Trump Administration to Push for More Layoffs, Job Separations After Ruling
Efforts to cut federal government workers are about to ramp up after the Supreme Court lifted the injunction that blocked the mass layoffs.
“Now that the court has moved the injunction aside, we're going to redouble our efforts to examine what departments and agencies are doing, trying to get them right sized,” said Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Deputy Director for Management Eric Ueland, while speaking at GovExec’s Government Efficiency Summit.
The injunction blocked 70 reduction in force actions at 19 agencies. So far, only a handful have moved forward with plans since the Supreme Court’s ruling. But Deputy Director Ueland expects that to change. He says agencies must address the question of “Do we have the right people in the right place, and, at times, do we have too many people in the wrong place?’
The administration is also banking on deferred resignations and the federal hiring freeze to cut headcount.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for example recently sent a third deferred resignation/voluntary early retirement offer to employees, with the deadline for a response July 25.
And new Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Director Scott Kupor expects the agency to cut about one-third of its workforce (1,000 jobs) by the end of the year, with most of those departures voluntary. Kupor announced a new director’s blog and promised weekly updates.
“My goal is to open up OPM and make it more accessible to the people we serve,” Director Kupor said. “Every week, Iʼll be sharing what weʼre working on, why it matters, and how weʼre applying lessons from the private sector, like investing in human capital and staying nimble, to help government work better for everyone.”
President’s Management Agenda Coming in Due Course
This comes as OMB’s Ueland said the administration is in the process of creating a President’s Management Agenda (PMA) that will “deliver the change the President demands” and will be released in “due course.”
The PMA will focus on four core areas:
· Reorganization and reform of the federal government
· Fixing procurement
· Restoring the Made in America effort
· The smart use of technology in the 21st century
As for reorganization and reform, Deputy Director Ueland pointed to efforts to streamline hiring, focus on merit, and right size the federal footprint.
As for technology, the Ueland said the administration is hoping to consolidate and modernize federal HR systems.
“It’s a patchwork [of systems]. All of them are from 20 to 50 years old. They need a boatload of federal and commercial software products to operate, and are more and more fragile and subject to hacking — or even worse — every single day,” said Deputy Director Ueland. “With our partners at the Office of Personnel Management, we’re going to fix that.”
