The denizens of the Federal Government, all two million plus, continue complaining, kvetching, and crying as Trump introduces them to a feature that MANY of us out here in the private sector have endured for decades: layoffs, firings, company/corporate bankruptcies, and now, buyouts. In the last case, you get the option to resign, and we will give you money to do so or take your chances and stay, but with no guarantee that we still won’t fire you later on.
‘Oh, lord, why are you treating us this way?’
They would collect this severance through September, and while eight months of pay and benefits each is a lot of money…
President Donald Trump’s administration is offering federal workers the chance to take a “deferred resignation,” which would mean they agree now to resign but get paid through September.
A senior administration official told NBC News that they expect 5%-10% of the federal workforce to quit, which, they estimate, could lead to around $100 billion in savings.
All full-time federal employees are eligible, except for members of the military, employees of the U.S. Postal Service, positions related to immigration enforcement and national security and other jobs excluded by agencies.
Remember, the average pay of a Federal Govt worker is $106,382. This, too:
The Cato Institute’s analysis of 2021 data showed that the average value of benefits in the federal workforce was $44,021 per year, which is significantly higher than the private sector average of $13,486
So, the payout will be high. Higher still is keeping them on and with the Department of Government Efficiency, I think the time is right to offer this. There is NO pressure from other entities to keep processes as tight as possible, keeping headcount down. Without that, “everything” becomes extraneous “stuff,” which becomes more important than the agency’s primary mission, and the bureaucracy becomes more immense, more self-important, and starts forgetting who is supposed to serve whom.
Drain the Swamp.
In the computer industry, with its rapid changes due to “creative destruction” via technological advances (either new technologies making old ones obsolete or replacing current tech with slightly less capable ones but at a far lower cost point (e.g., midrange computers taking [some] share from “Big Iron” mainframes, then “workstations” started to eat the midrange (yes, I worked for Digital Equipment Corp aka “DEC”), and then “personal computers” ate their lunch. Telecomm had similar pathways happen during the breakup of “Ma Bell.” Adapt or die – and many did the latter.
This affected me personally – the days of joining a company for the rest of my life were over before I entered the workforce (Note: only ONE of the companies I ever worked for exists). It IS a fact of life in the private sector, and one works (or should) like there may be no tomorrow. Get over it. Now, Government employees have to get over it. We’ve dealt with it for years – your turn has now arrived.
However, it still seems to be a fact of life that the Government, at all levels, that if you go to work for some level of government, you show up enough, you work enough, and you are set for life. Or so it seems with a 5.9% attrition rate (retirements and quits). Why?
It just doesn’t have that financial or “keep up” pressure that we in the private sector experience all the time. When the features of competition or profit motive do not exist, the mindset of working at top capacity all the time seldom appears. It’s just a slower pace of life that hasn’t that need. And excess employee headcount rises (those above the actual need to get the main mission done).
And, again, it rises when the agency decides to get into “other stuff” beyond its authorizing legislation.
And yes, I consulted to different level of government as well on watching as part of my hamlet’s BudComm. Even at the local level, anytime that I brought up overstaffing, the caterwauling would start straight away: “oh, you’ve scared employees, making them fearful – they’ll get less work done. We won’t be able to keep the smartest and brightest. It will be hard to hire new people later on”.
Yeah, your sky may be falling but not mine. Yeah, tell me your problems – not. Congrats – reality finally just peeked its head into your cubical.
That list goes on.
Of course, the government unions are having hissy fits. Of COURSE, they don’t want employees to resign – it lowers THEIR Power in negotiating, truth be told, with US (their bosses). I’ll stop with this:
The unions appear to be focusing on informing and protecting their members through communication and public statements rather than pursuing immediate legal challenges.
[See puzzled look on my face]. Er, protecting their members from a voluntary offer???? In this, who (or WHAT) are the unions REALLY trying to protect?