Some ideas are so commonsensical that government is the last to adopt them. For example: merit.
Byzantine employment practices make it hard for many government institutions to retain their most talented people. The Office of Personnel Management has just taken a sensible step to deal with the problem by proposing that federal agencies lay off their lowest performers first.
The proposed rule change, published last week in the Federal Register, would govern how federal agencies implement a “reduction in force” (RIF), a euphemism for layoffs. Under current rules, such layoffs usually spare the longest-serving federal employees, even though they tend to be the highest paid but not necessarily the most productive. Agencies reducing their workforce have needed to lay off workers according to a complicated formula that heavily weights seniority. The new rule would change the formula so that performance is the primary factor.
As OPM puts it: “By elevating performance in the order of retention, the employees who are best contributing to the mission will be more likely to be retained during restructuring.” Performance is measured by the last three years of ratings by superiors, as well as awards and other marks of distinction.
The Trump administration’s critics might label the measure as radical or partisan, but not so fast. The Department of Government Efficiency’s controversial government cuts weren’t driven by RIFs. More than 90 percent of federal job reductions in 2025 were due to voluntary programs such as buyouts. RIFs have become rare because they are so bureaucratically complicated and inefficient. By rationalizing the process, this reform could give government the flexibility it needs to assemble a workforce fit for today’s challenges.
The 2016 National Defense Authorization Act, signed by President Barack Obama, included a comparable measure to try to prioritize merit for civilian defense employees. Especially with the United States at war, it’s easy to see why the Pentagon shouldn’t be pushing out whizzes while retaining low performers just because they’ve been in their job longer.
The first Trump administration tried to implement this rule across the government in 2020. The Biden administration reversed it, but a future Democratic-led executive branch might appreciate the flexibility OPM is creating. Last year the Roosevelt Institute, a progressive think tank, surveyed Biden administration alumni on how their term might have been more effective. One suggestion that emerged from the survey: “Shorten time frames for removing underperformers.”
The next Democratic president, after all, will inherit a federal bureaucracy shaped by years of Republican rule — including at agencies he or she might want to downsize, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Whatever a White House’s politics, it ought to be able to command a workforce that is competent and effective. Decades-old rules that make that harder aren’t in the interest of either party.
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