I never cease to be amazed at how many government employees at every level are referred to as non-essential when it comes to not reporting for work for any number of reasons. If they are non-essential, why are they even on the payroll?
OTOH I’ve never understood why any company in the service industry thinks employees have to commute to an expensive office building to work every day. Call centers for every business could easily be located totally in the U.S. and allow the employees to have a computer and work from home.
Not to call them industrious, but the folks handing out building permits, collecting utility bills etc can certainly take a day off but are required in some form eventually.