More than 1,000 additional NOAA employees will soon exit the agency after accepting Commerce Department early retirement and buyout offers, according to current and former employees.
The additional departures raise the number of total staff reductions since February to more than 2,200 employees, or nearly 20 percent of the agency’s workforce under the Biden administration, according to current and former staffers who have tracked the reductions. The moves come as workers across the federal bureaucracy face deep reductions in force, or RIFs, at their departments.
An informal tally circulating among agency employees and provided to POLITICO’s E&E News by a former staffer indicated that the total number of people who took early retirements or buyouts is around 1,050 people. An April 22 staff meeting agenda from one of NOAA’s line offices also indicated the agency had accepted the retirement and buyout applications of between 1,050 and 1,100 employees.
On Wednesday, NOAA celebrated the service of the two groups of people who would be leaving under the Office Personnel Management retirement and buyout programs, which are called Voluntary Early Retirement Authority (VERA) and Voluntary Separation Incentive Payments (VSIP). The event was hosted by Vice Adm. Nancy Hann, NOAA’s deputy undersecretary for operations.
