Elon Musk’s 'Government Efficiency' Plan Is Creating Waste

LOADING ERROR LOADING Elon Musk showed up in Washington in January on a promise to streamline the federal government and make it run more efficiently. '” - Mike Braden, union president and employee at the Bonneville Power Administration A mental health provider at the Department of Veterans Affairs said in the wake of the “Fork” proposal they’d had four impromptu staff meetings, each up to a half-hour long, “pulling us away from veteran care.” “In response to Saturday’s ‘what did you do last week?’ email, leadership scheduled yet another meeting first thing Monday morning — forcing me to reschedule a veteran’s appointment just to receive guidance from my leadership on how to respond,” they said. We’re definitely being taken away from the focus we should be putting on the veterans.” Another VA worker said their superiors had been “mired in daily meetings to discuss what little information we had, how it was affecting employees and overall morale, and addressing whether or not any of this is legal.” “To estimate time loss over the course of one week, I’d say it cost us at least a full day’s productivity, if not more,” they said. “They have caused unbelievable waste, unbelievable distraction from the mission, unbelievable loss of critical talent.” - Max Stier, president, Partnership for Public Service Mike Braden, a Bonneville Power Administration employee and president of its employee union, said that by the time the workers were rehired they had already lost their access to the IT systems and their clearance to enter buildings. “Somebody will ping me, ‘Hey I just saw this — what does this mean?’ I’m like, ’Aw shit.’” Paul Dobias, a Department of Navy engineer and president of his union, said agency managers are so afraid of appearing hostile to the Trump administration’s goals that they seem to pass along guidance without review.