Trump Implements Immediate Federal Hiring Freeze Amid Flurry of Executive Actions

President Donald Trump signed executive orders on Monday that will end remote work arrangements at federal agencies and freeze most hiring for vacant federal positions.

The orders, which were signed by Trump hours after his inauguration amid a flurry of other executive actions relating to national security, economic regulation, and government operations, reflect campaign promises related to the downsizing of the federal government.

The action creating the “return to in-person work” said that “heads of all departments and agencies in the executive branch of Government shall, as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements.”

Department heads must also “require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis, provided that the department and agency heads shall make exemptions they deem necessary.”

The order imposing the hiring freeze said that “no Federal civilian position that is vacant at noon on January 20, 2025, may be filled, and no new position may be created except as otherwise provided for in this memorandum or other applicable law.”

The order, however, did not apply to military personnel, border and immigration enforcement staff, or national security roles.

Other positions exempted from the order included those which “impact the provision of Social Security, Medicare, or Veterans’ benefits.”

Trump granted authority to the director of the Office of Personnel Management to “grant exemptions from this freeze where those exemptions are otherwise necessary.”

The returning commander-in-chief imposed the hiring freeze after he announced the creation of the Department of Government Efficiency.

The reform effort will be led by Elon Musk, who emerged during the 2024 election cycle as a key donor and supporter of the Trump campaign.

Vivek Ramaswamy was also tapped to lead the effort, but the White House revealed on Monday that he would instead be running for office.

Some reports indicate that he will seek to become the governor of Ohio in the 2026 race for the position.

The hiring freeze order said that within 90 days, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, alongside the director of the Office of Personnel Management and the “Administrator of the United States DOGE Service,” must submit “a plan to reduce the size of the Federal Government’s workforce through efficiency improvements and attrition.”

But the IRS was specifically exempted from the eventual lifting of the order.

“Upon issuance of the OMB plan, this memorandum shall expire for all executive departments and agencies, with the exception of the Internal Revenue Service,” the order added.

The hiring freeze will remain in effect for the IRS “until the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Director of OMB and the Administrator of USDS, determines that it is in the national interest to lift the freeze.”

The order makes clear that contracting outside of the federal government “to circumvent the intent of this memorandum” will not be permitted.

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