The Department of Government Efficiency is teasing its buyout of remote workers as an opportunity for government workers to "take a vacation" or "watch movies and chill" until September: Get paid temporarily to do nothing.
"Answering the most common question about the Deferred Resignation offer," the DOGE X account wrote in a post Wednesday morning. "Can take the vacation you always wanted, or just watch movies and chill, while receiving your full government pay and benefits."
The post linked to a FAQ (frequently asked question): "Am I expected to work during the deferred resignation period?"
The answer was succinct: "No. Except in rare cases determined by your agency, you are not expected to work."
In a post Tuesday night, DOGE claimed it is already saving American taxpayers $1 billion per day with a goal of getting that figure up to $3 billion per day before the temporary Trump administration initiative sunsets in a couple of years.
"DOGE is saving the Federal Government approx. $1 billion/day, mostly from stopping the hiring of people into unnecessary positions, deletion of DEI and stopping improper payments to foreign organizations, all consistent with the President's Executive Orders," the post read. "A good start, though this number needs to increase to > $3 billion/day."
It's unclear if this is DOGE's response to President Joe Biden's lame-duck preemptive block on Trump's goal of forcing government employees to commit to working in the office again after mass COVID-era remote work.
Trump called out the Biden administration putting a five-year block on firing remote federal workers who refuse to return to the office.
"One is that if people don't come back to work, come back into the office, they're going to be dismissed, and somebody in the Biden administration gave a 5-year waiver of that," Trump said in December.
"So that for five years people don't have to come back into the office. It involved 49,000 people. For five years they don't have to go? They just signed this thing; it's ridiculous. It was a like a gift to a union. And we're going to obviously be in court to stop it."
The deferred resignation offer was given to all full-time federal employees, excluding military, U.S. Postal Service staff and positions related to immigration enforcement or national security, The Hill reported.
An email the buyout gives government workers a "dignified, fair departure," but will not guarantee their job.
"If you choose to remain in your current position, we thank you for your renewed focus on serving the American people," the email read, according to The Hill. "At this time, we cannot give you full assurance regarding the certainty of your position."
An expected 5% to 10% of federal workers – amounting to hundreds of thousands – might take the buyout, according to the White House.
The email sent to employees said those who leave their posts voluntarily will receive about seven months of salary, but they must chose to do so by Feb. 6.
The federal government employs more than 3 million people, which makes it roughly the nation's 15th largest workforce. The average tenure for a federal employee is nearly 12 years, according to an analysis by the Pew Research Center.