'Working the Weekend Is a Superpower': Elon Musk Says DOGE Is Working '120 Hour' Weeks While 'Bureaucratic Opponents' Work 40 Musk is bringing his Silicon Valley work ethic to Washington, D.C.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk has wasted no time creating a startup-like atmosphere at his Department of Government Efficiency.
- Musk wrote in a Sunday post on X that DOGE is putting in 120-hour workweeks.
- The typical U.S. employee works an average of 34.3 hours per week.
Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) became a temporary government organization on January 20 through President Donald Trump's executive order. In just two weeks, Musk has led the department to adopt a Silicon Valley-like startup mentality towards its work hours, with Musk recently bragging that DOGE is putting in extra-long hours as it tries to cut back on government bureaucracy.
In a Sunday post on X, Musk wrote that "DOGE is working 120 hour[s] a week. Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours a week. That is why they are losing so fast."
The day prior, Musk wrote on X that "Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it's like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days! Working the weekend is a superpower."
A 120-hour workweek means 17 hours and eight minutes of work every day, including Saturday and Sunday. According to data for December from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the typical U.S. employee works an average of 34.3 hours per week.
DOGE is working 120 hour a week. Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours a week. That is why they are losing so fast. https://t.co/dXtrL5rj1K
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025
DOGE isn't the first organization where Musk has implemented workweeks longer than average. When Musk took control of Twitter in October 2022, he told staff that they should expect to work 80 hours per week and receive fewer perks like free food. Less than half of Twitter's 4,000 employees chose to stay, with the majority opting for three months' severance instead.
It isn't just Twitter. Workers at Tesla, where Elon Musk is CEO, have reported sleeping on the floor after 12-hour shifts after working six or seven days per week.
Musk elaborated on how he put in the hours on an April episode of the podcast, In Good Company, hosted by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of $1.6 trillion Norges Bank.
"I've done many, many stretches of 100-hour weeks, where roughly six hours per day is sleeping," Musk said. "I would not recommend that. That's for emergencies."
Musk said that he put in those 100-hour weeks during the early days of his startups when he would sleep under his desk and work "every waking hour." He defined those days as stretches of ultra-hard work and said he could sustain the sprint for a few years at a time.
Related: Elon Musk Has Resorted to Sleeping at Tesla's Factory to Try to Get it Back on Track
Roi Ginat, CEO of Endless AI, told Business Insider that while he routinely works 85 hours a week, working a team "too hard for too long" is a recipe for "fatigue and burnout."
"I believe that Elon's tweet is about an effort, not a new standard at DOGE," Ginat stated.
DOGE is not a government agency but a group created to work alongside the White House to bring down costs. Musk is aiming to cut at least $1 trillion from the federal budget through DOGE. It's unclear how many people are working alongside him, but a December announcement from Trump shows that Katie Miller, the former deputy press secretary for the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first term, is part of the DOGE team.
