Forget 70 or 90 Hours—Elon Musk Claims DOGE Runs on a 120-Hour Workweek- wna24
New Delhi: Amid ongoing debates about 90-hour and 70-hour workweeks, tech billionaire Elon Musk—renowned for his intense work ethic—recently sparked social media backlash after claiming employees at the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) work 120 hours a week. Musk doubled down on his advocacy for gruelling schedules, calling working weekends a “superpower” and mocking bureaucratic rivals for their shorter hours.
“Very few in the bureaucracy actually work the weekend, so it’s like the opposing team just leaves the field for 2 days!” Musk added in a separate post on X, punctuated with a laughing emoji.
This stance is consistent with Musk’s history. In 2018, he famously claimed to pull 120-hour weeks while leading Tesla, his electric vehicle company, and has repeatedly urged employees to adopt similarly extreme hours.
The trend continued in 2022 after Musk finalised his $44 billion takeover of Twitter (now X). He demanded staff embrace a “hardcore” work culture, requiring “long hours at high intensity” or resignation. The ultimatum led over half of Twitter’s 4,000 employees to accept three months of severance pay rather than comply, Business Insider had reported.
While some supported Musk, others criticized him for demanding 120-hour workweeks from employees.
“In a week, there are 24×7=168 hrs.If you work 120hrs in week (7 days) because you are not bureaucratic. Then, per day 120÷7= 17.14 hrs By law should take 2 lunches off 30 min. So, the daily office hrs is 18.14 hrs. You have, 5.46hrs remaining daily to drive home to office, to take a bath, to eat and to sleep, to take care of your family. I am hard to believe this post. And do you think someone can spend that time to work for at least 6 months?” asked an user.
Another said,”120-hour weeks? That’s not a flex, it’s a red flag. Overworked devs make mistakes. Quality > quantity in crypto. DOGE might be digging its own grave.
Echoing similar remarks, an user said,”120/24 =5 , so hopefully with doge employees taking weekends off, they have to work full 24 hours a day for 5 days straight. So… Doge in made up of aliens and robots and Elon! Or, Elon says anything to make himself look better.”