Elon Musk, head of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency, posted on X that federal workers will be given another opportunity to defend their jobs after this past weekend’s ultimatum.
On Monday, The Dallas Express reported that federal workers received an email over the weekend asking them to respond with five bullet points summarizing the work they completed over the preceding week. The roughly two million federal employees who received the message were told a failure to respond would be considered a resignation. On Monday evening, Musk announced that employees would be offered “another chance” to justify their positions or risk losing their jobs after the first deadline had passed.
Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance.
Failure to respond a second time will result in termination. https://t.co/04xzgScXfj
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 25, 2025
No details have been released about the success of the initial email campaign so far. Multiple agencies, such as the Department of Defense, the FBI, the State Department, the Department of Energy, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, told their staff not to respond, CBS News reported.
Others, like the Education Department, the Transportation Department, the Department of Commerce, and the National Transportation Safety Board, ordered their staff to comply with the request.
CBS reported that two officials told them that the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) held a call with federal agency personnel officials, telling them they have the discretion to decide how they want to manage the nationwide directive delivered over the weekend.
“Being asked what you have achieved at work in some form is literally standard practice in every workplace, the meltdowns are absurd,” posted lawyer Klay Thompson on X.
“Exactly. This is just a case of asking federal workers to do what everyone else does. Fair,” responded Musk.
Some questioned the ability to assess millions of email responses. However, Musk said the exercise was “basically a check to see if the employee had a pulse and was capable of replying to an email.”
“This mess will get sorted out this week. Lot of people in for a rude awakening and strong dose of reality. They don’t get it yet, but they will,” Musk posted on X on February 24.