(NewsNation) — Thousands of federal employees could receive a second “What did you do last week?” email from the Trump administration, which might require a response, a source confirmed to NewsNation Friday.
According to the Washington Post, which first reported the news, the message is expected to come from individual agencies rather than the centralized Office of Personnel Management.
On Tuesday, Elon Musk gave federal workers “another chance” to justify their recent accomplishments or risk losing their jobs. Musk’s message followed an initial email asking federal employees to list five things they accomplished last week by 11:59 p.m. Monday.
The directive appeared to contradict guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, which told federal departments and agencies that responses were voluntary. Multiple federal agencies instructed employees to disregard Musk’s initial email, at least temporarily.
There is no word yet on how many federal workers complied with the original directive.
Elon Musk’s ultimatum
Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, sent an email to hundreds of thousands of federal employees Saturday, giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished during the week prior. In a separate message posted on social media, Musk said any employee who failed to respond by the deadline — set in the email as 11:59 p.m. EST Monday — would lose their job.
The OPM issued a memo Monday to federal departments and agencies stating that it was not mandatory for workers to respond to the email.
The office later clarified that individual agencies must decide if they require responses and determine the consequences of those who fail to do so. It added that agencies should consider whether the “accomplishment bullets” should be integrated into the agency’s weekly activity report.
President Donald Trump signaled his support of Musk early Monday.
DOGE employees resign
Musk’s unusual demand has faced resistance from several key U.S. agencies led by the president’s loyalists — including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon — which instructed their employees over the weekend not to comply. Lawmakers in both parties said Musk’s mandate may be illegal, while unions are threatening to sue.
One federal worker from the Department of Health and Human Services shared an email with NewsNation they received Monday night. “No HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond,” the email read.
If employees did respond, they were advised to tailor their answers as if “malign foreign actors” might read them.
Twenty-one civil service employees resigned from DOGE on Tuesday, saying they refused to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.
