DOGE Leaders Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy Say Mandating In-Person Work Would Make 'a Wave' of Federal Employees Quit The two published an op-ed outlining their goals for their new department, including workforce reductions.
By Sherin Shibu Edited by Melissa Malamut
Key Takeaways
- Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy are leading the new Department of Government Efficiency, a.k.a. DOGE.
- They co-wrote an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday and stated that asking federal workers to come back into the office full-time would result in many of them quitting.
- They wrote that DOGE is trying to reduce three main aspects of government: regulations, the workforce, and spending.
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the two co-leads President-elect Donald Trump appointed to head the new Department of Government Efficiency, will likely try to end work-from-home policies for the 2.3 million employees in the federal workforce.
"Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week would result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don't want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn't pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home," the two wrote on Wednesday in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
A source close to the issue told the Journal that ending remote work for federal employees is a possible early action that the Trump administration could take shortly after the January inauguration. Meanwhile, Ramaswamy said in a post on X earlier this month that mandating in-person work 5 days per week would cause "25% of federal bureaucrats" to "quit instantly."
Mandate 5-day work weeks *in person.* Watch 25% of federal bureaucrats quit instantly. pic.twitter.com/bXZ0b0IIxQ
— Vivek Ramaswamy (@VivekGRamaswamy) November 9, 2024
A report released earlier this year from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) found that federal workers who qualified for remote work still performed about 60% of their work onsite and about half the federal workforce doesn't work remotely because the roles require an in-person presence, like healthcare and food supply inspection, for example.
"These figures demonstrate that the Federal workforce is generally in line with the rates of on-site work performed across all sectors in the economy," OMB stated in a press release. However, it also clarified that some agencies are "continuing to work" to meet their onsite presence goals and that "work is not complete."
Trump tasked Musk and Ramaswamy with paving the way for his administration to "dismantle Government Bureaucracy, slash excess regulations, cut wasteful expenditures, and restructure Federal Agencies." In the op-ed, Musk and Ramaswamy wrote that they were pursuing three different kinds of reductions: regulatory, administrative, and spending.
Related: Want to Work for DOGE? Elon Musk Is Looking for 'Super High-IQ' Hires — But There's a Catch
DOGE Mobile App for Taxes
Another key area DOGE could tackle is taxes. According to a report from The Washington Post, Musk and Ramaswamy have talked about reforming the tax system so that Americans can file their taxes free through a mobile app.
DOGE posted on X that Americans spend 6.5 billion hours on their taxes every year.
"This must be simplified," the agency wrote last week.
Musk and Ramaswamy are assembling a team of "super high-IQ hires" willing to work over 80 hours per week to meet DOGE's goals. They have a hard deadline of July 4, 2026 to achieve their objectives.
In 1955, there were less than 1.5 million words in the U.S. Tax Code.
— Department of Government Efficiency (@DOGE) November 17, 2024
Today, there are more than 16 million words.
Because of this complexity, Americans collectively spend 6.5 billion hours preparing and filing their taxes each year.
This must be simplified. pic.twitter.com/2CxJMt1Rcr
