USDA asks employees to transfer to 'critical' vacancies, suggests more cuts coming

An agency within the Agriculture Department is asking employees to fill jobs it just incentivized employees to leave, telling staff it will be further cutting positions but those open for transfers are critical to delivering on its mission. 

The Natural Resources Conservation Service—an agency born out of the Dust Bowl that helps farmers and other agricultural producers protect and conserve private lands and is USDA’s second-largest component —has shed nearly 2,400 employees since January, or more than 20% of its workforce. The agency expects its workforce to continue to drop with a hiring freeze in place at least through Oct. 15 and to reduce its staffing levels below those it employed in December 2019 before it begins hiring again. Staffing would then be capped at that December 2019 level going forward, NRCS leadership told employees in a presentation obtained by Government Executive. 

USDA lost around 16,000 total employees through the deferred resignation program, which allowed employees to sit on paid leave for months before they exit government at the end of September. NRCS is now the second component looking to backfill critical vacancies through lateral transfers, following the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in May. 

The department was on the precipice of issuing widespread layoffs before a court blocked the Trump administration from moving forward on such cuts, according to Government Executive’s previous reporting and more recent court filings. The Supreme Court struck down that injunction last week, freeing USDA to move forward with reductions in force. 

Citing previous comments by USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins, NRCS leadership—in discussing the opportunities for internal transfers—reminded employees this week the department is “optimizing and reducing the size of its workforce to become more efficient.” It will relocate “many employees” away from the Washington region, consolidate duplicative and redundant functions, eliminate unnecessary management layers and offload office space, agency officials said. 

One NRCS employee said the agency seemed to be pushing employees to apply by noting their jobs could otherwise be at risk. Still, the employee said, “they were very adamant this is separate from any future reorganization actions,” meaning employees would be accepting the transfers “to help the agency with no guarantee of protection in the future.” 

“From the employee perspective,” the person said, “I see very few taking this approach seriously unless there’s a work-life balance gain for the employee. Morale is too low to do this for the agency.” 

USDA did not respond to a request for comment. 

The agency is looking to fill specialist roles, such as soil conservationists. Another employee noted that with the department firing recent hires en masse and pushing out those with significant experience through early retirement and other incentive offers, “there won't be young people to come up” as staff continue to head for the exits. That employee suggested the solicitation for transfers marked “a realization that the initial firings were ill-advised at best.” 

Employees can apply to up to three critical vacancies, with hiring decisions being made by the top NRCS official in each state or their deputy. They were warned that anyone applying to a critical vacancy role in Washington may be subject to a mandatory relocation at a later date. 

USDA will not offer pay retention or grade increases, though it will attempt to come as close as possible to matching employees’ current salary. The department will also not pay for any relocation expenses. 

One of the NRCS employees said the staffing reductions are already having impacts. They now have 10 counties in their purview, up from four at the start of the Trump administration. Their team no longer has a Geographic Information System (GIS) expert, which the staffer noted was a significant problem for an agency “that relies on accurate maps for everything we do.” They added their office is approving fewer applications for the Environmental Quality Incentives Program—one of NRCS’ flagship initiatives to help farmers and other producers improve air and water quality, increase soil health and reduce erosion—due to diminished capacity.

“The land doesn't go away, the work doesn't go away,” the employee said. “It will just go to deferred maintenance. Never a good thing.”