{"id":2472258,"date":"2025-08-08T06:25:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opm-director-takes-gentler-approach-to-streamlining-the-bureaucracy\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T06:26:59","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T10:26:59","slug":"opm-director-takes-gentler-approach-to-streamlining-the-bureaucracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/opm-director-takes-gentler-approach-to-streamlining-the-bureaucracy\/","title":{"rendered":"OPM director takes gentler approach to streamlining the bureaucracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fopm-director-takes-gentler-approach-to-streamlining-the-bureaucracy%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2472258&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Scott Kupor, the new director of the U.S.Office of Personnel Management (OPM), has begun efforts to streamline the federal workforce at his agency in a measured, voluntary manner rather than through mass layoffs.since taking office on July 14, he aims to reduce OPM&#8217;s staff from about 3,000 to 2,000, primarily via voluntary departures and deferred resignations, with fewer than 200 employees affected by direct cuts. Kupor seeks to restore a merit-based, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/levell-predicts-trump-will-get-20-of-the-black-vote-in-november\/\" title=\"Levell foresees Trump securing 20% of Black vote in November\">performance-driven culture<\/a> within the agency, emphasizing merit hiring and appropriate compensation to make civil service more attractive.<\/p>\n<p>Kupor&#8217;s approach contrasts with more aggressive bureaucratic cuts seen elsewhere, such as those advocated by Elon Musk. Despite opposition from labor unions like the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), which have filed lawsuits to block staff reductions, Kupor recently secured a legal victory that permits OPM and other agencies to proceed with workforce streamlining.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, Kupor has taken steps to improve workplace culture, including discontinuing a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >mandated weekly accomplishments email introduced<\/a> by Musk and issuing a memo affirming employees&#8217; rights to express their religious beliefs at work without fear of discrimination. This clarification was aimed at correcting confusion from the previous administration. Kupor&#8217;s leadership reflects a more gradual and employee-conscious approach to improving efficiency within the federal government&#8217;s human resources functions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">New OPM director takes gentler approach to streamlining the federal bureaucracy<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2198851\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><strong>EXCLUSIVE &mdash;<\/strong>&nbsp;Scott Kupor wants to streamline <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/opm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"the workforce\">the workforce<\/a> at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/trump-administration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"the workforce\">his agency,<\/a> but that doesn&rsquo;t mean he&rsquo;s handing out large numbers of pink slips.<\/p>\n<p>Kupor, who was sworn in as director of the Office of Personnel Management on July 14, aims to reduce his workforce from nearly 3,000 to 2,000, mostly through voluntary efforts.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3490476\/illegal-immigrant-self-deportations-trump-cbp-home-app\/\">Skepticism mounts after DHS claims 1 million illegal immigrant self deportations under Trump<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/premium\/3474102\/jd-vance-2028-trump-republican-party-policy-translator\/\">JD Vance, Trump&#8217;s policy translator<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3494276\/secret-service-raise-river-level-vance-birthday-kayaking-trip\/\">Secret Service raised Ohio river level for Vance&#8217;s 41st birthday kayaking trip<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;We can&rsquo;t be all things to all people,&rdquo; Kupor said in an interview with the <em>Washington Examiner<\/em>, citing programs he has cut that no longer fit with OPM&rsquo;s mission, among them an executive education initiative. Most of the employees who are leaving have taken a deferred resignation or otherwise left on their own, Kupor added, with fewer than 200 cut through a direct reduction in force.<\/p>\n<p>His approach stands in contrast to the specter of mass layoffs the Department of Government Efficiency fanned as Elon Musk, its onetime head, wielded a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3325397\/elon-musk-brandishes-chainsaw-cpac\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title='literal \"chainsaw for bureaucracy\"'>literal &ldquo;chainsaw for bureaucracy&rdquo;<\/a> at a conference in February.<\/p>\n<p>Kupor, who has a background in the tech industry, says he wants to restore merit to his agency and bring a more entrepreneurial focus to the bureaucracy more broadly. OPM is the human resources arm of the federal government and manages personnel and retirement benefits.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We have a really great opportunity to help really create kind of a performance-based culture here in the government,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We focus on things like merit hiring, compensation, and all the good things that [President Donald Trump] has directed us to do, with the goal of making sure that we can make civil service a really strong and coveted opportunity for people.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Not everyone is on board with that vision, of course, and OPM has faced lawsuits from labor unions including the American Federation of Government Employees that aim to prevent the agency from reducing employee headcount.