Dive Brief:
- The federal government’s main HR office lost more than 1,000 workers, or 35% of its staff, in just over a year, according to a new analysis by the watchdog Government Accountability Office.
- The reduction aligns with the end of President Joe Biden’s time in office and the start of President Donald Trump’s second term. Of those who left the U.S. Office of Personnel Management between Dec. 31, 2024, and March 31, 2026, 59% did so through the government’s deferred resignation program and 10% through a reduction in force, GAO said.
- In its report, GAO said the losses “have reduced institutional knowledge and operational capacity at the agency” and “risk worsening pre-existing skills gaps that GAO previously recommended OPM address.”
Dive Insight:
OPM on Jan. 28, 2025, issued a “Fork in the Road” memo offering deferred resignations to federal employees under the Trump administration’s direction. At the time, an OPM spokesperson confirmed to HR Dive that the administration expected 5% to 10% of federal employees to accept the offer.
In July 2025, Director Scott Kupor said the reductions at OPM were part of efforts “to put the U.S. government on a more sustainable fiscal path,” per a blog post called “Right-Sizing with Purpose.”
“OPM is committed to becoming operationally efficient, by design,” Kupor wrote. “We’re building a leaner, more agile OPM, one that’s laser-focused on outcomes and taxpayer value.”
Part of those changes involved cutting functions that “were no longer affordable,” per Kupor, such as a team that focused on executive and leadership training for federal employees.
At the same time, “GAO and OPM have identified skills gaps as a longstanding challenge,” per the analysis. “The federal government’s efforts to address government-wide and agency-specific skills gaps have been on GAO’s High-Risk List since 2001,” GAO said.
In other cases, OPM has given additional responsibilities to other offices, per GAO’s report. While the Merit System Accountability & Compliance office saw a 41% drop in full-time workers from FY2024 to FY2026, OPM “proposed transferring appeals of employees who have been separated by a reduction in force from the Merit Systems Protection Board to OPM, stating that the change is meant to improve efficiency.”
OPM also suggested using artificial intelligence and modernizing its IT systems in offices with fewer staff, per the report.
GAO said OPM did not provide the agency with requested documentation on changes made to offices and programs, the reasoning behind office closures or consolidations and processes for strategic workforce planning nor did it provide more than comments on a preliminary draft of GAO’s report.
“As a result, in this report, GAO is unable to provide complete information on what changes OPM made, its rationale, the expected costs and benefits,” the watchdog said.
In response to a request for comment by HR Dive Wednesday on the agency’s ability to carry out its work with a reduced staff, Kupor said in an emailed statement, “Under this administration, OPM has done more to modernize services, strengthen accountability in the federal workforce, and implement important reforms [in] 18 months than some administrations did in eight years.”