There’s a contact # for Federal Employees to access and tell their story anonymously . The Public needs to know the truth about Doge tactics. Why are Senior Administrators resigning? Are you being coerced?
View in browser PRESENTED BY NORTHERN TRUST Axios MarketsBy Emily Peck and Felix Salmon · Feb 19, 2025
🐪 Hump day! Today we consider the federal government, and how DOGE has changed the way workers work, potentially forever.
- Plus: Speaking of Elon Musk, he may be tariff target No. 1.
All in 1,290 words, a 5-minute read. 1 big thing: DOGE changes federal work foreverBy Emily Peck
Illustration: Allie Carl/Axios
DOGE-led mass firings of federal employees are tearing at the promise of job security that’s come with government work for more than a century.
Why it matters: Millions of federal workers are now feeling the same kind of job anxiety more familiar to those in corporate America, including the tech sector, where Elon Musk’s firing playbook is far more common.
What they’re saying: “This is not the same government it was a month ago,” a longtime federal employee told Axios, requesting anonymity because they’ve accepted the administration’s “deferred resignation” offer and don’t want to jeopardize it.
- “The mentality that federal workers have — that their jobs are protected — none of that exists anymore,” they said.
Yes, but: The White House said it’s within its rights to fire probationary workers, who don’t have the same kinds of protections as longer-term employees.
- “The probationary period is a continuation of the job application process, not an entitlement for permanent employment,” per policy guidelines shared by an administration official.
Not all workers who’ve been fired were probationary, including those at USAID and inspectors general.
Zoom out: To understand why civil service jobs differ from private sector jobs, you need to go back to the 19th century, when the U.S. government was staffed by a “spoils system” in which people were hired based on connections or even because they paid for the job.
- After President Garfield was assassinated in 1881 by a man who was upset he didn’t get a government gig, Congress enacted a civil service law called the Pendleton Act, to ensure folks were hired based on merit and skill.
- Today, most federal jobs are handled in this system. Only a few thousand positions are held by political appointees.
How it works: Government workers have a lot more job protections than those in the private sector, including more union protections.
- 30% of public sector federal government employees are represented by unions, compared to 7% in the private sector, according to federal data.
- All of this “gives people a lot of security to work hard, do their jobs and not worry about playing personality politics,” said David Super, a professor at Georgetown Law, whose research focuses on administrative law.
For the record: “President Trump returned to Washington with a mandate from the American people to bring about unprecedented change in our federal government to uproot waste, fraud, and abuse,” White House principal deputy press secretary Harrison Fields said in a statement.
- “This isn’t easy to do in a broken system entrenched in bureaucracy and bloat, but it’s a task long overdue.”
The bottom line: Until recently, taking a job with the federal government meant accepting lower pay in order to reap the rewards of job security.
- Now the rewards haven’t changed, but the risks are skyrocketing.
Are you a federal employee with a tip? You can reach Emily Peck confidentially on Signal @emilyrpeck.71.