According to one laid off federal employee,

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61. Correct me if I'm wrong, but...

I believe I read that Musk made Government managers identify a certain (very high) percentage of their employees as ‘poor performers’ to be fired, presumably so that Musk can then try to justify the terminations when he is sued. He probably then fired the managers.

Federal Government employees have always had exceptionally good protection against termination. As a Government contractor, I worked around a couple of Government employees who literally did not show up to work for weeks. But their managers knew that it would take huge amounts of time and tons of documentation to get rid of them, so they did nothing. I’m not saying that’s the norm, but it used to be pretty easy to get away with a lot as a Government worker.

On the other hand, one private company I worked for fired an entire department unexpectedly on a Friday afternoon. And if a contract is abruptly terminated, the staff are usually let go of immediately. You learn to expect the unexpected as a Government contractor. But most Government workers have never seen that. The mass firings must have shaken them to the core, especially given the incredibly cruel way in which they were conducted. They’re probably going to need psychological help - when they can afford it. Of course, we’re all going to need psychological help after this debacle.