On December 8, 2025, the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) released the updated President’s Management Agenda (PMA). This framework outlines the administration’s priorities for reshaping the federal government.
Among its many goals, two stand out as particularly consequential for federal employees: downsizing the federal workforce and fostering a merit-based system.
These initiatives indicate that the Trump administration intends to continue to focus on cutting the size of the federal workforce and adhering to the principles it put forth when President Trump began his second term in January.
Those principles were bluntly laid out in the Fork in the Road deferred resignation program distributed by the Office of Personnel Management to most federal employees in late January. The email that went out said that federal employees who chose not to accept the buyout offer and continue their federal careers had to expect to work within a “reformed federal workforce built around four pillars.”
Those were:
- Return to Office: The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since Covid will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week. Going forward, we also expect our physical offices to undergo meaningful consolidation and divestitures, potentially resulting in physical office relocations for a number of federal workers.
- Performance culture: The federal workforce should be comprised of the best America has to offer. We will insist on excellence at every level — our performance standards will be updated to reward and promote those that exceed expectations and address in a fair and open way those who do not meet the high standards which the taxpayers of this country have a right to demand.
- More streamlined and flexible workforce: While a few agencies and even branches of the military are likely to see increases in the size of their workforce, the majority of federal agencies are likely to be downsized through restructurings, realignments, and reductions in force. These actions are likely to include the use of furloughs and the reclassification to at-will status for a substantial number of federal employees.
- Enhanced standards of conduct: The federal workforce should be comprised of employees who are reliable, loyal, trustworthy, and who strive for excellence in their daily work. Employees will be subject to enhanced standards of suitability and conduct as we move forward. Employees who engage in unlawful behavior or other misconduct will be prioritized for appropriate investigation and discipline, including termination.
Based on the initiatives in the new PMA, the Trump administration has not changed its stance on these objectives.
2025 PMA Priorities Impacting Federal Employees
1. Downsizing the Federal Workforce
The PMA explicitly calls for reducing the size of the federal workforce. It outlines these three objectives:
- Eliminate jobs in non-essential, non-statutory functions
- Remove poor performers
- Strategically hire only for essential jobs
The Trump administration believes that the federal government has reached historic highs in civilian employment, spending, and debt. Downsizing is framed as a way to cut waste and restore efficiency.
2. Fostering a Merit-Based Federal Workforce
The second major workforce priority is to strengthen merit-based hiring and accountability. This initiative lists four objectives:
- Hire the best based on skills and merit
- Implement all employee performance and accountability Presidential directives
- Implement the President’s Executive Orders to address labor-management relations
- Recruit exceptional talent to defend the border
The referenced Executive Orders have been issued by the president this year and have direct implications for the federal workforce. Among them are:
- Strengthening Probationary Periods in the Federal Service – Introduces significant changes to the probationary and trial periods for Federal employees
- Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs – Significantly expands agencies where employees would be excluded from union representation
- Strengthening the Suitability and Fitness of the Federal Workforce – The Director of OPM can make final suitability determinations and take actions, including removal, for executive branch employees based on post-appointment conduct
- Implementing the President’s Department of Government Efficiency Workforce Optimization Initiative – Shrinks the size of the federal workforce and limits hiring to essential positions
Unions have been fighting the Executive Orders in court, and those legal challenges will no doubt continue given the new PMA’s stated objectives. How successful some of the administration’s objectives for the federal workforce will ultimately be depend upon the final outcomes of the legal challenges.
President’s Management Agenda: Federal Workforce Priorities, Then vs. Now
One thing that is immediately striking about the new PMA is how short it is: 1 page. Past PMA documents were much longer. In 2018, the Trump administration’s PMA was just over 50 pages.
Also, compared to Trump’s first term, the initiatives spelled out in the new PMA strike a different tone with respect to the federal workforce.
For instance, this is a quote from his 2018 PMA:
Aligning and managing the Federal workforce of the 21st Century means:
- Instating performance management processes that help agencies retain top employees and efficiently remove those who fail to perform or to uphold the public’s trust;
- Reducing skills-gaps and eliminating redundant positions;
- Simplifying the hiring process for managers;
- Enhancing personnel management IT, including creation of a paperless employee personnel file and digitalizing health benefits and retirement systems administration;
- Spreading effective practices among human resources specialists;
- Improving manager satisfaction with the quality of the human resources service provided; and
- Rebalancing relationships with Federal employee unions to ensure citizens’ interests are kept front and center.
While there are some similarities, it sounds like a much gentler approach than, “Reduce the federal workforce by eliminating unnecessary positions and removing poor performers.”
The table below provides a comparison highlighting the differences between the 2018 and 2025 PMAs.
| Theme | 2018 PMA | 2025 PMA |
|---|---|---|
| Length | ~50 pages, broad modernization agenda | ~1 page, concise |
| Workforce Vision | “Workforce for the 21st Century” – reskilling, redeploying, and modernizing civil service frameworks | “Downsize the federal workforce” – eliminate non-essential positions and poor performers |
| Merit & Accountability | Emphasis on aligning skills with mission needs, fostering high performance, and improving HR systems | “Foster merit-based workforce” – hire based on skills, enforce accountability tied to presidential directives |
| Union/Employee Relations | Framed around agility and modernization, less emphasis on labor relations | Explicitly ties performance management to presidential policy, signaling reduced union influence |
| Job Security | Focused on retraining and redeployment to meet future needs | Focused on removal of poor performers and elimination of roles |
Conclusion
The 2025 President’s Management Agenda represents a decisive move toward reshaping the federal workforce. By combining downsizing with merit-based reforms, the administration seeks to create a leaner, more accountable government.
For federal employees, however, these changes may mean heightened scrutiny, reduced job security, and a workplace more closely tied to political priorities. The coming months will reveal how agencies interpret and implement these directives—and how employees and unions respond.
