Elon Musk’s Division of Authorities Effectivity (DOGE) turned a short lived authorities group on January 20 by means of President Donald Trump’s executive order. In simply two weeks, Musk has led the division to undertake a Silicon Valley-like startup mentality in the direction of its work hours, with Musk just lately bragging that DOGE is placing in extra-long hours because it tries to chop again on authorities forms.
In a Sunday put up on X, Musk wrote that “DOGE is working 120 hour[s] per week. Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours per week. That’s the reason they’re shedding so quick.”
Associated: Elon Musk Warns Tesla Workers They’ll Be Sleeping on the Production Line to Build Its New Mass-Market EV
The day prior, Musk wrote on X that “Only a few within the forms really work the weekend, so it is just like the opposing workforce simply leaves the sector for two days! Working the weekend is a superpower.”
A 120-hour workweek means 17 hours and eight minutes of labor on daily basis, together with Saturday and Sunday. In keeping with knowledge for December from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the everyday U.S. worker works a mean of 34.3 hours per week.
DOGE is working 120 hour per week. Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours per week. That’s the reason they’re shedding so quick. https://t.co/dXtrL5rj1K
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 2, 2025
DOGE is not the primary group the place Musk has carried out workweeks longer than common. When Musk took management of Twitter in October 2022, he advised workers that they need to anticipate to work 80 hours per week and obtain fewer perks like free meals. Less than half of Twitter’s 4,000 staff selected to remain, with the bulk choosing three months’ severance as a substitute.
It is not simply Twitter. Staff at Tesla, the place Elon Musk is CEO, have reported sleeping on the floor after 12-hour shifts after working six or seven days per week.
Musk elaborated on how he put within the hours on an April episode of the podcast, In Good Firm, hosted by Nicolai Tangen, CEO of $1.6 trillion Norges Financial institution.
“I’ve accomplished many, many stretches of 100-hour weeks, the place roughly six hours per day is sleeping,” Musk stated. “I’d not advocate that. That is for emergencies.”
Musk stated that he put in these 100-hour weeks through the early days of his startups when he would sleep under his desk and work “each waking hour.” He outlined these days as stretches of ultra-hard work and stated he may maintain the dash for a number of years at a time.
Associated: Elon Musk Has Resorted to Sleeping at Tesla’s Factory to Try to Get it Back on Track
Roi Ginat, CEO of Countless AI, told Business Insider that whereas he routinely works 85 hours per week, working a workforce “too onerous for too lengthy” is a recipe for “fatigue and burnout.”
“I imagine that Elon’s tweet is about an effort, not a brand new normal at DOGE,” Ginat acknowledged.
DOGE is just not a authorities company however a gaggle created to work alongside the White Home to convey down prices. Musk is aiming to chop at the very least $1 trillion from the federal funds by means of DOGE. It is unclear how many individuals are working alongside him, however a December announcement from Trump exhibits that Katie Miller, the previous deputy press secretary for the Division of Homeland Safety throughout Trump’s first time period, is a part of the DOGE workforce.
