Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy on Wednesday hinted at eliminating work-from-home privileges for federal employees as part of an effort to reduce the size of government.
Two entrepreneurs tasked by President-elect Donald Trump last week to lead the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) proposed: Wall Street Journal editorial He argued that eliminating remote work would lead to mass resignations and help achieve his goal of a smaller, more efficient government.
“Requiring federal employees to come to work five days a week will result in a wave of voluntary resignations, which we welcome,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote.
He added, “If federal employees don't want to attend, American taxpayers shouldn't be paying them to stay home, which is a privilege during the coronavirus era.”
About 1.1 million federal employees, nearly half of the government's civilian workforce, will be eligible for telework, according to the Office of Management and Budget.
Approximately 228,000 employees, or 10% of the civilian workforce, are working fully remotely, and “it's not what they expect of them.” [work] in person on a regular or scheduled basis,” the agency said in a statement. August 2024 Report.
The report was released two years after President Biden declared in his 2022 State of the Union address that “the vast majority of federal employees will once again be working in-person.”
Musk, the billionaire behind SpaceX, Tesla and It claims that it has the authority to “curb excessive administrative growth'' through these means. “remove agents from the Washington area'' and eliminate remote work.
They said DOGE will “work with agency-embedded appointees to maintain the minimum number of staff necessary” for the agency to “perform its constitutionally permissible and legally mandated functions.” The company announced that it plans to “identify.”
Mr. Musk and Mr. Ramaswamy said that federal employees who are laid off will be “treated with respect” and that “DOGE's goal is to assist them in their transition to the private sector.”
“The president can use existing law to promote amicable retirement by providing incentives for early retirement and paying voluntary severance payments,” they said.
