Partnership for Public Service reposted this
Nearly every federal agency has been ordered to reduce its staff on a tight deadline. The administration's current target: The Department of Health and Human Services. Tens of thousands of federal workers have already been terminated or have accepted an earlier buyout offer. Agencies have said more layoffs are to come, as they are ordered to produced reduction in force plans this month. The savings that might come from job cuts are only a fraction of the government's overall spending. Wages and benefits for the federal workforce amount to just 4.3% of the $6.3 trillion federal budget, according to the Congressional Budget Office. At HHS, less than 1% of its spending goes to staff. There is no strategy here. What we are watching is a devaluing of expertise. That is a profound mistake. The constant threat of termination is a heavy weight. Orders from Elon Musk and DOGE have led to federal workers completing tasks far outside their job description and expertise. Workers have described a decrease in productivity as a result. The latest offer of deferred resignations will only add to the chaos. It will get worse and worse. https://lnkd.in/ecgNJwRZ
Peter Bonner
1w
Max Stier Thanks. Yes. "There is no strategy here. . ."
Evan K.
4d
Absolutely incorrect. What we are watching it's a reprioritization of expertise and merit by removing a beuracracy full of partisan loafers who created extra work for the people who actually get stuff done.
Ryan M. Berg
1w
These layoffs/buyouts function as a blunt instrument to destabilize the very mechanisms of federal governance, pushing the bureaucracy toward rapid disintegration so a more ideologically extreme regime can remake it according to its own blueprint. The Trump-Musk alliance appears to be harnessing chaos—slashing entire offices overnight, gutting institutional expertise, and creating a climate of perpetual uncertainty for public servants—not merely as budgetary maneuvering but to dismantle existing policy structures at breakneck speed. By shockingly purging or coercing out career professionals, they undermine any continuity of knowledge or checks on executive power, all under the guise of “fiscal efficiency.” These tactics are classic accelerationism: induce institutional collapse or dysfunction, then exploit the ensuing vacuum to hardwire new, radical frameworks before democratic processes can mount a response. As a result, those who remain in the system often lack either the will or the capacity to counter looming authoritarian policies. Such orchestrated upheaval—turning the state’s workforce against itself—is precisely how Republicans aim to fast-track the downfall of democratic governance. How the fuck have we let this happen?
I am a federal government employee and fully support the downsizing of the work force however we are not keeping the talent the talent and high performers are moving on to greener pastures. What you are left with is the embedded government employees that will continue to stone wall this administration and the low performers of the workforce. Wait in three years we will be back to relying on industry partners to do the work of the government based on all the good people have left based I. The mishandling and none merit of who stays and who goes.
Tracy W.
1d
Thank you for speaking the truth. These are actions of someone without business or leadership training and most importantly no empathy.
The administration target are all agencies (imho)! Hang in there everyone!
Writer, Federal Contracting Expert
1wThe private sector is also being hit hard. Thanks to the disruptions and GPC caps, small businesses with IDIQ contracts are losing task orders paid by Government Purchase Cards. Longstanding federal procurement policy favoring small business has seemingly been abandoned.