Musk and Ramaswamy want to force federal workers back to the office. Economists aren’t convinced.
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More than half of federal workers work in-person full time. Among the many changes expected to shake up the government under the new Donald Trump administration, requiring all federal employees to return to the office five days per week could very well occur. But it’s likely to face challenges from unions.
![[Vivek Ramaswamy will co-lead the DOGE with Musk in an effort to cut federal spending by $2 trillion]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/11/13/10/2183791076.jpg)
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, the billionaire entrepreneurs recently bestowed government advisory jobs, said they have several ideas to drastically cut the federal workforce and budget through their newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
One way they could inspire change is by suggesting Trump mandate the approximately 2.28 million employees return to the office five days per week – something they claim will “result in a wave of voluntary terminations”. “If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers shouldn’t pay them for the Covid-era privilege of staying home,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in an op-ed for the Wall Street Journal.
Much like companies within the private sector, each government agency creates its own work-from-home policy. But OMB expects each agency to spend 50 percent of work hours in person for those who can. Everett Kelley, the national president of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), the union representing 80,0000 federal employees, said Musk and Ramaswamy’s suggestion is misguided.
