Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy propose that Donald Trump could potentially enforce a policy where government employees are required to work in the office for five days a week. This suggestion aims to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
According to an op-ed written by Musk and Ramaswamy in the Wall Street Journal, they argue that mandating federal employees to work in the office five days a week would lead to a significant number of voluntary terminations.
They believe that if employees are unwilling to physically show up for work, taxpayers should not be responsible for compensating them for the privilege of working from home during the Covid era. It is worth noting that both Musk and Ramaswamy have been chosen by Trump to head the newly formed department of government efficiency.
According to the two individuals, who lack any prior government experience, there are plans for President Trump to carry out “large-scale firings” and move government agencies away from Washington.
Musk insists that employees at SpaceX and Tesla work in person, going so far as to frame it as a moral imperative.
In 2023, he expressed his frustration with people’s moral superiority when it comes to the idea of working from home.
According to a report from the Office of Management and Budget earlier this year, approximately 50% of federal government workers do not have the option to telework. Among those who are eligible for telework, they still spend around 60% of their regular working hours at in-person job sites.
According to the report, the telework rates of the Federal workforce are generally in line with those of the private sector.
According to Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents over 800,000 federal workers, the notion that federal employees are not working in-person is not supported by data or reality.
The Biden administration is being questioned by Republicans about its approach to telework, with a provision in a spending bill demanding that the White House offer more details on workplace flexibility.
In April 2023, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum instructing federal agencies to significantly increase the amount of meaningful in-person work at Federal offices. The memorandum emphasizes the importance of flexible operational policies as a valuable tool for talent recruitment and retention.
CNN spoke with several federal workers who expressed concerns about the feasibility of a five-day in-person work mandate. One worker, employed at the Library of Congress, shared that they had already taken a significant pay cut of $12,000 when they relocated to the midwest due to the pandemic and purchased a home. Another worker mentioned that they would be faced with a daunting commute of two to three hours to reach the nearest office.
Musk and Ramaswamy outlined additional cost-saving measures in their op-ed. They proposed conducting audits and enhancing procurement practices as ways for the federal government to save money. Furthermore, they suggested granting the president the ability to veto Congress’ expenditures, although they acknowledged that this would probably necessitate a favorable ruling from the Trump-influenced US supreme court.
“We are ready to seize this historic opportunity with a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Our aim is to bring about significant reductions in the structure of the federal government. Despite the expected resistance from entrenched interests in Washington, we are confident in our ability to prevail,” they expressed with determination.