Trump administration offering buyouts to nearly all federal workers

The Trump administration is offering millions of federal workers the option to accept buyouts through a government-wide "deferred resignation" program, if they quit by Feb. 6.

Those who accept the offer will receive pay and benefits through Sept. 30, according to emails sent out across the federal government Tuesday evening by the U.S. Office of Personnel Management.

Those employees will not be expected to work after taking the offer, OPM specified. To accept the buyout, federal employees simply have to reply to the email with the word "Resign," the emails instruct.

The sweeping proposal is being offered to "make sure that all federal workers are on board with the new administration's plan to have federal employees in office and adhering to higher standards," a senior administration official told NBC News on condition of anonymity earlier Tuesday.

"We're five years past COVID and just 6 percent of federal employees work full-time in office. That is unacceptable," the official said, citing a report from Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who co-chairs the congressional DOGE caucus.

The White House expects up to 10% of federal employees to take the buyout, the official said.

Elon Musk, the leader of President Donald Trump's "Department of Government Efficiency," praised the buyout offer as "fair & generous" on X, the social media platform he owns.

Musk, after taking over the platform formerly called Twitter in 2022, had issued an ultimatum for employees to either commit to work longer hours or quit and receive three months' severance.

It was unclear to what extent Musk, who spent more than $250 million helping elect Trump, was involved in Tuesday's emails from OPM.

But the subject line of those emails, "Fork in the Road," is nearly identical to the one Musk used in his 2022 messages.

Buyouts are being offered to all full-time federal employees except military personnel, U.S. Postal Service workers, roles related to immigration enforcement and national security, and "any other positions specifically excluded by your employing agency," the emails said.

The offers come as the Trump administration pushes federal employees to return to the office five days per week, scrapping work-from-home allowances implemented during the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump signed an order on his first day in office directing all executive branch agencies to end remote work rules.

The administration, which has promised massive cuts to purported government waste, is also signaling that most federal agencies will likely be downsized through restructurings and headcount reductions.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told NBC in a statement that if federal workers "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 8 months."

The federal labor union the American Federation of Government Employees quickly criticized the Trump administration's buyout plans.

"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," AFGE said in a statement.

"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," the group said.