DOGE’s Ban on WFH Will Reduce Government Efficiency
The data show that allowing employees to work remotely for some of the time increases productivity and improves retention.
Not in the office today.
Photographer: Roberto Schmidt/AFP
Elon Musk last week cut his forecast for savings from the Department of Government Efficiency, which he once predicted would reach $2 trillion, to only $150 billion this year. This amounts to 2% of federal outlays — and even that is overstated, because it ignores the productivity the government will lose from its ban on working from home.
The ban is an abrupt shift. Almost 60% of federal employees are eligible to work from home, and according to the federal Office of Personnel Management, two-fifths of them did some form of remote work (situational, routine or infrequent) in the year that ended in September 2023. That was down slightly from prior years, but was twice the rate before the pandemic.