United States: The White House ordered federal agencies to identify probationary employees by Friday and provide feedback about their continued employment.
Probationary Employees Face Scrutiny
President Donald Trump has plans to transform federal employment systems and cut government regulation processes. On Monday he announced that federal workers must come to the office five days a week while initiating new hiring standards to decrease civil service staffing, as reported by Reuters.
“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.”
#US federal employees working in diversity offices must be put on paid leave as the new administration of #DonaldTrump has ordered the programs shut, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt confirms.https://t.co/NUjZQUJLUS
— Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) January 22, 2025
Employees between one and two years of government service can be fired outside the normal appeal process based on their status.
The White House did not provide a response to our requests right away.
Hiring Freeze and Job Cancellations
A second White House document ordered federal agencies to cancel job offers to future employees who would start work at or after February 8th through a hiring freeze. The order’s directive requires agencies to eliminate most open positions from an official web portal while establishing a permanent employment ban with rare exceptions.
All Federal DEI Offices To Be Closed By Wednesday EOD, Workers Placed On Paid Leave: White House https://t.co/KzuBERw1HO
— DisfunctionalVeteran (@VeritasNine11) January 22, 2025
“Any recruiters seeking to fill positions on behalf of the government must cease correspondence with candidates no later than January 21,” the memo dated Monday said.
Approval for Critical Roles
According to the memo immigration enforcement roles, security jobs, and public safety positions remain untouched by the hiring freeze alongside military personnel and postal workers, as reported by Reuters.
White House wants details on new federal employees by Friday https://t.co/RzFgBmlQYs via @@YahooNews
— Sandy (@Sandy94677285) January 22, 2025
OPM needs to approve notable exceptions for work that protects vital government services like Social Security and Medicare. Each month OPM receives reports from agencies with details about job advertising, hiring results, employee departures, and organizational staffing levels.