Human resources professionals across Health and Human Services (HHS) agencies were laid off last week, part of the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) efforts to slash spending and personnel across the federal government.
In a fact sheet about layoffs, which are expected to affect some 10,000 workers, HHS said HR would be centralized with a number of other departments, including IT, external affairs, and policies.
“Open to work” posts poured in on LinkedIn from HR pros who’d been employed by HHS looking for their next role. Those affected have HR experience in areas like talent acquisition, labor relations, employee engagement, workforce planning, benefits, and retirement, Julie Broussard Berko, HR director at the National Institutes of Health, wrote in a post on behalf of colleagues who lost their jobs.
While HR is often involved in carrying out layoffs, the job is not immune to reductions-in-force (RIF), as was the case when a number of big tech firms cut their people pros in 2023. A similar phenomenon is now taking place at HHS.
When layoffs come for HR. On Apr. 3 HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. backtracked on the move, saying the department would reinstate as many as 20% of agency personnel who were cut, but shouldn’t have lost their jobs.
At this point, the cuts had already caused a fair amount of confusion for HHS employees, though, made worse by the fact that many of the HR personnel who would usually have been available to answer questions were laid off themselves.
“Adding to the anxiety was the fact that the dismissals included people who work in human resources and those who process time sheets,” Stat News reported on Apr. 1. “Employees were left wondering how they would get paid or whether their early retirements could get processed.”
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A senior HR analyst with HHS who was affected by the RIF told HR Brew the lack of HR support was a problem for laid-off employees. He asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about receiving his remaining benefits and compensation.
“We all have questions about our benefits, or about our severance, or about, how do we go about seeking outside employment? And now there's no one to send those questions to,” he said. Emails to a general HR inquiry address with HHS have gone unanswered, he added.
Even the contact for an Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) representative shared with some affected colleagues in their RIF notices is on administrative leave, the analyst added. Such representatives are intended to assist workers looking to file complaints if they believe personnel actions are discriminatory.
“No one's getting any answers to any questions, despite this being a very stressful time,” he said.
Healthcare Dive reported similar problems in HHS workers’ RIF notices; FDA employees, for example, were given contact information for an EEO officer who died last year.
To the extent there were errors in the RIF notices, “it is because the data collected by HHS’s multiple, siloed HR divisions is inaccurate,” Andrew G. Nixon, HHS director of communications, told HR Brew via email. “This is exactly why HHS is reorganizing its administrative functions to streamline operations and fix the broken systems left to us by the Biden Administration.”