Trump's DOGE Promises Layoffs

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Good Afternoon Party People! 🎉

PARTY PLAN 🎉

🐕 DOGE layoffs

🔥 Tinder leave

💵 No taxes on OT?!

And, of course, MEMES!

MEME OF THE DAY

LAYOFFS

‘DOGE’ promises mass layoffs, end of remote work

President-elect Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will implement large-scale layoffs and force people back into the office five days per week, according to Elon Musk, who will help run the department. DOGE is a non-government panel that vows to act without congressional approval, saying they can operate exclusively on executive orders.

Ramaswamy has vowed to lay off 75% of the federal workforce, challenging the longstanding idea that ‘civil servants are statutorily entitled to protections that prevent their arbitrary firing.’ He added that reductions to telework would help motivate employees to leave government voluntarily, calling it a “dirty little secret” that most federal workers “don’t even show up to work.”

Roughly 80% of the federal work hours are currently spent in-person, according to a recent Office of Management and Budget review, and more than half of federal employees do not telework at all because their jobs are not conducive to it. Of those who do telework, employees on average spent about 60% of their time on site.

Critics have argued that it may not be as simple as Trump, Elon, and Vivek have made it seem. “The RIF [reduction in force a.k.a layoffs] process isn’t quite as straightforward as he suggests. Federal law requires RIFs be rooted in certain activities, such as a reorganization, lack of work or a shortage of funds. A president cannot unilaterally undermine agencies ability to carry out functions that Congress mandates.” -Donald F. Kettl, professor emeritus at the University of Maryland.

In his first term, Trump spearheaded a government reorganization initiative that led to dozens of agency restructuring proposals. Most of those ideas were either abandoned or never taken up, however. Overall, Trump oversaw a small growth in the federal workforce during his presidency, though most agencies did shed workers. His budget proposals to dramatically slash domestic spending and eliminate some small agencies were largely ignored by Congress.

PTO

Tinder Leave?!

We just covered the rise in employers offering “pet leave,” but this employer just one-upped everyone. Whiteline Group, a marketing agency in Thailand, just announced a new incentive to help boost employee wellness and morale: Tinder leave. For six months, the company will give employees paid leave to go on dates. The company says it hopes employees will find love on the app and boost overall wellbeing which improves retention.

According to News.com, It all began after one employee complained about being too busy to date. Leadership responded in a way that American companies should take note of; they introduced a new employee. The company took it a step further than paying employees to take days and nights off to go on dates. They’ll also pay for six-month Tinder Gold and Tinder Platinum memberships for employees that want it.

Whiteline group cited further research that suggests being in love leads to more productivity at work. So far, employees haven’t abused the new policy and have expressed gratitude toward their company’s leadership.

Taxes

Trump’s plan to end taxes on OT pay

During President-elect Trump’s campaign, he promised to “end all taxes on overtime,” referring to any work over 40 hours per week. Millions of Americans could benefit from this new proposal, including lower-wage workers and higher earners that work a lot of OT. According to an estimate from The Budget Lab at Yale, 8% of hourly workers in the U.S. and about 4% of salaried workers would be eligible, but that may not be a big enough slice of the labor market to win out over other competing tax priorities. With a republican trifecta, bills such as this one have a greater chance of being passed than the usual campaign “promises.”

Department of Labor data show that there were 97.7 million employed workers last year who were eligible for FLSA-overtime protections. That represented 60% of household employment in 2023 and about two-thirds of wage and salary employment, according to a report from The Budget Lab at Yale, citing DOL data. Among these, 82.1 million were hourly workers and 15.6 million were salaried workers.

The Tax Foundation estimates it could cost the federal government between $225 billion to slightly over $3 trillion over 10 years, depending largely on how Congress designs the law. They have enough money already, though, right?!

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