Federal workers hit with second wave of emails demanding job details

WASHINGTON: The Trump administration sent out a second round of emails on Friday evening demanding all federal employees summarize their work over the past week after the first effort fizzled amid a wave of confusing directives.

The emails from the government’s human resources arm, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, were sent to multiple agencies, Reuters has confirmed, and asked workers to list five things they accomplished during the week.

The move marks a renewed effort by billionaire Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency team to assess the performance of government employees as the administration looks to engage in mass layoffs to dramatically trim the federal footprint.

“The President has made it clear that this is mandatory for the executive branch,” Musk wrote on X. “Anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive.”

Musk attempted a similar tack last week, along with a threat that noncompliant workers could be fired, but he was stymied when some agencies such as the State and Justice departments told their employees to stick to the chain of command.

Ultimately, OPM informed agencies that responding to the emails was voluntary.

But Musk, with President Donald Trump’s backing, continued to press for the emails as a means they said to hold workers accountable. Both men suggested that some federal employees on the payroll don’t exist. The second round of emails do not include any threat of retaliation for noncompliance but say workers are expected to send responses at the beginning of each work week.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has directed Pentagon workers to comply, according to media reports, but the State Department again told their employees to hold off, according to a directive seen by Reuters.

The acting U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, Ed Martin, also told workers in his office to comply, according to a message seen by Reuters.

Reuters was able to confirm the emails were also sent to employees at the Internal Revenue Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Institutes for Health. Those agencies have all been targeted by DOGE for layoffs.

Musk’s team last week instructed agencies across the government to submit plans by March 13 for a “significant reduction” in staffing across the federal workforce.

Already, about 100,000 workers have taken buyouts or been fired after DOGE was dispatched by Trump to gut federal staffing and spending. There are about 2.3 million federal employees in all.