A few people have written in, and colleagues, friends, and family have all be asking me if I am nervous about the security of my job. The simple answer is yes.
The backdrop for this question if you are reading this blog but oblivious to what has been occurring in the U.S. Government, is that numerous departments and agencies across the government have been firing thousands of federal employees. The President ran on a platform of shrinking the government, and he has been doing exactly that.
Without getting into politics, it’s definitely nerve wracking knowing there’s a chance you might lose your job. So far, firings have largely targeted probationary employees, which I am not one of, but that doesn’t mean things could change.
As I write this, the State Department has largely been spared any sort of mass layoffs, but that doesn’t mean one isn’t coming. If we follow the letter of President Trump’s executive order discussing a government reduction in force, individuals deemed essential during a lapse in appropriations (government shutdown) should not be targeted. Embassies are required to function during shutdowns, and our lapse in appropriations handbook specifically mentions MED functions must continue. On the surface, this would mean my job is safe, but anything can happen.
To be more complex in my answer, I feel cautiously confident that my job, and the wider diplomatic world is probably safe from mass layoffs. If their goal is to reduce our numbers, just turning off recruiting, or slowing it down is a way to shrink our workforce substantially. Considering our hiring pipeline takes 1-2 years, just limiting class sizes versus the numbers we lose to retirement or folks that quit will achieve the goal. Specific to MED, we are lucky if we can hire to attrition, so I am cautiously optimistic we will be okay.
I continue to do my job and care for patients at the Embassy everyday, but in the back of my mind have some contingency plans just in case things go sideways. Working in austere locations teaches you to always have a backup plan, and now I can apply those lessons to my actual job. That said, I have always been a glass half full kind of guy, and continue to believe I will be allowed to do my work and represent my country for many years to come. -Nick
