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Musk is used to running relatively small, relatively glamorous organizations. A lot of people dream of working for him, and a work culture that many people would find off-putting doesn't prevent him from hiring. I don't think that's going to work with the federal government...

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Reid Ribble

@RepRibble

15h

With the way DOGE manages current employees I really don’t expect much to happen here. Why would anyone want to work for an employer who so disregards employees? x.com/elonmusk/statu…

8:58 AM · Feb 27, 2025

128.9K

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David Watson 🥑

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He counts on finding people with submissive personalities who thrive on abuse.

People really underrate how Twitter was the first manifestation of all this pre DOGE. Without 'founder authority' his techniques don't work

Rarely Tolerable.

@RarelyTolerated

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Democratic members of congress harass a federal employee and ask if he was hired by Elon Musk if he is allowed to be there and accuses him of not being a qualified or an employee because he denies them entry into a building.

0:03 / 0:27

maybe he can provide RSUs in a new shitcoin as part of the package

@vaxx_passports

I don’t think he’s responsible for hiring for the whole fed govt now is he ?

I get it, but what if he could change the culture inside the government? Might be impossible, but would it be a good thing if it happened?

Conservative Statesman

Grind culture is also a lot more palatable when you get equity as part of your compensation.

The dood runs 170k employees As of the most recent estimates in 2024, Elon Musk's various companies collectively employ approximately 171,000 people worldwide. This figure is based on available data for his major ventures, including: - **Tesla**: Around 121,000 employees

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and those businesses pay far above the wage of the federal government

True. I'm sure there's a massive cultural difference between vibrant growing companies and a morbidly obese federal government that's anything but vibrant.

Large, quite glamorous, and in sum the complexity of running them all as directly as he does is utterly unprecedented in scope and scale.

I agree. Lazy, entitled Fucks. That’s a difficult workforce. The real only option is to downsize. So you have less lazy, entitled Fucks.

Where do you think he would rank, in the world, including governments for number of people that report to him? Such a dumb thing to say.

Well shoot, I guess we just all give up, then.

ClassicalLibMOT

He wants the federal government to run as a start up. The mission of federal departments and how governments just run in general make that impossible. To add. So far it’s all sticks. Where are carrots like the change in the compensation package to keep good people.

Moose stans the 20th Maine

That's a feature for MAGA, not a bug.

Also, you have a chance to grow extremely rich working for a private Musk corporation, even indirectly.

Chargé d’Affaires

@BrandiAtkinson

Not to mention they are setting the stage to only retain the lowest 10%, the exact opposite of the Welch principle. No high performing employee would put up with this crap.

jonathan_borowsky

@jonathanborows2

*dreamed of. *didn't prevent.

It's a completely different culture. People go home for dinner. They don't sleep in sleeping bags in their office.

Have start handing out equity options

@AndyfromTucson

"I gleefully do arbitrary mass layoffs, come out of retirement to work for me!"

The last time I worked for the federal government - on my first week back- I said- this sht will be the last time. There are so many restrictions the employees work under. You make less pay- than what you would doing the same role in the private sector. What you get..

Randall Heywood

@heywood_randall

I think it might work quite well, but on a class of people who may be unsuited to the work as we currently think of it.

Compared to the average large business, his organizations are huge. Compared to the federal government, they're microscopic.

Dalibor Bagaric

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AmericanDreamsAgency

@dreams_age98786

Feb 23

Reid Hoffman on working with Elon Musk: "Not for the faint of heart."

Employees at Tesla, SpaceX, and X describe a high-pressure environment with sky-high expectations. #ElonMusk #Tesla #SpaceX #X #Leadership #Innovation #Tech #Entrepreneur #WorkEthic

0:33

I don't think a lot of non civil service ppl would dream of working for him especially women. Look at how he "managed" twitter.

Glamorous?!

Lil Rascal aka Punk

@FliesLordofthe

A neighbor who works for a rival EV company told me that every job posting is swarmed by Tesla engineers trying to get out. The sheen is gone.

@Viking89148844

Yes. Lots of people work in Government for the stability. They know they’ll get a good deal but won’t get Tesla Stock options. Now, not only will they not get stock options, but they may be mocked on X, in Cabinet Meetings or in the office by a 19 year old sperg kid.

Excellent point, but we're still fucked.

RedRedSuit - yes, am a Jew

BTW over time on average people have gotten over the whole thing where you work for a Musk company for shit pay with insane hours because of The Mission. In my industry it’s now known as simply bad places to work. They have trouble getting talent.

@realestaterella

So he wants people hungry for the upside, giving up downside protection (standard, young startup employee). Govt jobs only attract people who want stability/downside protection, because there is upside or IPO dream. Hedge fund guys probably won't be good mortgage brokers.

I’ve worked in Silicon Valley my entire adult life and never had any desire to work for a celebrity boss like Musk, Jobs or Gates by sheer terrible reputation of being tyrants.

When did you begin worshipping him?

Musk is simply pillaging the gov for sensitive information to sell off, and here goes the Substack Industrial Complex is pretending this is a good faith effort of improvement

Fire Support Otter

Look your favorite television show

GIF

Retired federal employees can’t return to full-time employment without losing their retirement benefits. They start completely over. Congress would have change this policy or allow contractors.

South Dakota GOED

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Caroline blood drinking satanist

@maybe_caroline

Musk is just a younger richer trump. Both have mythologized back stories, both slap their names on other peoples hard work, both have failed over n over yet here we are.

How would you reform something like the federal government? Studies? Blue chip panel?

Rich&KarenWeitz

Uh oh, the biscuit wheels just fell off my gravy train

Reason #3,914 to why people and practices from the business world don't necessarily translate well for the world of government

Tesla has 125,000 employees on three continents

I dont think many people want to work for him now

@MikeBrennan330

Government workers who chafe at being asked what they did last week will not get much sympathy from people who work in the private sector

Joy is Contagious

@joy_contagious

Really why? It’s a paradigm shift. From promotions based on characteristics to promotions based on results!

I know, can you imagine that 135,000,000 Americans willingly work in the private sector for employers that can fire them on a moments notice! The horror! You can watch all the CNN, MSNBC and 60 Minutes exposés of their tragedies on a daily basis... right?

Not even mentioning the pay cut you’re guaranteed to take by working in the government

people will put up with a lot with a chance to become filthy rich. it's not a mission based non profit

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Sourced from across X

Matthew Yglesias

It’s like Moscow & Beijing took over the government and are having Elon Musk destroy American influence around the world for them.

The most frustrating thing about DOGE is that they could’ve found 30 Brookings/Cato/AEI guys and came up with a plan to actually address the deficit and implement GAO recommendations

Matthew Yglesias

The conservative legal movement deciding that an independent central bank is unconstitutional seems like it is going to end badly for everyone.

rustbeltjacobin

@rustbeltjacobin

Working-class people moving to TX/FL & away from blue states because the housing affordability beats the wage premium, is bad Deep south schools making the only K12 literacy gains in the country, is worse Texas and Florida doing the TRAINS now is utter humiliation

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YIMBYLAND

@YIMBYLAND

13h

AMTRAK JUST INITIATED THE RFQ PROCESS FOR BUILDING THE TEXAS HIGH SPEED RAIL. IT'S HAPPENING Y'ALL.