Fun action of the day, if these government workers are non-essential, why do they have jobs

I'm guessing this is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but W.R. Chandler asks a fun question in Obvious question of the day about the impending government "shutdown."  He writes:

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If you read a little deeper, you will find that the government will not actually shut down. What will happen is that non-essential federal employees will be sent home.

According to this article from Reuters, these employees are not to do any work from home. They are not to use government-owned Blackberries, laptops, or any other such equipment.

You probably know where this is going, so go there I will. If these employees are so non-essential that they can go home and not work, and the government will run without them, then why do we need them

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