White House wants details on new federal employees by Friday [View all]

Source: Reuters

January 21, 2025 7:41 PM EST Updated an hour ago


WASHINGTON, Jan 21 (Reuters) - The White House told federal agencies to detail by Friday a list of federal employees who are on probationary status and make recommendations on whether they should remain on the job.

President Donald Trump has vowed to reform the federal workforce and sharply reduce regulatory efforts. On Monday he ordered federal workers to return to the office five days a week and weakened job protections for civil servants, the first salvoes in his campaign to shrink the federal bureaucracy.

"Probationary periods are essential tools for agencies to assess employee performance and staffing levels," said a memo from White House Office of Personnel Management Acting Director Charles Ezell seen by Reuters. The memo asks to see a list of those employees, adding that "agencies should promptly determine whether those employees should be retained at the agency."

The memo noted that employees with one to two years of federal service -- depending on their status -- can be terminated without appeal rights. The White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/world/us/white-house-wants-details-new-federal-employees-by-friday-2025-01-22/

---

If a probationary employee isn't performing, supervisors can counsel them and put them on a PIP (as I have done with direct reports before I retired from the federal government) and if that doesn't work, they are quick to let them go.

But this is now terrorism.

The nation was warned (with a lot of money spent on "messaging" about it, despite the insults hurled at the spending needed TO do this messaging). Yet over 1/2 of the country and the complacent M$M pooh-poohed it as "rhetoric" or "hubris".