Featured Image Credit: Samuel Corum / Stringer / Getty
The 'E' in 'DOGE' might not actually apply to members of the department itself, as doctors urge that employees of Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency are putting themselves at serious risk of 'premature death' through their unorthodox working habits.
It was always going to be hard work for members of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to reach the boldly-established end point of $2 trillion in savings, and experts indicate that the department is currently far off that lofty total.
Elon Musk is certainly known for a brutally intense working culture in the companies he's already taken control of, to the point where multiple former employees have brought lawsuits to his table after detailing their alleged mistreatment.
He swiftly applied this same demanding approach once his new role in government became official, asking over 100,000 federal employees to detail their working accomplishments or face redundancy, although this hasn't exactly been received with welcoming arms across government.
Advert
However, perhaps the biggest trademark of Musk's overwhelming work culture is found within his own department, as he revealed shortly after taking office that DOGE employees were working 120 hour weeks, illustrating this as their 'super power' over their bureaucratic counterparts.
In essence, Musk believes that the ability to work longer hours across all days of the week gives DOGE workers a significant advantage over departments that they're trying to counter, allowing them to get far more done at a greater scale, to the point where they even use high-tech 'sleep pods' so that they don't need to leave the office.
Musk's intense methods and controversial politics have already led to a mass resignation from existing civil servant employees, but doctors indicate that those who continue to work under the brutal 120 hour schedule are putting their health at serious risk, and could even be inviting a premature death.
As reported by AS, working 120 hours a week - which is 72 hours above the globally recommended maximum - is extremely dangerous, and puts you at risk of illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, alongside impacting your mental health and cognitive functions.
Furthermore, you're far more prone to mistakes when working long hours with minimal sleep, and DOGE itself has already admitted to a number of embarrassingly 'accidental' cuts across USAID and even the Energy Department, putting national security at risk.
Unfortunately for DOGE workers, America is one of the only countries worldwide where such conditions are completely legal, as the United States does not subscribe to the International Labour Organization's limits of 8 hours a day and 48 hours across an entire week.
Across an entire week, DOGE employees are working just over 17 hours a day, leaving them just 6.8 hours to eat, sleep, and enjoy life outside of work - which is already below the recommended sleep time of 8 hours before taking the time needed to commute and get ready for work.
Reports from the World Health Organization (WHO) outline that 745,000 deaths from stroke and ischemic heart disease were linked to long working hours in 2016, with heart disease related fatalities increasing by 42% from similar research conducted in 2000.
While some individuals have claimed to still live a healthy life under an extreme lack of sleep, it's highly recommended that not only do you get enough rest each night, but that you reduce your working hours to an advised level alongside that.
In addition, it is revealed that working 55 or more hours per week lands you with a 35% greater risk of a stroke, and a 17% higher risk of ischemic heart disease compared to individuals working between 35 and 40 hours per week, so you can only begin to imagine how this scales to the extremes of 120 hours.
"Working 55 hours or more per week is a serious health hazard," argues Dr Maria Neira at the WHO, adding that "it's time that we all, governments, employers, and employees wake up to the fact that long working hours can lead to premature death."
Whether these brutal conditions will continue following Musk's likely departure from government is yet to be seen, although sources revealed in The Washington Post indicate that Musk believes that his exit won't diminish the power or work of DOGE.
