Federal employees working from home would have that "privilege" stripped away and be forced to return to the office -- or quit -- if Elon Musk has his way.
Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy are leading the newly formed but not yet approved Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, in a push for regulatory rescissions and cost savings to reduce the size of the federal government.
Part of their plan involves cutting federal spending by eliminating unnecessary employees and implementing a return-to-office policy for federal workers. The move could affect more than 1 million federal workers, according to reports.
In an opinion piece for The Wall Street Journal, the pair explain that a return to office policy would be a quick and easy solution for shrinking 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," they wrote.
However, some question just how much of a cost-saving effect such a policy change would have.
A report released earlier this year from the Office of Management and Budget from shows that roughly 50% of federal workers "worked every day in roles that are not eligible for telework." At the same time, telework-eligible personnel spent approximately 60% of regular, working hours in person, at agency-assigned job sites, the report noted.
"The implication that federal employees writ large are not working in-person is simply not backed up by data and reality," Everett Kelley, national president for the American Federation of Government Employees, a union that represents more than 800,000 federal workers, told CNN.
Musk and Ramaswamy also propose embedding DOGE appointees in government agencies to streamline operations, slash regulations and reduce administrative overgrowth through "large-scale firings" and "relocation of federal agencies out of the Washington area."
"The number of federal employees to cut should be at least proportionate to the number of federal regulations that are nullified: Not only are fewer employees required to enforce fewer regulations, but the agency would produce fewer regulations once its scope of authority is properly limited," they wrote.
The president-elect is well within his authority to fire federal employees in accordance with their vision, Musk and Ramaswamy explained.
"Conventional wisdom holds that statutory civil-service protections stop the president or even his political appointees from firing federal workers. The purpose of these protections is to protect employees from political retaliation. But the statute allows for 'reductions in force' that don't target specific employees," they wrote. "The statute further empowers the president to 'prescribe rules governing the competitive service.' That power is broad."
The pair said they are focused on delivering immediate savings for taxpayers through executive action based on existing legislation rather than by passing new laws.
"With a decisive electoral mandate and a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court, DOGE has a historic opportunity for structural reductions in the federal government. We are prepared for the onslaught from entrenched interests in Washington. We expect to prevail," they wrote.