Federal workers to receive second round of emails demanding their accomplishments
WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is set to send a second round of emails this weekend to federal workers instructing them to list what they've accomplished, according to a source familiar with the plans.
This time, the emails will come from individual federal departments and agencies to their workers, not from the Office of Personnel Management, which was the case with the controversial initial round of emails last Saturday.
Unlike that directive, which warned "failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," departments and agencies will have discretion to decide the implications for not responding.
The mass emails to federal workers ‒ which unions have slammed as "cruel and disrespectful" ‒ are the product of tech entrepreneur and senior White House adviser Elon Musk, who leads the administration's Department of Government Efficiency. "What did you do last week?" the emails that arrived last Saturday read. "Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager."
The original missive prompted government-wide confusion and concern, with several departments issuing clarifications that responses to the email were voluntary even though Musk said their jobs depended on it. Later, the Trump administration clarified that it was not mandatory to respond.
The White House said about 1 million of the federal government's 2.3 million employees replied to last week's email instructing them to provide a bullet-point list of their accomplishments.
The Defense Department, in a memo Thursday to defense civilian employees, said they would receive their email next Monday asking them to list their accomplishments. They will have 48 hours to respond.
"The Department of Defense initially paused this directive over the weekend but now requires all DoD civilian employees to submit five bullets on their previous week's achievements," the memo reads.
Submissions must exclude classified or sensitive information and will be incorporated into weekly situation reports by supervisors. "Non-compliance may lead to further review," the memo states.
The directives come as the Trump administration, guided by DOGE, has fired tens of thousands of recently hired or promoted federal probationary workers and ordered departments to initiate "large-scale reductions in force" over the coming weeks.
Musk told Trump during the president's first Cabinet meeting Wednesday the emails were intended to make sure everyone on the government's payroll is alive and working. "I think that email perhaps was interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review," Musk said. "Do you have a pulse and two neurons?"
Musk indicated at the meeting that the same directive to federal employees would be distributed to federal workers again. Trump suggested employees who did not respond to the email could be fired, despite the guidance from the OPM that said responding was voluntary.
"I'd like to add that those million people that haven't responded, though, Elon, they are on the bubble," Trump said. "I wouldn't say that we're thrilled about it. They haven't responded. Now, maybe they don't exist."
Contributing: Jessica Guynn. Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.