Sherwood Community Reels Following DOGE Assault on Federal Workforce
Protesters participate in the “Hands Off” march in Washington DC on April 5.
by Ziv Golan ’26
The federal workforce has changed drastically since President Trump took office. Shortly after his election win the President tapped tech billionaire Elon Musk to lead an effort aimed at cutting the size of the federal government through the self-proclaimed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Since then Trump has signed a multitude of executive orders aiming to cut probationary employees–those working in a position for less than a year– and force agencies to downsize.
Due to its proximity to the nation’s capital, Montgomery County is home to a significant number of federal workers working in a wide variety of departments and agencies. The region is experiencing the brunt of the Trump Administration’s mass layoffs and other actions impacting families across the area.
“I found out on Friday afternoon [in February] from my boss that I was going to be let go that afternoon. He just heard from our department’s admin officer who also just found out,” said a Sherwood parent recently laid off from his IT position within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). “I didn’t get an email notice until Saturday night around 5:30pm from the acting HR head from HHS.” Due to concerns over privacy and the potential for retaliation, the sources in this article are anonymous.
Trump has taken measures to uproot more flexible working conditions that federal workers have built up since the pandemic, including removing telework. Numerous federal employees have largely worked from home and many are unable to go into the office five days a week due to a variety of reasons, making this move a possible detriment to the careers of countless workers. “They took away telework for all federal employees and although I tried to get a special accommodation for a disability, it was denied saying they could accommodate my needs in the office and I didn’t have to work at all from home,” said another Sherwood parent who works at the National Security Agency (NSA). She has a medical condition that makes it difficult to go into the office.
Many federal office buildings are also unable to accommodate mass numbers of people after years of only a limited number of employees reporting to the office. “The condition of my office building is not equipped for all the people who will be coming back to work,” said a Sherwood parent recently laid off from National Institutes of Health (NIH). “ There are not enough offices and cubicles, the bathrooms are often broken, and there is not even a quarter of the parking needed.”
The claims of the Trump administration and DOGE that they are rooting out “waste” and “bloat” in the federal government has left federal workers feeling their work is undervalued. “Morale in my agency is very low, and people are afraid of losing their jobs and don’t feel valued at all,” said the same NSA employee. “I do have a fear I could be fired even though I have 5 years of federal service, but there are still a lot of unknowns so no one knows how many people will be let go and what jobs or people they are looking to cut.”
The operation to slim down the federal government under the premise of “cost-cutting” and “efficiency” has largely been viewed as a disorganized and confusing effort by federal employees. Some have been suddenly reassigned to other positions but are at a loss of when this will take place while others have been fired, but have received the news via emails sent in the middle of the night and on weekends. Court challenges have also put many of these changes in flux; case in point, recently a federal judge ruled all fired probationary employees must be reinstated, causing mass confusion.
In general, the lack of information has created feelings of uncertainty that have permeated into the personal lives of federal workers. “My daily life feels significantly different because the injustice of my job loss is an ever-present feeling,” expressed a Sherwood parent recently transferred from her position as a lawyer within the Department of Justice. “Each day counts down closer to my last day in this job.
Every day I feel the stress of uncertainty because, although weeks have passed, I still have nothing in writing confirming that I will be transferred rather than fired. I worry daily about whether I will in fact be able to remain employed and provide for my family.”
Federal workers have had to change their, or their families’, lifestyles to accommodate the shift in their work lives. “My two close friends have fathers who have had to go up to DC every day which has affected their transportation to school since a lot of parents have to take a car their student was using to drive to school,” explained a Sherwood student who is the child of a federal employee.
The student’s mother is employed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), working on cancer research, and has had to return to going into the office every day. She has had to leave for work every morning at 5am, and has faced a heavy security presence when entering the building. Reports have also emerged that DOGE officials have been scanning employee’s badges as they enter the office to ensure no workers who have been fired have access to the building, not even to collect their belongings.
Many of these federal workers are at a loss of what to do if, or when, they may lose their jobs and have to rework any future plans they have. This may mean possibly looking beyond a previously safe job, as many federal positions were due to a variety of legal protections that Trump is now attempting to remove, to explore other options.
“I’m trying to look on the bright side; maybe at age 52 it’s time to try something new in my career path, but I will need to retrain, and that costs money,” said a Sherwood parent laid off from NIH who recently began a yoga teacher-training course.
Demands from federal agencies to “eliminate positions that are not required” coupled with the attempted closure of departments and agencies such as the Department of Education and US Agency for International Development (USAID), both of which deemed unnecessary by the Trump administration, put everyone at risk from probationary employees to lifelong feds. There is no doubt that the Sherwood, and DC, area will be forever altered by the mass restructuring taking place within every corner of the federal government with the effects already on full display.