Months ago we saw how Musk, together with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), cut hundreds and hundreds of jobs in a campaign under the pretext that money had to be saved. Well, Musk has taken a step back after seven months of paralysis in public offices, lost contracts and billions of dollars thrown in the trash, the General Services Administration (GSA) has asked hundreds of federal employees to return to their posts. Oops?
The affected have until the end of the week to accept and must return to work on October 6, after what in practice were long “paid vacations.” But… is this how things work?
How it all started
The GSA, an agency created in the 40s to manage federal offices and buildings, became one of Musk and DOGE’s favorite targets. With 12,000 employees at the beginning of Trump’s term, it was subjected to a massive purge, early retirements, incentivized resignations and direct layoffs.
They wanted to reduce contracts and sell properties to save billions (they said). The execution, however, left the agency broken and with very little staff.
The forced return
Last Friday, the GSA sent a memorandum giving those laid off an “ultimatum” (more like a plea) they could accept reinstatement this week or stay out. The striking thing is that many of those workers never stopped receiving a salary despite not working, another symptom of the disorder generated by Musk’s cuts!!
Why they need them back
The agency could not handle so much workload, with fewer administrators and portfolio managers, the most important contracts slipped away. In 131 cases, leases expired without the offices being vacated, which left losses to landlords who could not rent the spaces to other tenants, a complete disaster.
DOGE boasted of having saved 460 million dollars with the cancellation of contracts but the reality is that they barely reached 140 million.
The figures of the cut
- 79% less staff at headquarters.
- 65% fewer portfolio managers.
- 35% fewer facility managers.
On the verge of collapse…
Democrats did not take long to go against Trump and Musk. Greg Stanton, from Arizona, denounced that the reductions have not generated any tangible benefit for taxpayers. Nor for anyone.
In front of the Office of Personnel Management in Washington there were protests that went as far as to directly demand the dismissal of Musk as responsible for the federal reorganization, something normal seeing the situation, right?
And now… What?
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) is already investigating what real consequences Musk’s management at DOGE had, from the cancellation of leases to the sale of federal buildings. And as soon as the results come out (expected in the coming months) it will be seen whether Musk has or has not made a fool of himself in these last months…
Meanwhile, the GSA is trying to return to normal by reinstating staff, although the damage is already done. A reminder that indiscriminate cuts are useless, neither savings nor a “better image of public services,” only disaster..
Musk thought he was discovering America with his cuts and that he was going to save the world, but the reality is that this man not only did not know how to manage DOGE but almost destroyed the public service, what was supposed to be efficiency ended up being administrative chaos with million-dollar losses.
Now, the challenge will be to rebuild a battered agency and regain the trust of those who depend on it. A pretty important moral is left from this chapter: playing with cuts without measuring consequences can end up being much more expensive than keeping what works, right?