Elon Musk Announces Weekly Accomplishments to Federal Workers: A Status Update
US government employees received an email on Saturday afternoon, instructing them to list their accomplishments from the past week or face potential resignation. This development marks another step in President Trump’s administrations efforts to reduce the federal workforce.
The directive came following a tweet by Elon Musk, who has been involved with these cuts through his “Department of Government Efficiency” (Doge). In his message on social media platform X, Musk stated that employees would soon receive an email asking about their work from last week. He added: Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
As the head of Doge, Musk has been leading efforts outside the government to cut costs and decrease staffing in federal agencies through funding reductions and layoffs.
The emails with the subject line “What did you do last week?” arrived shortly after Trump spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference (Cpac). The messages were sent by a sender listed as HR. According to a statement from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), which is responsible for federal human resources, these communications are authentic and require employees to provide a summary of their accomplishments in five bullet points before midnight on Monday.
The American Federation of Government Employees, the largest union representing federal workers, condemned the emails as “cruel and disrespectful” and vowed legal action against any unlawful terminations. Union president Everett Kelley stated: Once again, Elon Musk and the Trump Administration have shown their utter disdain for federal employees and the critical services they provide to the American people.
On Sunday morning, Musk tweeted that a significant number of responses had already been received and praised these individuals as potential candidates for promotion. Later in the day, he accused non-existent or deceased identities of collecting paychecks, claiming “outright fraud” without evidence.
Dissent among government department heads emerged regarding the latest email. FBI Director Kash Patel instructed his employees to pause any responses, stating that all reviews would be conducted according to FBI procedures. Similarly, the State Department directed its staff not to respond outside their chain of command.
Trump previously addressed these cuts at Cpac, emphasizing the need for a more efficient and accountable federal workforce while vowing to eliminate “unnecessary” and incompetent bureaucrats.
Musk’s team has made significant changes in US government infrastructure through Doge with White House approval. Thousands of employees across various agencies have been fired recently as part of these efforts.
This incident mirrors Musks handling of Twitter staff, where he issued ultimatums to commit to being “extremely hardcore” at work or resign after acquiring the platform in 2022.
