Additional Coverage:
- Musk and Ramaswamy float ending remote work for federal employees and ‘large-scale firings’ (nbcnews.com)
Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, advisors to President-elect Donald Trump, propose ending remote work for federal employees.
They argue that remote work is a “privilege” left over from the pandemic and that it should be eliminated to reduce the federal workforce.
Their suggestion could affect over 1 million federal workers, including 228,000 who are fully remote.
The Biden administration had encouraged in-person work but allowed flexibility.
Musk and Ramaswamy, who head Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), also advocate for mass firings and relocating federal agencies outside Washington, D.C.
Unionized federal workers have criticized Musk and Ramaswamy, saying they lack understanding of the federal workforce.
The future of remote work for office workers is a topic of debate, with some companies returning to in-person mandates while others embrace remote work as a recruitment tool.