Some need to win a coin flip to use a desk. Others say they’re killing time when workstations aren’t available amid the administration’s return-to-office mandate.

Federal workers were responding with anger and confusion Friday as they grappled with the Trump administration’s latest effort to shrink the size of the federal workforce by ordering agencies to lay off probationary employees who have yet to qualify for civil service protections.

President Donald Trump has moved to dramatically shrink the size of the federal workforce and mass terminations have already begun at several U.S. government agencies. But a tangled web of laws and regulations around hiring and firing government employees could mire Trump's efforts in lawsuits and delays.