<\/p>\n<p>Kupor got a big win on that front last week, when the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/legal\/government\/court-allows-trump-end-union-bargaining-federal-workers-2025-08-01\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"sided with\">sided with<\/a> OPM in a suit against AFGE and other unions that claimed Trump was targeting labor unions and therefore violating their members&rsquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/states-push-to-rein-in-big-tech-as-federal-gears-grind-slow\/\" title=\"States Push to Rein in Big Tech as Federal Gears Grind Slow\">free speech rights<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>AFGE National President Everett Kelley called the ruling &ldquo;a setback for First Amendment rights in America,&rdquo; but that&rsquo;s not how Kupor sees it. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Presidents have broad discretion to exclude certain agencies from being able to have union-based activity,&rdquo; Kupor said. &ldquo;That&rsquo;s really important. Historically, what we&rsquo;ve seen in some cases is the unions have been an impediment to the president&rsquo;s ability to execute on the important plans that he&rsquo;s doing.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>In practice, the ruling means that OPM and other agencies can move forward with headcount reductions and otherwise try to streamline their services for the taxpayers who pay their salaries.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This really clears the path then for us to move forward with some of those areas and to make sure that we can obviously serve the American people as efficiently as possible,&rdquo; Kupor said.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-transform:uppercase\"><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3484107\/trump-religious-freedom-protection-federal-agencies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"Trump orders federal agencies to protect religious expression\">Trump orders federal agencies to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-growing-tariff-deals-ends-taco-talking-point-byron-york\/\" title=\"Trump\u2019s growing tariff deals ends \u2018TACO\u2019 talking point: Byron York\">protect religious expression<\/a><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>He has taken other actions during his early days on the job, including <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3491688\/opm-ends-mandated-five-things-email-elon-musk\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title='ending the famous \"five things\" email'>ending the famous &ldquo;five things&rdquo; email<\/a> Musk started that forced employees to list out their weekly accomplishments.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We think fundamentally that the responsibility of any manager in any organization is to obviously know what their team members are doing and to be able to be appropriately informed on that,&rdquo; Kupor said of the decision. &ldquo;And that was a tool that was available to people, but there&rsquo;s lots of other tools.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>One other recent move from Kupor was a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3484107\/trump-religious-freedom-protection-federal-agencies\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"memo\">memo<\/a> he sent telling employees they are free to express their religious views in the workplace.<\/p>\n<p>Issued late last month, the memo clarifies that employees may pray, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trump-orders-federal-agencies-to-protect-religious-expression\/\" title=\"... to ...\">display religious personal items<\/a>, hold group gatherings, or even invite colleagues to church without fear of discrimination or retaliation. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;When you look at what the Supreme Court has said on these topics, those types of displays are perfectly legal, and we want to make sure people understood that,&rdquo; Kupor said. &ldquo;We want the workplace to be a place where people don&rsquo;t have to just kind of pretend to be something else other than what&rsquo;s important to them in terms of their religious beliefs.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>The memo was necessary because of confusion on the topic left over from the Biden administration, Kupor added, saying he had received several inquiries about it. <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We thought it was important to set the record straight,&rdquo; he said. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2198851\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2198851\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New OPM director opts for gentle workforce cuts, not layoffs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2635,"featured_media":2472261,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Scott-Kupor-OPM-Office-of-Personnel-Management.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651,538],"tags":[15016,50402,8575,50370],"class_list":["post-2472258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","category-washington-examiner","tag-bureaucracy","tag-leadership-2","tag-management","tag-opm"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/Scott-Kupor-OPM-Office-of-Personnel-Management.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2472258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2635"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2472258"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2472258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2472263,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2472258\/revisions\/2472263"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2472261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2472258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2472258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2472258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}