Business Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy suggest DOGE will end work-from-home for federal employees - part of their effort to trim the size of government.

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Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday floated ending work-from-home privileges for federal employees as part of their effort to trim the size of government.

The two entrepreneurs, tasked by President-elect Donald Trump last week to lead the newly formed “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE), suggested in a Wall Street Journal op-ed that eliminating remote work would result in mass resignations that would help them achieve their goal of a smaller, more efficient, government.

“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.

“If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” they added.

Roughly 1.1 million federal employees – nearly half of the government’s civilian workforce – are eligible for telework, according to the Office of Management and Budget.

About 228,000 employees, or 10% of civilian personnel, work fully remote with “no expectation that they [work] in-person on any regular or recurring basis,” the agency noted in an August 2024 report.

The report was released two years after President Biden, in his 2022 State of the Union address, declared that “The vast majority of federal workers will once again work in person.”

Musk, the billionaire owner of SpaceX, Tesla and X, and Ramaswamy, the founder of pharmaceutical company Roivant Sciences, argue that Trump has the authority to “curtail administrative overgrowth” through several means, including “large-scale firings,”relocating “federal agencies out of the Washington area” and scrapping remote work.

The two men revealed that DOGE plans “to work with embedded appointees in agencies to identify the minimum number of employees required” for the agency to “perform its constitutionally permissible and statutorily mandated functions.”

Musk and Ramaswamy noted that the fired federal workers will be “treated with respect” and that “DOGE’s goal is to help support their transition into the private sector.”

“The president can use existing laws to give them incentives for early retirement and to make voluntary severance payments to facilitate a graceful exit,” they said.

 

[Nonga Tork]

So they want to spend more money on useless offices in order to have employees do something (work in the office) which has been shown to either have no effect or actively decrease productivity. AKA the literal opposite of efficiency.

Don't forget that if the federal employee is in a remote position (rather than merely teleworking), the government has to reimburse them the cost of moving. So more pointless expenditure.

 

[Google.com]

I don't know what the biggest joke is the efficiency agency making things less efficient or this very bold lie.

Musk and Ramaswamy noted that the fired federal workers will be “treated with respect” and that “DOGE’s goal is to help support their transition into the private sector.”

 

[Demonslayer1776]

So they want to spend more money on useless offices in order to have employees do something (work in the office) which has been shown to either have no effect or actively decrease productivity. AKA the literal opposite of efficiency.

Don't forget that if the federal employee is in a remote position (rather than merely teleworking), the government has to reimburse them the cost of moving. So more pointless expenditure.

They want them to quit. This is an easy way to cut headcount since theyll leave on their own. Government work also tends to attract the laziest and more under qualified people, so I have little faith they're getting any work done remotely.

 

[Osama Bin Laden]

So they want to spend more money on useless offices in order to have employees do something (work in the office) which has been shown to either have no effect or actively decrease productivity. AKA the literal opposite of efficiency.

Don't forget that if the federal employee is in a remote position (rather than merely teleworking), the government has to reimburse them the cost of moving. So more pointless expenditure.

i'm not surprised since elon is really into making sure his employees stay in office

https://archive.ph/HC4Fp

 

[Nonga Tork]

They want them to quit. This is an easy way to cut headcount since theyll leave on their own. Government work also tends to attract the laziest and more under qualified people, so I have little faith they're getting any work done remotely.

Than you don't know what you're talking about. There are already organizations like the Government Accountability Office that study how much work government agencies get done, what the effects of telework, remote work, and in office work are, etc.

The people who aren't getting anything done remotely weren't getting anything done in the office either. Heck, if anything I'd expect they'd be more likely to get fired for doing nothing remotely. It's much easier to schmooze with the boss as a substitute for actually working if you're in office.

 

[MrJokerRager]

i'm not surprised since elon is really into making sure his employees stay in office

https://archive.ph/HC4Fp

I had no idea, real estate was worth that much to him.

I just find the idea of stopping remote work in the current moment, to be just malicious given most of America's city mayors are planning to defy Trump on deporting all the illegal filth and the pozzed corruption still remains.

 

[quaawaa]

i'm not surprised since elon is really into making sure his employees stay in office

https://archive.ph/HC4Fp

Also note that Twitter’s office was in a dangerous neighborhood in a city that hates its guts. Elon himself has complained about not being able to leave because a homeless guy is blocking the garage entrance (archive).

 

[thog]

I mean there's no real point in doing this, but government jobs are already a form of welfare. Might as well make the ones that want to stay work for it.

 

[Osama Bin Laden]

Also note that Twitter’s office is in a dangerous neighborhood in a city that hates its guts. Elon himself has complained about not being able to leave because a homeless guy is blocking the garage entrance.

https://archive.ph/eIfVs

im really not trying to put the guardian so much but the only informational articles on twitter and elon are by them lol

 

[Demonslayer1776]

The people who aren't getting anything done remotely weren't getting anything done in the office either.

Hence why they want them to quit. This isn't novel - Amazon did the same thing this year. Headcount is too high, it's an easy way to get people to leave on their own because layoffs can look bad or require severance packages.

Youre arguing because you personally like remote work, not whether it will achieve what they're trying to accomplish.

 

[Nonga Tork]

Hence why they want them to quit. This isn't novel - Amazon did the same thing this year. Headcount is too high, it's an easy way to get people to leave on their own because layoffs can look bad or require severance packages.

Youre arguing because you personally like remote work, not whether it will achieve what they're trying to accomplish.

It will succeed in getting the people who are actually good at their job and so can get hired elsewhere to leave, while people who suck and can't get a job elsewhere will stay. Congratulations, what an accomplishment.

