Elon Musk to federal workforce: What have you accomplished?
Federal workers previously received an email. The email asked them for a bullet point list of what they accomplished during the previous week. This request drew protests from many federal workers, some of whom received notification from their own agencies to delay their responses. For those who refused, failure to respond by the deadline would result in termination. Elon Musk provided hints of a second similar email. President Donald Trump is aware of the request for past week accomplishments; those who fail to respond to the second email request by the deadline will be fired.
From New York Post:
“The email request was utterly trivial, as the standard for passing the test was to type some words and press send!” Musk wrote on X. “Yet so many failed even that inane test, urged on in some cases by their managers.”
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance,” he wrote in a separate post. “Failure to respond a second time will result in termination.”
The billionaire head of President Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency argued that the level of concern sparked by the initial DOGE demand was “absurd” and indicative that “something is deeply wrong” with the federal workforce.
Responses to the first batch of “what you accomplished” emails were due by 11:59 p.m. ET Monday.
Trump, 78, defended the Musk-directed effort hours before OPM’s new guidance circulated.
“I thought it was great because we have people that don’t show up to work and nobody even knows if they work for the government,” the president told reporters in the Oval Office. “What he’s doing is saying ‘Are you actually working?'”
Additional Reading:
Christenson, J. (2025, February 24). Trump backs Musk’s ‘what did you do last week’ email to federal employees, says workers will be ‘semi-fired or fired’ if not answered. New York Post. Link.
Nava, V. (2025, February 24). Elon Musk issues final warning to fed government workers who don’t respond to a second ‘what you accomplished’ email. New York Post. Link.
Category: DOGE, Donald Trump, Government Incompetence, Society
