DOGE chief and Tesla CEO Musk has tweeted, "DOGE is working 120 hours a week. Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours a week. That is why they are losing so fast"
Amid a social media storm over working hours, Trump administration’s "cost-cutting chief" Elon Musk claims that employees under his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) work 120 hours a week—a number far surpassing the average weekly work hours of 35 and exceeding what many Indian executives and industry leaders have suggested.
The debate, which began with young professionals demanding a better work-life balance, took a new turn when Infosys founder Narayana Murthy suggested a 70-hour workweek and L&T Chairman S.N. Subrahmanyan proposed calling employees to work over the weekend.
Now, DOGE chief and Tesla CEO Musk has tweeted, "DOGE is working 120 hours a week. Our bureaucratic opponents optimistically work 40 hours a week. That is why they are losing so fast."
As expected, his tweet, like many of his statements, sparked a debate on his microblogging site X (formerly Twitter).
While some users criticised Musk as a "terrible boss," others praised DOGE and the tech billionaire as "heroes in the fight against the swamp."
DOGE was set up by US President Donald Trump with the aim of eliminating inefficiency and alleged corruption in the federal government.
DOGE’s work culture has been criticised from the start. In November, just days after appearing in the form of an X account, DOGE called for "super high-IQ" workers who would be required to work with zero compensation.
“We need super high-IQ small-government revolutionaries willing to work 80+ hours per week on unglamorous cost-cutting,” the so-called Department of Government Efficiency posted on X.
“If that’s you, DM this account with your CV. Elon & Vivek will review the top 1% of applicants,” the post added.
Musk later confirmed, “Indeed, this will be tedious work, make lots of enemies & compensation is zero.”
Now, new details of DOGE’s actual operations have started to surface amid their tussle to access sensitive US government files.
According to US media reports, DOGE workers include engineers as young as 19 years old. The group includes Akash Bobba, 21, a student at the University of California, Berkeley; Edward Coristine, 19, from Northeastern University in Boston; Ethan Shaotran, 22, a senior at Harvard; Luke Farritor, 23, who attended the University of Nebraska; Gautier Cole Killian, 24, an alumnus of McGill University; and Gavin Kliger, 25, a former student of Berkeley.
One notable clash between Musk-led DOGE and the federal government occurred last week when DOGE workers attempted to access USAID, the agency responsible for providing foreign aid. When agency officials resisted their request, they were reportedly removed, and the agency’s website was shut down.
As of now, at least four lawsuits have been filed in federal court challenging Musk and DOGE's authority in the new Trump administration.