 

[TowinKarz]

So they want to spend more money on useless offices in order to have employees do something (work in the office) which has been shown to either have no effect or actively decrease productivity. AKA the literal opposite of efficiency.

Don't forget that if the federal employee is in a remote position (rather than merely teleworking), the government has to reimburse them the cost of moving. So more pointless expenditure.

The idea is to do what he did with Twitter.... and the first step is to get everyone into the office and figure out who does actual work vs. treats it as an adult clubhouse where they hang out and drink/gossip all day.

And the experience he had was 80% of the office could go with no noted effect on the company - I.E. these were sinecures and bloat.... if that level infected a private company? Imagine how bad it is in an alphabet agency where they don't even have to turn a profit to continue existing.

This is a precursor to a massive layoff of literally useless positions, it's not going to be "Moving employees around" its going to be "terminating jobs that have done nothing but burn taxpayer dollars for decades"

And only a complete outsider who is so autistic as to be tone-deaf to the whining of the bureaucrats told to find a productive job on a fundamental level, not just a political one, can do it. I.E. - Elon.

Reform cannot come from within, 60 years has prove this in a "Government investigates self, finds no wrongdoing, cites need to add 3 more departments to ensure they keep finding nothing wrong" kind of way.

Its an open secret how bad red tape is and how wasteful spending is in this country on a Federal level, but for years, the excuse was "Well, someday, a big emergency will show how lucky we are to have spent those trillions"

Then COVID came along and showed that no, its all waste, and it will waste even more to justify waste than admit wrongdoing.

A lot of Americans realized, some for the first time, that these mega-agencies couldn't save them, even when they tried, and are literally useless.

 

[TheMeanOne]

I get why they want people in-office, in general it does reduce things like drinking on the job and improves productivity. I saw this firsthand in 2021, people were getting caught drinking Jack Daniels on Zoom and they made us all come back. And honestly, we did get more done in the office.

But in terms of the federal gov't...aren't some of these people likely to be in the actual middle of nowhere? Like I would imagine remote work for some federal employees started earlier than for the general workforce, just because there are places that probably need a worker but don't have an office building.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Waifu Denier]

It will succeed in getting the people who are actually good at their job and so can get hired elsewhere to leave, while people who suck and can't get a job elsewhere will stay. Congratulations, what an accomplishment.

Imagine actually believing this, it's the government, competent people already left and work in the private sector.

 

[MrJokerRager]

I get why they want people in-office, in general it does reduce things like drinking on the job and improves productivity. I saw this firsthand in 2021, people were getting caught drinking Jack Daniels on Zoom and they made us all come back. And honestly, we did get more done in the office.

Did they monitor workloads when they were working remotely?

I mean if it took a zoom call then makes you wonder what kind of folks got past the interview process.

Though despite criticism that I have heard that managers hate remote work, most that I have encountered loved it.

 

[TowinKarz]

Imagine actually believing this, it's the government, competent people already left and work in the private sector.

"The best minds are not working in government. And if they were? Business would hire them away" - Ronald Reagan

Like him or hate him, he was right on that one. And the one about how the worst thing you can hear as a citizen is "I'm from the government and I'm here to help" -40 years before the "Ignore the houses with Trump signs" proved it, if you still doubted.

But in terms of the federal gov't...aren't some of these people likely to be in the actual middle of nowhere?

To me? That just proves they're useless overhead.... no other business hires people and then puts them where they aren't needed.

Or at least, no other one does it quite like the Government.

 

[Nonga Tork]

The idea is to do what he did with Twitter.... and the first step is to get everyone into the office and figure out who does actual work vs. treats it as an adult clubhouse where they hang out and drink/gossip all day.

And the experience he had was 80% of the office could go with no noted effect on the company - I.E. these were sinecures and bloat.... if that level infected a private company? Imagine how bad it is in an alphabet agency where they don't even have to turn a profit to continue existing.

This is a precursor to a massive layoff of literally useless positions, it's not going to be "Moving employees around" its going to be "terminating jobs that have done nothing but burn taxpayer dollars for decades"

Twitter's revenue has decline by almost 50% since Musk took over, so that's hardly a good model on how to run an organization.

Also, DOGE has not actual ability to enforce mass layoffs, as that power lies with Congress. Heck, it can't even force people back into the office as it isn't an official government agency and has no actual authority. It can merely advise Trump who can choose to listen or not.

I get why they want people in-office, in general it does reduce things like drinking on the job and improves productivity. I saw this firsthand in 2021, people were getting caught drinking Jack Daniels on Zoom and they made us all come back. And honestly, we did get more done in the office.

But in terms of the federal gov't...aren't some of these people likely to be in the actual middle of nowhere? Like I would imagine remote work for some federal employees started earlier than for the general workforce, just because there are places that probably need a worker but don't have an office building.

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Do you have any actual data that you got more done in office, or is it merely feels on your part?

 

[TowinKarz]

Do you have any actual data that you got more done in office, or is it merely feels on your part?

He said he saw it firsthand, so that's the "actual data" unless you think he's a liar.

 

[Nuns with guns]

So they want to spend more money on useless offices in order to have employees do something (work in the office) which has been shown to either have no effect or actively decrease productivity. AKA the literal opposite of efficiency.

Don't forget that if the federal employee is in a remote position (rather than merely teleworking), the government has to reimburse them the cost of moving. So more pointless expenditure.

Retards like you were brainwashed during COVID that you don’t need human contact and that somehow working in a building is less effective. Fuck off, if you have a bugman job at least do it outside your bughive cramped apartment.