JPL announced on Feb. 6, 2024 that due to budget constraints and the absence of an FY24 appropriation from Congress, they have had to lay off a portion of their workforce. Approximately 530 JPL employees, about 8%, as well as 40 contractors will be affected. The layoffs will impact both technical and support areas of the Lab. These difficult decisions were necessary in order to adhere to budget constraints while continuing their important work for NASA and the nation.The following is part of a memo sent from JPL Director Laurie Leshin to employees.Dear Colleagues,I regret to inform you of some challenging news. Due to budget limitations and the absence of an FY24 appropriation or final word from Congress on our Mars Sample Return (MSR) budget allocation, we must take significant action to reduce spending, which includes layoffs of JPL employees and additional release of contractors. These cuts are among the most difficult that we have faced, despite previous efforts to reduce spending in recent months.This reduction will affect around 530 JPL colleagues, about 8%, and approximately 40 additional contractors. I am writing to provide as much detail and clarity on our actions as possible, including a review of the factors leading to this decision, and our next steps. First, let’s review how we got here. Without an approved federal budget, including final MSR FY24 funding levels, NASA directed JPL to plan for an MSR budget of $300M. This aligns with the low end of congressional markups of NASA’s budget and represents a 63% decrease from the FY23 level. In response to this directive, and in an effort to protect our workforce, we implemented a hiring freeze, reduced MSR contracts, and made cuts to burden budgets across the Lab. Earlier this month, we further reduced spending by releasing some of our on-site contractors.However, these measures alone are insufficient for us to make it through the remainder of the fiscal year. Therefore, in the absence of an appropriation, and as much as we wish it wasn’t necessary, we must proceed to prevent even deeper cuts later if we were to wait.In order to adjust to the much lower MSR budget levels required by NASA, we must reduce our workforce in both technical and support areas of the Lab, and across different organizations. We must streamline our operations while maintaining expertise, creativity, technical agility, and innovation necessary to continue our vital work and deliver on our current missions, including MSR. As previously indicated, our decisions and future direction are based on our assessment of future mission needs and work requirements across the Lab.I want to provide some details about what to expect. Our goal in this process is for affected employees to quickly receive personalized attention during this transition. In an effort to bring clarity to everyone as quickly as possible, the details of our workforce reductions will be communicated in a single day – tomorrow. We are sharing this information with you today so that you can make personal arrangements for working from home and plan your schedules to be available for the virtual workforce update meetings described below.Given the challenge and scale of this workforce action, our approach has focused on minimizing stress by promptly notifying everyone whether they are impacted or not. Then, we can quickly pivot to providing opportunities for personalized support to affected colleagues, including scheduling dedicated time to discuss their benefits and other forms of assistance.For additional important details, please carefully read the following information:I am requiring most employees to work from home tomorrow, Wednesday, February 7, so everyone can be in a safe, comfortable environment on a stressful day. Most individuals will not be able to enter the Lab during this mandatory remote work day. A Lab access list has been created and those who will have access will be notified by email shortly. If you do not receive an email instructing you to be on Lab, please plan to work remotely, regardless of your telework agreement status. Additionally, to ensure we have everyone’s accurate contact information, I am also asking everyone to review and update your personal email and phone number in Workday today.Tomorrow, leadership (mostly at the Division and Directorate level) will hold brief mandatory virtual workforce update meetings with their JPL teams. You will each be invited to one of these. Please look out for those online meeting invitations and ensure your attendance. Meeting times will vary depending on the organization, but all will happen tomorrow. In those meetings, your managers will reiterate some of the details I’m sharing here, along with providing insight into the impact of the layoff in that organization. Even those organizations that do not have affected employees will be meeting to ensure that all are receiving the same information. Importantly, no specifics about any individual employees who are impacted will be shared.Immediately following their virtual workforce update meeting, every employee who was invited to the meeting will receive an email notifying them whether they are being impacted by the layoff or not. We encourage affected employees to forward this email to their personal email account immediately, as NASA requires that access to JPL systems be shut off very shortly following the notification.If your role is affected, you will receive personalized information electronically, and you will be able to schedule discussions with trained professionals to review the information about your benefits and the transitional support options available to you. Impacted employees will continue to receive their base pay and benefits through their 60-day notice period, though they will not be expected to work during this time, unless specific transitional input is requested. If eligible, affected employees will be offered a severance package as outlined in Caltech’s severance policy, transitional benefits including placement services, and other benefits resource information.If you are not an impacted employee, following your virtual workforce update meeting, you will receive an email informing you that you are not impacted by the workforce reduction. There will also be resources available for you. Moving forward, I am asking your leaders and managers to meet with you and your teams to address your questions and concerns as best they can, to create space where our teams can support each other, and reinforce access to additional resources. We will also be scheduling a Town Hall soon to share more information about our path forward, and offer space for discussion.To our colleagues who will be leaving JPL, I want you to know how grateful I am for the exceptional contributions you have made to our mission and our community. Your talents leave a lasting mark on JPL. You will always be a part of our story and you have made a positive difference here.This is by far the hardest action I have had to take since becoming Director of JPL, and I know I join all of you in wishing it was not necessary. We will always value our colleagues who are leaving the Laboratory and they will be missed as we go forward. For those continuing on JPL’s journey, we will come through this difficult time and keep moving ahead on our essential missions, research, and technology work for NASA and the nation.Thank you for your support of one another in this challenging moment.Laurie
