Musk is done with DOGE, but the White House isn't, announcing HR overhaul
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The north portico of the White House. Photo: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trump administration has announced plans to revamp the way HR works across the federal government, per a memo shared with Axios, part of a push to reshape the bureaucracy.
Why it matters: DOGE may be in the rearview mirror for Elon Musk, but the administration is plowing ahead with its overhaul of the federal workforce.
State of play: The "Creating 'Federal HR 2.0' " memo — from Office of Management and Budget director Russell Vought and Office of Personnel Management director Scott Kupor— is set to go out to agency heads this afternoon.
- The memo details plans to consolidate more than 100 human capital management systems across federal agencies.
- It's a situation described as "crazy," by Kupor in an October blog post launching the initiative.
- These systems are basically databases that track things like job titles, salary and benefits information and job history, he explained.
- The memo comes two days after the administration put out its management agenda reiterating its goal to "eliminate woke, weaponization and waste."
"For too long, taxpayers have footed the bill for duplicative HR systems that no modern organization would tolerate," Kupor told Axios in a statement Wednesday.
Zoom in: "When fully implemented," the memo says, "the Federal HR 2.0 initiative will lead to billions in taxpayer savings."
- For starters, agencies are being asked to pause their own HR systems — though exceptions will be granted if something critical needs to happen.
- Several agencies have already said they wanted to be in the first wave of transition, per the memo, including the Department of Homeland Security, the Agriculture Department and Veterans Affairs.
Zoom out: This isn't like what DOGE has done, but appears to be an effort to fix an issue long recognized by experts in federal government bureaucracy.
Friction point: "Conceptually this is fine," says Max Stier, founder of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit that has been critical of DOGE and the White House's efforts. "The big question is, can they execute effectively?"
- A similar operation to overhaul systems at Veterans Affairs has been a costly and difficult process, he says.
- And the federal government is already facing management challenges, having lost hundreds of thousands of employees this year.
