Federal workers will have to document everything they did last week or face resignation.
These instructions come from a Saturday afternoon post on X by Elon Musk, the head of the White House’s Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
CBS News learned that federal workers received an email that read, “what did you do last week.” They were instructed to reply with five bullet points of what they had accomplished in the last week, excluding any classified information.
The deadline to reply was by Monday at midnight.
Jason C. Andrew/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Musk seemed to have responded with his new demand of federal workers to explain their work or risk losing their jobs. He called it consistent with the president’s instructions.
“Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation,” Musk added.
The Office of Personnel Management, which notified more than two million federal employees last month that they had the option to resign, was one of the agencies that has already notified workers of the directive, according to a spokesperson.
“As part of the Trump Administration’s commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC’ing their manager. Agencies will determine any next steps,” the OPM spokesperson told CBS News in a statement.
President Trump earlier in the day posted on Truth Social that Musk is doing a great job in reducing the federal government and that he would like to see him get more aggressive in the pursuit.
“Remember, we have a country to save, but ultimately, to make greater than before,” he wrote.
In response to Musk’s tweet, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees said the billionaire and the Trump administration are showing “their utter disdain for federal employees.”
“It is cruel and disrespectful to hundreds of thousands of veterans who are wearing their second uniform in the civil service to be forced to justify their job duties to the this out-of-touch, privileged, unelected billionaire who has never performed one single hour of honest public service in his life,” Everett Kelley said in a written statement, adding that the union, which represents more than 750,000 government workers, will challenge any unlawful terminations.
The White House has not responded to CBS News’ requests for comment. Speaking Saturday night at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, Mr. Trump said DOGE is “now waging war on government waste, fraud and abuse, and Elon is doing a great job.”
Since Mr. Trump tapped Musk to head DOGE, Musk’s team has gone about slashing thousands of federal positions across numerous agencies. DOGE has also stoked controversy by seeking access to sensitive government data.
Mr. Trump Saturday also addressed his federal buyout plan, alleging that about 75,000 federal workers had accepted what is administration has called “deferred resignations.” The president signed an executive order after taking office last month that ends the remote work option for federal workers.
“We want to make government smaller, more efficient,” Mr. Trump said. “We want to keep the best people, and we’re not going to keep the worst people. And you know, we’re doing another thing, if they don’t report for work, we’re firing them. In other words, you have to go to the office.”
Jennifer Jacobs and
contributed to this report.
Read More: DOGE’s Elon Musk says federal employees must document their work or resign
