Despite Disruptions, Hope for Federal Employees Who Stay

While attention is on federal government staff who are leaving, my focus is on those who remain. I’d like to offer personal experiences and lessons learned from government cuts and reorgs during my time with Michigan IT.

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Media headlines are full of federal government spending freezes, budget cuts, buyout offers, instructions to stay home, examples of "wasteful spending" and much more. Here are a few of the top headline stories that the country was reading last week:

Washington Post: Musk team kicks off federal layoffs as White House eyes big cuts

“White House officials are eyeing cuts to agency budgets of between 30 and 40 percent, on average, across the government — centered on significant staff reductions, according to two other people briefed on internal conversations, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to recount private deliberations. That target would vary greatly, and it’s expected to exempt agencies favored by President Donald Trump, such as the Defense Department and the Homeland Security Department.”

CNN: ‘People are just flipping out’: Billions in federal funding remain frozen despite court orders to keep the taps open “Billions of dollars in funding for federal transportation projects is also currently frozen, according to a source familiar with the matter.? That’s led to confusion at the state and local level, where officials are scrambling to figure out how to proceed with projects that are already in the works.”

Fox 5 (Washington, D.C.): 75,000 federal workers take buyout after judge approves Trump’s downsizing plan “Approximately 75,000 federal employees have accepted the buyout offer allowing them to resign while continuing to receive pay through Sept. 30, according to Office of Personnel Management (OPM) spokesperson McLaurine Pinover.

"She stated that the deferred resignation program 'provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures' and confirmed that the program is now closed to new participants.”

YOU'RE NOT ALONE: SIMILAR EXPERIENCES ABOUND

As a former federal government employee and contractor, and the brother of a current federal government employee, my heart goes out to my colleagues in Washington, D.C., and beyond the Beltway who are under tremendous strain and stress at the moment.

Perhaps worse than all of the recent headlines are the fears of the unknown and what might be coming next — or not. To say morale is low among federal civil servants is a tremendous understatement, and many federal employees and contractors are in shock at recent events.

The scale, speed and overall impact of these federal government transformations is indeed vast and perhaps even unprecedented in history. Nevertheless, many state and local government staff and contractors from around the country (not to mention the private sector) can relate to these actions and have been a part of many previous enterprise-wide staff and contractor cuts, buyouts, budget freezes, furloughs and much more.

Nevertheless, in the midst of this hurricane of disruptions for the federal government, I have a surprising message of hope and opportunity for my federal government colleagues around the country.

Yes, let me say that again: To federal employees and contractors who are (and will be) still working in D.C. and around the country to serve our nation with professionalism and commitment long after the national Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) headlines fade, there is optimism for your future career and even improving mission outcomes. There is definitely light at the end of this tunnel if you take the right approach and mindset toward what lies in front of you.

Allow me to share my experiences with several rounds of Michigan government cuts, early outs, budget freezes, hiring back one for every four staff who leave (sound familiar?), furlough days and much more.

More than just the sentiment of “I feel your pain” or “many of us have been there too,” I want to share some new opportunities that are sure to emerge, improvements that are possible, career opportunities that are likely and better outcomes that can result from these very hard weeks and months ahead.

MICHIGAN GOVERNMENT CUTS AND CYBER REORGANIZATIONS

Back in 1997, Michigan offered state employees an early-out offer as one piece of a package of government cost reductions. You can read about the extensive pension reforms and other major changes and cuts implemented in this Pension Reform Case Study: Michigan and this policy brief from the Mackinac Center for Public Policy.

Later that same year, I joined Michigan state government as a technology executive during a “one for four” staff replacement process that summer. That’s right: I entered government as a result of the previous cuts that everyone was talking about. What I didn’t know at the time was that those reductions were just the tip of the iceberg of cuts, freezes, early outs and more to come over the next dozen years.

About five years later, in fiscal year 2002, Michigan again offered state employees an early out. I don’t want to focus on the specific cuts here, but rather the reactions from employees. This is an excerpt from an online posting from the Michigan Sportsman in February 2002:

“I'm sure most of you all have heard about the 80-and-out retirement that the state is offering. Doesn't affect, me but the word is it will affect about 8000 state employees. Predictions are about 4,000 will take advantage, but I suspect it will be more. I don't know how many in the DNR but rumor has it that many will be taking it from Parks, Wildlife and Fisheries. It will not effect law. Some of the top people (very knowledgable) will be gone prior to next deer season, so it's hard to know what the impact may be to us hunters this year and in the future. All those retiring will not be replaced I suspect, and for sure not in the experience department, so there will be even fewer people to do the job that is needed to be done. I, as a hunter, have concern here and think you all should be concerned too.”

