WASHINGTON — Federal employees are anticipating another email on Saturday, asking them to detail their recent work achievements. This move represents a continued effort by President Donald Trump and billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk to demand accountability from the government workforce. A source with insight into the situation, who chose to remain anonymous as they were not permitted to speak on the record, revealed this plan.
Last week, employees received an initial email questioning, “what did you do last week?” It required them to list five completed tasks. Musk, empowered by Trump, aims to reduce agency sizes and cut thousands of federal jobs and has stated that employees who do not respond would be terminated. Various agencies have either advised their staff against responding or issued conflicting instructions.
The upcoming email will be distributed differently, according to the insider, potentially making it simpler to penalize noncompliance. Instead of being distributed by the Office of Personnel Management, which acts as a human resources body for the federal government but lacks direct hiring or firing authority, the email will originate from specific agencies with direct oversight of personnel.
The information was initially reported by The Washington Post. How national security agencies will deal with this second email remains uncertain. After the first email, these agencies instructed employees not to respond since much of their work is sensitive or classified. Less than half of federal workers replied, according to the White House.
Before the Monday response deadline, the Office of Personnel Management indicated that the request was optional, yet it suggested that similar demands may arise in the future. During Trump’s first Cabinet meeting of his second term on Wednesday, Musk justified the request as a “pulse check” to ascertain that government employees are functioning and active.
Trump and Musk have both alleged that some federal workers are either nonexistent or fictional. The president has publicly supported Musk’s method. Speaking about those who did not reply to the initial email, Trump remarked that “they are on the bubble” and expressed dissatisfaction with their lack of response.
“There may be a possibility they don’t exist,” Trump speculated without evidence. “Perhaps we’re compensating individuals that don’t exist.”
In line with recent dismissals of probationary employees, a memo circulated this week paves the way for extensive layoffs and program consolidations. The Education Department has offered employees a $25,000 buyout and has warned of potential job cuts. An email to all agency staff gave them until the end of Monday to consider the offer, branded as preceding a “significant Reduction in Force.”
This communication was sent from the department’s chief human capital officer. The agency refrained from immediate comment.
