Trump's new DOGE commission, tasked with cutting spending, has floated laying off federal workers.Government employees told BI they're preparing by networking and freshening their resumes.Amid the concerns with DOGE, some employees said there could be benefits to its aims.Federal employees are reporting mixed feelings about President-elect Donald Trump's new Department of Government Efficiency and its ideas to cut costs by laying off workers and enforcing return-to-office mandates.Some are worried, some are optimistic, and most are considering their other career options, said 10 people who spoke with Business Insider. Most asked for anonymity for fear of professional repercussions."We're just workers. We work in a nonpartisan way," one Department of Health and Human Services employee said, adding that they're nervous, especially because they recently bought a home. "It kind of feels like we're being villainized."On the other hand, Jesus Soriano, a program director at the National Science Foundation for 13 years who's also president of the agency's American Federation of Government Employees union, said that while employees are scared, there are "reasons for optimism with DOGE."Of Trump's picks to lead the unofficial commission, he said Tesla CEO Elon Musk and former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy "are technologists.""They have both of them in their own fields translated science into products that have tremendous impact on the public," he said, "and that contribute to America being a preeminent powerhouse."Musk, of course, is CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, and other various companies. Ramaswamy started a tech-focused pharmaceutical company called Roivant Sciences.In the wake of the DOGE Commission, many government workers said they were updating their resumes, networking more, or assessing new career options regardless of their political beliefs."Everyone is putting their ducks in a row," a Department of Housing and Urban Development administrative worker of 10 years who worked under Trump's first term told BI. "You can't be lackadaisical, regardless that the government may take forever to do something. You better be one step ahead at all times."While it's still unclear how exactly DOGE would cut government spending, Musk and Ramaswamyeliminate some government agencies, potentially lay off thousands of federal workers, and compel others to return to officeThe federal government is the largest employer in the US, paying more than 2 million civilian workers. The Departments of Veterans Affairs, Homeland Security, and Defense are among the top employers, with workers earning average salaries near $100,000. Just under half of all workers across 24 agencies were telework-eligible as of May 2024, according to an Office of Management and Budget report."Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote of their cost cutting plans in a recent op-ed in The Wall Street Journal.Brian Hughes, a Trump-Vance transition spokesman, told BI that the administration "will have a place for people serving in government who are committed to defending the rights of the American people, putting America first, and ensuring the best use of working men and women's tax dollars." He didn't offer any details on potential cuts.Soriano, the National Science Foundation program director, said government workers were "still scared." He said five colleagues he's spoken to are actively seeking new jobs or opting to retire.Increased efficiency is a welcomed idea. In-office mandates, not so much.Trimming government spending and improving efficiency is an idea often discussed on both sides of the political spectrum.President Ronald Reagan pursued a similar goal with the Grace Commission, a team of 160 private-sector executives who proposed more than 2,000 cost-cutting measures. President Bill Clinton also attempted to reduce federal spending and improve government efficiency with the National Performance Review, led by federal employees.The efforts had mixed results. Many proposals from the Grace Commission that relied on congressional acts didn't end up happening, while executive orders were successful in reducing the head count of federal workers. Clinton's panel similarly succeeded in cutting 300,000 federal workers but only managed to get a quarter of proposals that required legislative action through Congress.An operations manager at the US Postal Service who has worked in the department for 27 years told BI that every company has inefficiencies and "that's what we all strive to decrease."However, he has concerns about people stepping in to make suggestions for the Postal Service without having "tribal knowledge" of the department."If you're just going to be appointed to this type of commission or committee with no knowledge of what exactly the Postal Service does, then that could potentially be a problem," he said.DOGE's intent to eliminate remote work is also a concern for some workers. The HUD employee, who had been working remotely, said return-to-office enforcement would "absolutely" be enough to cause them to resign. They're preparing for the potential of layoffs under DOGE by looking at other employment opportunities, and said their colleagues at HUD are taking similar steps.Joyce Howell, an attorney at the Environmental Protection Agency who's been at the agency for over 31 years and serves as executive vice president of its AFGE union said that the incoming administration has stoked concern about layoffs at the EPA and fears that its mission could be compromised."We have town halls once a month, and we've actually broken our Zoom account in terms of the number of people attending," she said of union meetings.Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in the Journal op-ed that the commission would target more than $500 billion in what they calledAn employee at the Food and Drug Administration said that it's not that easy: "We're here to support a mission. We have families to feed, and it's not as easy as just quitting our jobs," the FDA employee said."We're just normal, everyday people we're being portrayed as inefficient, lazy people," the FDA worker said. "It feels like they're coming for us just for their own agenda, not realizing that we're the backbone of the federal government."Another federal government lifer said that many workers like them people who have been there for years are nervous they might be the first to go. The career tenure of a median federal government worker was 6.5 years in 2024, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, well above the median 3.5 years private workers have spent in their roles.One senior official at the Commerce Department told BI they anticipate a civil servant brain drain. "The scientists are the most concerned," the official said, with those in climate, meteorology, and environmental science particularly worried.Meanwhile, the Department of Education has been singled out as an entire agency that could be on the chopping block.Sheria Smith, president of theRather, being turned into a "Schedule F" workforce, which allows government agencies to reclassify workers and remove certain protections that make them easier to fire, could mean that employees who aren't "aligned with the executive wholly" could be laid off based on performance.And given the widespread denigration of the Education Department and return-to-office threats, people are likely looking for other work. "I'd be surprised if they weren't," Smith said.Are you a federal worker willing to share your story? Contact these reporters at aaltcheck@businessinsider.com, asheffey@businessinsider.com, and jkaplan@businessinsider.com, gweiss@businessinsider.com.