Federal employees must now submit weekly summaries of their work or be considered to have resigned, according to a new policy backed by President Donald Trump and announced by Elon Musk.
Musk posted on X that government workers will receive an email asking them to account for what they have completed each week. The directive follows Trump’s executive order aimed at reducing government waste and cutting staff.
Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.
Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025
The executive order directs the Office of Management and Budget to draft a plan for reducing the federal workforce through efficiency efforts and natural attrition. Several agencies have already begun downsizing their staff.
To be clear, the bar is very low here.
An email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable!
Should take less than 5 mins to write. https://t.co/MTL1wyzaxd
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025
The Office of Personnel Management has instructed departments to dismiss nearly all probationary employees, including those working in consumer protection, education and veterans’ affairs. The Pentagon is also reducing its workforce, cutting 5,400 civilian positions, while the Department of Health and Human Services has removed about 3,600 workers.
That would be a very impressive and long list indeed for you!
However, the passing grade is literally just “Can you send an email with words that make any sense at all?”.
It’s a low bar. https://t.co/D3AlfUfdeQ
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 23, 2025
The American Federation of Government Employees has criticized the policy, arguing it unfairly targets public servants. However, White House officials have defended the move, emphasizing that it promotes accountability and efficiency within the federal workforce.
Videos like this are all over TikTok, am I missing something here with the Elon Musk emails?
I feel like listing 5 things you worked on should be easy? I feel like you should be able to easily do that daily? Some jobs you have to. pic.twitter.com/PW8uomuiC4
— Sarah Sansoni (@sarahsansoni) February 23, 2025
Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency has also revealed excessive government spending, reporting that federal agencies hold millions of active credit cards and process billions in transactions annually.
