There are federal employees. Ready for significant changes As President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House. Many are concerned about possible large-scale layoffs and substantial changes in the federal workforce.

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, advisers to the incoming Trump administration, proposed on Wednesday an end to remote work for federal employees. and considered it a residual “privilege” from the pandemic. In one op-ed i The Wall Street Journalthe billionaire duo suggested that this approach could effectively reduce the number of government agencies.

“Requiring federal employees to come to the office five days a week will result in a wave of voluntary terminations that we welcome: If federal employees don’t want to show up, American taxpayers can pay for them during the COVID-19 pandemic.” Shouldn’t pay for the privilege of staying home,” Musk and Ramaswamy wrote in the opinion piece.

Last week, Trump announced his plans to build one. Department of Government PerformanceLed jointly by the pair, with the goal of reducing regulations, cutting jobs and reorganizing federal agencies.

During a Sunday appearance on Fox News, Ramaswamy said he expects “Some agencies will be deleted entirely.“However, he did not specify which specific departments he wanted to cut.

“We expect massive reductions in power in areas of the federal government that are bloated,” the pharmaceutical entrepreneur said.

Because DOGE is not an official government department and can only provide recommendations, and because the president cannot unilaterally eliminate agencies or cabinet departments without congressional approval, Musk and Ramaswamy have remote jobs in federal agencies. are insisting on the abolition of the labor force through natural attrition. .

Their potential purge mandate could affect more than a million federal employees. According to Office of Management and BudgetAbout 1.1 million federal civilian workers, representing 46% of the civilian workforce, are eligible for some level of telework. About 228,000 employees, or 10% of the workforce, hold remote positions and are not required to work onsite.

In April 2023, President Joe Biden’s administration ordered federal agencies to “significantly Increase meaningful personal work. in federal offices, particularly at headquarters and equivalent institutions, while still using flexible operational policies as an important tool in recruiting and retaining talent.”

As agencies review their work environment within larger operational units, they should assess organizational health and performance, the memorandum states. These reviews can help identify how telework and other operational policies positively or negatively affect the agency’s ability to accomplish its mission. Factors to consider include: impact on customer experience and quality of service; security implications; operational expenses; management of physical property; Investment in network capacity and communications infrastructure and the agency’s ability to attract and retain top talent.

For nearly three decades, the US government has been a leader in the telecommuting movement.

However, it appears that Musk intends to run federal agencies the same way he runs his own companies. Following its acquisition of Twitter (now X) in 2022, it significantly Reduced workforce of social media platforms. 80% by and imposed a Ban on remote workReversal of previous policy allowing employees Work from anywhere.which was implemented during the CoVID-19 pandemic.