According to a new report, DOGE employees are building IKEA flatpacks to sleep in the office buildings of the federal agencies they are attempting to dismantle.
The Elon Musk-led cost-cutting arm has quickly fired federal employees, reduced contracts, and taken steps to reduce the government’s real estate footprint, upending the federal government in a matter of weeks. However, DOGE employees are not reportedly reducing their sleep hours.
According to two DOGE employees, at least four rooms on the sixth floor of the General Services Administration’s building have been converted into sleeping quarters, complete with IKEA beds, lamps, and dressers.
“People are definitely sleeping there,” said one GSA employee.
The home furnishings do not end there. According to a February 25 invoice obtained by the outlet, the cost-cutting army is considering spending approximately $25,000 to install a washer and dryer on that floor of the Washington, D.C. office building.
The makeshift rooms in question reportedly share office space with conference rooms and are only accessible to those with high-security clearances. The Independent has contacted the agency for comment.
It is unclear how long this arrangement has existed or will continue.
“Government employees are working incredibly hard and long hours to help reduce the federal deficit and ensure an effective government,” said a spokesperson for the agency.
“Any purchases the agency has made have followed all applicable laws and regulations,” the spokesperson stated. “In accordance with the Sleeping in Federal Buildings bulletin, specific instances of an employee sleeping at the 1800F building was expressly authorized by an agency official.”
According to the 2019 bulletin, sleeping in federal buildings is prohibited unless an agency official authorizes it, in which case “the person is directed by a supervisor to remain in the building to conduct official government business and it is necessary for the person to sleep on the premises or, in the case of an emergency where there is imminent danger to human life or property, where persons are directed to shelter-in-place.”
The DOGE employees appear to be adopting Musk’s habits.
Wired reported in January that the tech billionaire was sleeping at DOGE’s offices in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
This is not the first time Musk has used his workspace as a bedroom. In a 2023 interview with Ron Baron, he revealed that he spent three years sleeping on the floors of Tesla factories in California and Nevada, referring to them as his “primary residence.”
“I actually slept on a couch, at one point on a tent on the roof and then but for a while there I was just sleeping under my desk which is out in the open in a factory for an important reason,” said the richest person on the planet.
He has been the CEO of Tesla since 2008. “Since the team could see me sleeping on the floor…they knew I was there and that made a huge difference and then they gave it their all.”