As part of his effort to downsize and streamline the federal government, President Trump this week offered a generous buyout to federal employees who do not wish to return to the office full time. Sarah covered the details on Tuesday—they must submit their resignation by Feb. 6 if they want to receive pay and benefits until September 30, 2025. There are some exceptions—the offer does not extend to military personnel, Postal Service employees, and those in national security or immigration enforcement positions.
Social media users are praising the move and are impressed with the language in the Office of Personnel Management’s notice, particularly its simplicity.
Fork in the Road
Below is the email that was sent to federal employees on January 28, 2025 presenting a deferred resignation offer. If you did not respond to that email and wish to accept the deferred resignation offer, you may do so by following these steps.
1) Send an email to hr@opm.gov from your government account. Only an email from your .gov or .mil account will be accepted. 2) Type the word "Resign" into the "Subject" line of the email. Hit "Send".
This is real, and it’s spectacular. pic.twitter.com/KGMWSAHtvz
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) January 29, 2025
Put this in the Smithsonian.
— Adam Kazmierski (@adamkazmierski) January 29, 2025
Others noticed Elon Musk may have had a hand in crafting the offer and language.
The same subject line as the Twitter email Elon sent out “Fork in the Road”
— Mark Valorian (@markvalorian) January 29, 2025
This screams "Elon" to me 😂 pic.twitter.com/rW23ITiifn
— Christopher F. Rufo ⚔️ (@realchrisrufo) January 29, 2025
Musk also pinned an old post on X regarding the "fork in the road" art piece he commissioned two years ago.
Two years ago, I commissioned an art piece: A Fork in the Road.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 7, 2024
Had to make sure that civilization took the path most likely to pass the Fermi Great Filters. pic.twitter.com/mYFzdAy6WF
"A fork in the road" is both the title of a piece of art commissioned by Elon Musk and the same subject line he used when encouraging Twitter employees to commit to being "extremely hardcore" or leave. https://t.co/lopoX4ZRyO
— 𝚁𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚌𝚌𝚊 𝙱𝚎𝚒𝚝𝚜𝚌𝚑 (@RebeccaBeitsch) January 29, 2025
