Buyouts make sense, and insure that people who leave do so on their own volition. This also may be a part of early retirement programs.
My company offered one such program and it attracted about 20% of the intended target. Also caused some very good employees to jump the ship. (not desired).
However the next year the company followed up with layoffs to finish cutting the dead wood. The end result was a lean company that managed to do well for years after this.
My job was never at risk during this time, and I did encourage people who were planning to leave soon anyway that the new policy would mean that they would work almost for nothing for a while if they did not take the offer.
I still believe this is a very good move when cutbacks are in the future.
Now, the flip side is that Trump policy will spur growth down the road, so the Pentagon will want to keep good employees. The trick is to find out who these employees are and give them some incentive this year to not take the Voluntary Out.
“I did encourage people who were planning to leave soon anyway that the new policy would mean that they would work almost for nothing for a while if they did not take the offer.”
Good point and good post.