‘Insulted and Confused’: Inside Agencies, Federal Employees React to Mass Resignation Offer

On Tuesday, millions of federal employees spread out across the government received a dubious offer: resign your position now, and keep working and getting paid through the end of September. The only sweetener here, according to the email sent from the Office of Personnel Management and later posted at an absurdly named page on its site, appeared to be an exemption from a pending demand that everyone return to the office. According to several employees inside the National Institutes of Health, the Environmental Protection Agency, and elsewhere, this did not go over well.

“People are feeling insulted and confused,” said one source within the EPA, who added that the terms and legality of the “offer” seemed unclear. Indeed, the initial reporting on OPM’s message was wildly off-base, with outlets including the Associated Press calling it a “buyout” in which employees who resign would simply get eight months’ pay for doing nothing. The text posted at OPM’s site makes no such offer, though an OPM spokesperson told NPR that employees would be placed on “administrative leave.”

The Trump administration said it expects five to 10 percent of employees to quit, which would save up to $100 billion — itself a very dubious and probably wrong number, even if that many do resign. And at least so far, it doesn’t sound like all that many will take the bait.

“Many are feeling even more determined to stay and continue their oath to serve the public and the mission after being so insulted by the language of the message that suggests that we’re lazy and inefficient,” said the EPA employee. Among the OPM email’s four “pillars” of a “reformed federal workforce” were not-so-veiled shots at the entire workforce. “Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward,” read the Musk-tinged message. “The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work.”

An employee at NIH told Splinter that people there are heartened by a subreddit which circulated widely on Tuesday, in which federal employees took the OPM message as a call to action and resistance. “It’s wild how quickly things have pivoted from despair to burning motivation,” one user wrote. An employee inside the National Cancer Institute confirmed that attitude, saying that people seemed to be doing better than over the last few days because of the easy target for anger and the obvious solidarity on display.

Several federal employees told Splinter they wouldn’t trust Trump’s promise of continued pay anyway. “I mean, it seems so legit, right?” said one at NIH. “I don’t know anyone who is planning to take the offer.”

Another employee pointed out that the resignation program is available only until February 6, while a previous OPM directive said that agencies must set their return-to-work plans by February 7. “Which means that they’re asking people to make a decision on resigning before we know what the return to office plans are, what exceptions are going to be made, what the timeline for returning to the office will be, and whether they will be honoring our collective bargaining agreements,” the employee told Splinter. “Which seems calculated and deliberately misleading.”

Unions representing federal employees have instructed their members not to do anything in response to the resignation offer, one employee said. And lost amid the absurdity of the message is the fact that cutting hundreds of thousands of federal employees would have legitimately dire effects in terms of services stalled or lost, projects delayed or canceled, and plenty more. The supposed savings to a government that literally prints money are essentially meaningless, and instead are a fairly transparent attempt by DOGE, Musk, and his ilk to render the regulation and oversight those employees are involved in as toothless as possible.

At least so far, it doesn’t seem like this particular move will work — the workforce is angry, and motivated. “We’re so voiceless,” one NCI employee said. “We need people outside to stand up for us in this moment.”