About 30,000 Department of Veterans Affairs employees will have left their jobs by the end of the fiscal year, so VA will not go through with a large-scale reduction in force, the agency announced in a press release.

The staff cuts come through voluntary early retirements, deferred resignation offers and normal attrition.

“Since March, we’ve been conducting a holistic review of the department centered on reducing bureaucracy and improving services to veterans,” VA Secretary Doug Collins said. “As a result of our efforts, VA is headed in the right direction — both in terms of staff levels and customer service. A department-wide RIF is off the table, but that doesn’t mean we’re done improving VA. Our review has resulted in a host of new ideas for better serving veterans that we will continue to pursue.”

One of those ideas is to consolidate 274 call centers into a centralized system with a smaller staff, the release said.

Army photo of Collins by Sgt. Nathan Winter