Musk and Ramaswamy led DOGE plan to stop work-from-home for federal employees

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and billionaire Elon Musk - who have been picked by President-elect Donald Trump to run the newly formed task force to review government spending - have proposed to eliminate work-from-home facilities for federal workers.

The two entrepreneurs will be leading the newly formed“Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE).

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy said that the elimination of the option of remote working will trigger mass resignations which will help them trim the size of the government and make it more smaller and efficient.

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

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

How the decision of work-from-office will likely impact the US govt?

Nearly 1.1 million federal employees, which is half of the civilian workforce of the government - have the facility of telework, as per the Office of Management and Budget.

Nearly 228,000 employees or 10 per cent of civilian personnel were working remotely with “no expectation that they [work] in-person on any regular or recurring basis” stated the agency in a report in August 2024.

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

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Ramaswamy and Musk have said Trump has the authority to “curtail administrative overgrowth” through various means, which include “large-scale firings”, relocating “federal agencies out of the Washington area” and ending remote work.

The two said that the 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.”

They further said 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 added.

(With inputs from agencies)