'Five-Day Workweeks, No More Remote Work': Musk And Ramaswamy Outline DOGE Plan

Last Updated:November 21, 2024, 12:42 IST

Musk and Ramaswamy suggested that ending remote work would result in mass resignations that would help them trim the size of the government.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy | AP Photo/File

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy outlined their plans for the newly established Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), prioritising more efficient work practices by ending the remote work culture at the federal office.

As part of their effort to trim the size of the government, the two entrepreneurs, tasked by US President-elect Donald Trump to lead the DOGE, suggested that eliminating remote work would result in mass resignations that would help them achieve their goal of a smaller but more efficient government.

Writing in a joint op-ed in The Wall Street Journal, the billionaire entrepreneur and the biotech founder said, “Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome."

“If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.

A data- released by the Office of Management and Budget- revealed that nearly 1.1 million federal employees – nearly half of the government’s civilian workforce – are eligible for telework.

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

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