Tracking changes to the federal workplace

Small changes in personnel policies can create seismic shifts in how our government operates — but these internal policies can be hard to find. This Archive provides a catalog of recent changes to policies and practices affecting the federal civil service, searchable by agency, employee category, and theme.

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552 Matching Records

Multiple Reports Show IRS Staffing Cuts Degraded Tax Season Performance

A Brookings analysis of the 2026 season's data concluded that 2025 staffing cuts and instability at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had degraded the agency’s performance during tax season, including by causing slower processing, degraded phone service, and a growing...

Personnel Management in Agencies: Strategic Human Capital Management

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed to revise its regulation on human resources management, 5 CFR part 250. The changes are significant in number: The existing Human Capital Operating Plan is replaced by an Annual Staffing Plan, which must...

Promoting Employee Accountability

This joint proposed rule, issued by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB), would make sweeping changes to the procedures governing performance-based removals, adverse actions, and MSPB appellate review of those actions. It proposes...

Agency Information Collection Request: Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey

This notice seeks Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for a new Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey collection. It seeks comments and sets a 60-day deadline, with comments due August 31, 2026. There are two major changes to how the...

SAMHSA's Workforce Cuts & Restructuring

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) cut its staff from about 900 employees to about 600 employees between January 2025 and June 2025. In October 2025, SAMHSA sent termination notices to an additional 100 to 150 employees...

Suitability & Fitness (Final)

In June 2026, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final regulation on suitability actions, which it had proposed in June 2025. The final rule contained minor changes to the text of the proposed regulation. The regulation primarily authorized...

NOAA Seeks 17% Cut to Workforce in 2026

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a plan to reduce its workforce by 17 percent in 2026, after having already fired hundreds of probationary employees. According to the agency, "a leaner NOAA that focuses on core operational needs,...

Administrative Leave for Workforce Realignment & Other Purposes

The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) proposed this regulation on administrative leave, which would codify OPM's own prior policy issuances on administrative leave, including: Template for Agency Administrative Leave Policies (July 30, 2025), Legality of Deferred Resignation Program (Feb. 4,...

GSA Has Lost Almost 6,000 Employees Since January 2025

According to data maintained by the Office of Personnel Management, the General Services Administration lost about 2,900 employees in 2025 and another 2,600 in the first half of 2026.

Ensuring Consistent & Rigorous Standards for the Senior Executive Service Candidate Development Programs

On June 25, 2026, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a final regulation on Candidate Development Programs for Senior Executive Service (SES) hiring. These programs are structured pipelines for developing skills of GS-14 and GS-15 employees for SES positions.

Department of Education Announces Additional Partnerships to Strengthen Coordination for Individuals with Disabilities Programs, Bolster Civil Rights Enforcement

On June 16, 2026, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) announced four new interagency agreements (IAAs) shifting operational responsibility for two of its core functions to other federal agencies: programs under the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS)...

IRS Removed Union Decorations & Materials Posted by Employees

On May 29, 2026, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) facilities officials issued a directive — quoted in press reports — instructing staff to “conduct a walkthrough of your post of duty and remove any and all NTEU materials” by June...

IRS Authorized to Hire Thousands for 2026 Filing Season After Staffing Cuts

Under a January 2025 presidential memorandum, the IRS froze hiring while shedding roughly 27 percent of its workforce over the year. In December 2025, senators pressed Treasury to lift the freeze before the 2026 filing season. In a late-February 2026...

Snapshot Report: Status of the IRS' Workforce

In a June 9, 2026 snapshot report, The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found that 31,273 employees separated, accepted a deferred resignation offer, or used another incentive to leave the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) between January 2025 and...

IRS Ordered Atlanta Employees to Return to Work in Unsanitary Conditions

In June 2026, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) employees at the agency's Chamblee campus near Atlanta were ordered to continue reporting in person despite a documented rat and cockroach infestation. Dead rats were found under desks and in trash cans and...

Guidance on Executive Order Implementing Schedule Policy/Career in the Excepted Service

In June 2026, the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a guidance memorandum to agencies on implementing Executive Order 14,410, which purported to move positions into the category of employment dubbed Schedule Policy/Career. The memorandum directed agencies to issue a...

Department of Education Begins Hiring Contractors to Replace Office for Civil Rights Attorneys

After firing several hundred employees as part of a reduction in force at the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), the Department of Education is now working with an outside contractor, Kaiva Tech, to hire new attorneys to address OCR's growing...

DOD Reduces Military's Recognized Religion List

Military.com obtained a copy of an internal memorandum (dated May 20, 2026) that reduces the Department of Defense's (DOD) list of recognized religious affiliations from 211 to 31 — a cut of 180 faith codes — within a 60-day implementation...

Around 172 Department of Commerce Positions Reclassified to Schedule P/C

On June 3, 2026, President Trump issued Executive Order 14,410, placing approximately 8,000 career federal positions into Schedule Policy/Career, making them effectively at-will. According to an analysis by the Federal News Network, the Department of Commerce reclassified about 172 types...