Following the recent trend of federal agencies laying off thousands of employees, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has asked its employees to retire or resign. The SEC attached a $50K incentive for its employees in what the financial regulator is calling a “voluntary early retirement” program.
The Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have focused their efforts on significantly slimming the government workforce and saving the government money in several areas.
Massive layoffs and federal buyout programs are the results of their efforts so far. Most recently, SEC has offered its long-term employees the chance to resign or retire for a cash prize of $50K.
SEC goes the voluntary early retirement route
According to an internal memo from SEC Chief Operating Officer Ken Johnson, the voluntary early retirement program is open to permanent employees who were on the agency’s payroll before January 24, 2025.
Employees eligible for the offer must make their decision by March 21, 2025, and separate from the agency by April 4, 2025. The program allows these employees to either resign, be transferred to another agency, or immediately retire.
The memo also stated that employees who accept the incentive and return to the SEC within five years are obligated to repay the incentive in full.
The Trump administration’s ongoing efforts to reduce the federal workforce have already resulted in the elimination of over 100K civilian jobs, and their momentum does not seem to be slowing down. In February, The White House instructed federal agencies to submit their plans for “large-scale reductions in force” by March 13. The memo from the White House didn’t provide any specific roles for termination but said to start with workers deemed non-essential during a government shutdown.
Furthering their plans to save money, the memo also instructed federal agencies to submit proposals to move their offices out of Washington and into “less costly parts of the country.”
It is expected that the immediate cost of the SEC’s buyout offer will be offset by eliminating further expenses on the employees who accept the offer.
Additionally, the SEC has instructed all staff, including unionized workers, to return to the office starting April 14, 2025. This instruction follows an order from the president demanding that employees work in person. This order doesn’t come as a surprise, as Donald Trump ordered heads of departments and agencies to “take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements” on his very first day in office.
The instructions have been met with pushback from employees as the union’s contract with the agency allows for remote work. The instruction only temporarily excludes employees who already have full-time remote arrangements or whose homes are more than 50 miles from an SEC office.
Buyouts in the workforce
The SEC buyout program is in line with the Trump administration’s aim of significantly slashing the government workforce. It is one of many other agencies that has offered incentives to workers to voluntarily part with their roles.
An average of 62,000 federal workers have retired each year over the past decade, according to data provided by the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), but with the strategies of DOGE and President Trump, that number is expected to rise sharply.
The Department of Education offered a $25K incentive to its employees to voluntarily retire or resign. Although it was framed as a voluntary program, the announcement of the incentive also came with the threat of a “significant reduction in force for the US Department of Education” following the deadline for application.
The White House also offered all 2.3M federal employees, including 783K civilians in the Defense Department, a buyout worth roughly eight months of their salary and benefits. The offer was reported to be for employees who refused to comply with President Trump’s demand for all workers to return to the office.
The email offering the incentive was framed as an easy method for the administration to effectively end remote work for most of the federal workforce. Still, it also carried the threat of the “majority” of agencies seeing reductions in force following the expiration of the offer.
The US Postal Service recently offered early retirement incentives of up to $15,000 to mail handlers and other support staff, citing operational changes as the reason behind the move.
“The United States Postal Service is continuing to transform its business model and build an organization structured for success. As a result of our capital investments in state-of-the-art mail processing equipment and changes to our network, the Postal Service needs to reduce staffing in those facilities that are overstaffed as we continue to provide prompt, reliable, and efficient service to all communities,” the USPS spokesperson said.