At the same time as this second early out, Republican Gov. John Engler created the Michigan Department of Information Technology (MDIT), which centralized all IT functions into one new agency. It was a dramatic change, which many people expected to fail and/or be reversed by the next governor, and an election was coming that fall. (However, that did not happen under Gov. Jennifer Granholm, a Democrat.)

'When this new department was created, Engler also created a new organization chart based upon functions, not agencies, including a new centralized cybersecurity function, which I led as the state’s first CISO in 2002.

There were surveys and meetings to determine positions, roles and responsibilities, but eventually every technology employee in the Michigan government agencies was asked to complete a one- to two-page online form listing their three primary duties (from a drop-down set of organizational options including database, system admin, programming, security and others), along with the percentage of the time that they spent doing each duty. So for example, a random employee might end up with:

• Information Security —55 percent
• System Administration — 25 percent
• Database Configuration Management — 20 percent

Many staff had roles in multiple functions, but the final reorg did not add up all of the percentages and move people accordingly. Rather, management decided to just move everyone who self-reported more than 50 percent in any category into that function. (Keep in mind that some staff “stretched the truth” in this reorg process to get where they wanted to end up.)

Needless to say, our new centralized IT security organization did not get any of the people who listed 49 percent (or less) security on their forms, which ended up being dozens of people statewide. Worse than that, of the 32 people who were initially assigned to our IT security function (later called cybersecurity), eight of them left either day one or within three months as part of the early out.

Bottom line, we started with 24 staff (with an ability to hire two more in the one-for-four arrangement) that had a wide mix of skills, training, desires, ideas for what they wanted to do, and vastly different career objectives and goals.

Over the next decade, we had more budget cuts, more furlough days and more pain, and many of those details can be found in this 2007 summary document from the Michigan Senate.

Nevertheless, my point in telling you all of this is to also highlight the many good things that happened and major benefits that resulted from even these hard times. The series of consolidations and concessions and reorganizations built a world-class government technology function that won numerous awards and enabled more than a decade of amazing achievements and technology best practices. While we lost funding and staff right out of the gate, we also enabled new processes and information security with silos and fiefdoms disappearing. Agency directors told us, “You get our people but also their work and problems.”

The good news was we were given clear authority in many areas that were previously political turf battles throughout government. Additional details can be seen in these two previous blogs:

• Thank you Michigan - For the opportunity and privilege of government service
• Winning Teams Part 2: Learning from Sports and Cybersecurity

Here’s an excerpt from the "Winning Teams" piece: “Our team consisted of an assortment of men and women from around government who were assigned to protect systems and networks — and I had no idea that my security team was full of future superstars who would become CISOs, international heads of cybersecurity, executive leaders for Fortune 500 companies and more. What I did know was that we had a vital mission and a lot of important work to do to not lose ground on the “online not inline campaigns.”

LESSONS LEARNED FOR THOSE IN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WHO STAY

All of the Michigan stories above are intended to set the stage for what comes below. Here are just a few of the tips, best practices and hopefully renewed hope for all of the federal government employees, contractors and other partners who are facing a difficult season in 2025. These are my heartfelt beliefs that helped me through the fiscal storms and cuts.

1. Rather than focusing solely on the headlines, cuts and what you think you are losing, see this as a career opportunity to grow, perhaps be promoted, and refocus and realign your career. There will be open positions as managers and thought leaders depart government. Eliminate unnecessary tasks and reinvent your job, section purpose or department role.

2. Be a part of the solution as new organization structures are created. As Wayne Gretzky was famous for saying, “Skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” This is your chance to offer ideas and process improvements, set new goals, help with priorities, etc.

3. As new organizations emerge, old silos are often broken down. Become the go-to person for solutions and streamlined processes. For example, cybersecurity agendas have been spread across numerous agencies, or perhaps a consolidation is coming. If so, be a part of the new way of doing things. This should lead to better overall results as government is reimagined to do more with less using AI as a tool.

4. Look for gaps — business needs not being met. Under the new organization in 2002, I volunteered to be the emergency management coordinator for our new agency, MDIT. When the blackout hit in 2003, this role and the actions we took propelled our cyber organization to more success. As you look around and see bottlenecks, consider making a switch within your current agency or wider government.

5. Directors, managers and supervisors: This is your chance to attract talent to government and build a better team. When we got a positive reputation in Michigan, everyone wanted to join our cybersecurity team.

6. Reinvigorate your mood and attitude. Be an overcomer. When many staff around you are negative and bemoaning change, develop a fresh perspective and vision for the future.

7. Get training where needed. Use generative AI tools and other new technology to map new career goals.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I know, I know. This blog sounds Pollyanna-ish.

For the rest of this blog’s final thoughts, go to the original source at: https://www.govtech.com/blogs/lohrmann-on-cybersecurity/despite-disruptions-hope-for-federal-employees-who-stay