agencies are scrambling to cobble together plans that meet President Trump’s demands to slash their workforces, though career staff involved in the process are taking steps to mitigate the number of involuntary layoffs they will have to impose. 

Whether those more cautious plans—the first drafts of which are due to the White House and the Office of Personnel Management on Thursday—are accepted by political appointees within their agencies and the rest of the Trump administration remains to be seen. Agency officials are hopeful other efforts to trim workforce costs, such as continuing hiring freezes, reorganizing offices and offering separation incentives, will soften the inevitable blow from reductions in force.

The plans are largely still in draft form as of Monday and awaiting signoffs from top political staff, according to more than a half-dozen individuals involved in or briefed on those discussions who spoke to Government Executive. At large federal departments, subcomponents are making proposals up to headquarters and career staff are putting together plans for agency leaders to review. Initial plans must then receive approval from OPM and the Office of Management and Budget, officials said. 

Career employees working on the plans lamented they have not been provided any blueprint for the cuts and have no specific format for putting them together. Some said they have not been briefed by political leadership even on what functions they want to eliminate, leaving human resources personnel and top executives guessing as to what priorities should not be cut. The Elon Musk-backed Department of Government Efficiency has stayed heavily involved in the planning and in some cases has continued to issue new directives, employees said, even after a recent instruction from President Trump that it allow agencies to lead the charge on workforce reductions. 

Like those at agencies across government, employees at the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service were told in a town hall meeting last week that top officials were going to great lengths to minimize layoffs. 

“The main focus of what we as the director and deputies are doing as we think about what that plan should look like is to minimize the impact, first on our employees, really through thinking strategically about this workforce restructuring,” FWS Region Six Director Matt Hogan said, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by Government Executive. 

He added there has not yet been any decision made on issuing layoffs, or RIFs, which he called “a tool of last resort.” 

“It hasn't been finalized in terms of what level of reductions there would be,” Hogan said. “We're still very much back-and-forth in conversations with the department, but we're looking at all kinds of things, including efficiencies in how we do our work.” He added there would be “lots of different options” before RIFs were initiated. 

Ultimately, departments will submit one plan, though they will take contributions from components such as FWS. At the Commerce Department, such contributions have been compiled and sent up to political appointees for approval. The department has taken a “conservative” approach on its first pass, according to an official briefed on the discussions, but some RIFs would still be expected. It followed Republicans’ proposal under its recent budget resolution for guidance on how far to cut.  

The political staff can now either accept the plan or request a more significant reduction before sending it along from OPM and OMB approval. 

Commerce and other agencies are hoping to use attrition since Trump took office toward their reduction targets. Some agencies have shed upwards of 10% of their workforces due the cumulative effect of the Deferred Resignation Program, the mass firing of recent hires and other employees in their probationary periods and Trump’s ongoing hiring freeze. They are now looking to further incentivize employees to voluntarily leave government through early retirement and buyout offers to those who qualify.