According to Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, Donald Trump might consider implementing a policy that requires government employees to work in the office for five days a week. This proposal aims to reduce the size of the federal workforce.
In a recent op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy expressed their support for requiring federal employees to work in the office five days a week.
They argued that allowing employees to work remotely during the Covid-era is a privilege that American taxpayers should not have to pay for. According to Musk and Ramaswamy, if federal employees are unwilling to come to the office, they should be willing to face voluntary terminations.
It is worth noting that both Musk and Ramaswamy have been appointed by Trump to lead the newly created department of government efficiency.
The two men, with no prior government experience, also proposed that Trump would carry out “significant staff dismissals” and move government agencies away from Washington.
Working in person is a requirement for employees at both SpaceX and Tesla, according to Musk, who has emphasized the moral aspect of this policy.
In 2023, he expressed his frustration with the constant moral judgments surrounding remote work, bluntly stating, “People should stop acting superior about working from home.”
According to a report released earlier this year from the Office of Management and Budget, approximately 50% of federal government workers are not eligible for telework. Among those who are eligible, they still spend 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.
Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees, a union representing over 800,000 federal workers, spoke with CNN and emphasized that the notion that federal employees are not working in-person is unfounded and contradicts both data and reality.
Republicans are pressuring the Biden administration to provide more information on workplace flexibility in the federal government’s approach to telework. This push includes a provision on a spending bill.
In April 2023, the Office of Management and Budget issued a memorandum instructing federal agencies to significantly enhance in-person work at Federal offices. The memo emphasized the importance of flexible operational policies as a crucial tool for attracting and retaining talent.
According to CNN, several federal workers have expressed concerns about the feasibility of a five-day in-person work mandate, stating that it would significantly disrupt their lives.
For instance, an employee from the Library of Congress shared their experience of taking a $12,000 pay cut when they relocated to the Midwest during the Covid-19 pandemic and purchased a home. Another worker mentioned that they would be faced with a daily commute of two to three hours to reach the nearest office.
In their op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy outlined additional methods they believed the federal government could utilize to save money. These methods included conducting audits and enhancing the procurement process.
They also proposed the idea of granting the president the authority to veto Congress’s expenditures, although they acknowledged that such a move would probably necessitate a favorable ruling from the US Supreme Court, which has been influenced by Trump.
“We are ready to take advantage of our strong electoral mandate and the conservative majority on the Supreme Court to bring about significant changes in the federal government. Despite the expected resistance from established interests in Washington, we are confident in our ability to succeed,” they stated.
