As part of President Trump’s efforts to curb government spending, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is said to be offering its employees voluntary separation packages.
HHS is reportedly offering its 80,000 employees a $25,000 buyout to encourage them to resign voluntarily. This is reportedly part of President Trump’s initiative to reduce the federal workforce.
According to CBS News and NBC News, the health agency sent an email to its staff on Friday night, offering a “voluntary separation incentive payment”. The goal is to reduce the workforce without resorting to involuntary layoffs. Employees have until March 14 to apply, and departures are expected before the end of the fiscal year. Neither the White House nor HHS has commented on the reports.
HHS oversees major health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This buyout offer follows recent job cuts throughout the agency. Last month, thousands of probationary HHS workers (those employed for less than a year) were reportedly told they would be let go. The CDC has also experienced significant workforce reductions.
In late February, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested further cuts at the department, mentioning he had a “generic list” of employees he wanted to remove.
These buyout offers are reportedly part of Trump’s broader initiative to reduce government spending and bureaucracy, spearheaded by the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which is led by Elon Musk. Since its creation shortly after Trump’s inauguration, DOGE has reportedly been leading a sweeping overhaul of federal agencies, cutting jobs, eliminating programs, and restructuring departments.
Last month, DOGE announced that the Inter-American Foundation, a US foreign aid agency, had been reduced to just one employee, the minimum required for operation. USAID, Washington’s main way to fund political projects abroad, was also targeted, with 2,000 employees laid off and most of the remaining staff placed on leave.