The World Health Organization is asking some employees to consider early retirement as the United Nations agency seeks to cut costs following U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw.
Staff who will be 55 years old or older by June received an email on Tuesday offering early retirement, with four months pay, according to a copy of the confidential email seen by Bloomberg News. The offer is voluntary and staffers who accept will leave the agency by July 15.
It’s the latest move by the WHO to try and plug a significant funding gap caused by Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agency. The administration is backing away from global aid in general, also shuttering the U.S. Agency for International Development. The WHO has already frozen hiring, suspended investments and cut non-essential travel.
The U.S. contributed $1.3 billion to the WHO between 2022 and 2023, helping the the agency work on containing diseases such as HIV, polio, Ebola and a recent outbreak of lethal Marburg virus. The agency’s Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has hit back at Trump’s decision, saying the reasons given for the exit are unsupported by facts.
A WHO spokesperson confirmed the agency has offered a voluntary early retirement package to global staff.
Early retirement could help the WHO cut its payroll, one of its biggest continuing budget items. The current retirement age at the agency is 65, although those hired before 2014 can retire from 62, with those employed before 1990 able to leave when they reach 60.
Terms of the offer, seen by Bloomberg, show that staff who take the payout will still have to work a three month notice period to ensure a handover and will be paid as much as 45 days of unused annual leave. International staffers will be eligible for compensation for the cost of moving back to their home countries.
While reducing the WHO’s expenses, early retirement could mean the departure of some of the organization’s most experienced staff. It’s unclear yet whether the WHO will resort to compulsory job cuts if not enough staff offer to leave early.
As of Jan. 31, the U.S. owed the WHO $133 million in assessed contributions, which countries need to pay in order to not be at risk of losing their voting privileges. The U/S/ usually contributes a much larger sum through voluntary contributions.
The WHO was already in a difficult financial position prior to the U.S. withdrawal, due to economic conditions around the world. European countries are also set to cut their aid budgets as they shift spending toward defense.
