In the United States there is simply a process of reforming the state's productivity, which aims to reduce national government spending. Elon Musk, head of the State Performance Department (DOGE), announced that national agency staff who would not respond to an email asking them to explain what they did last week would be considered quitters. This step is part of wider reforms aimed at expanding productivity and savings in national agencies.
According to Reuters, emails asking for clarification were sent to employees of a number of national agencies, with the title “What were you doing last week?”. The broadcaster is the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which oversees the hiring of employees in national institutions. Staff are asked to summarise the achievements of the past week in the 5 paragraphs and to send a answer by the end of Monday, joining the addressees of their superiors.
However, any institutions have sent their staff e-mails asking them not to respond to the OPM's call due to the fact that they request to measure the situation and make a protocol for further proceedings. AFGE (American Federation of Government Employees), a trade union representing national workers, stated that it would question any "unlawful dismissals".
Elon Musk, a businessman and the richest man in the world, was appointed by president Trump to be head of DOGE. So far, Musk has released or announced the dismissal of respective tens of thousands of administrative staff and has convinced about 75,000 people to accept severance in exchange for resigning from employment. Last week DOGE presented an overview of the cancelled government contracts, claiming that this decision brought the state budget savings of up to $55 billion.
However, the media questioned this information by quoting both computational errors (in 1 of the millions items presented as billions) and the fact that on the savings side, the people of Muskau took into account the maximum amounts allocated to certain contracts, even though it is "smallly likely that the government would be willing to spend at that amount". The CNN portal explained that specified savings cannot be considered realistic as they are based on unreliable assumptions.
In the context of these reforms, it is worth noting that the State Efficiency Department (DOGE) is simply a fresh institution whose task is to reduce national government spending. Elon Musk, as head of DOGE, is tasked with expanding productivity and savings in national agencies. However, as you can see, this process is not easy and requires detailed solutions that concern not only savings but besides the rights and obligations of national workers.
In the United States, the public sector employs around 2.1 million workers, of which about 1.3 million work in national agencies. The reforms introduced by the State Performance Department (DOGE) can so have a crucial impact on the public sector and the US economy.
It is so worth following current developments and information on public sector reforms, as they can have a crucial impact on workers, the economy and society. The State Productivity Department (DOGE) and Elon Musk will so gotta prove that their reforms are effective and bring: savings, productivity and benefits to workers and society.
Read more:
State Performance Reform: A fresh phase in the Management of national Agencies
