Saturday afternoon Elon Musk posted on X, “Consistent with President Trump’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.”
OPM sent an email to all federal employees on Saturday evening, February 23, 2025, which caused confusion. The short email didn’t mention anything about resignation if you don’t respond and reads as follows:
From: HR <hr@opm.gov>
Sent: Saturday, February 22, 2025 6:34 PM
Subject: [EXTERNAL] What did you do last week?
Importance: High
Please reply to this email with approximately 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager.
Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments.
Deadline is this Monday at 11:59pmEST.
(Recipients name and title)
First Thoughts
This request caught employees, managers, and supervisors off guard. Many were out and about for the weekend, unaware that the message had arrived. This is highly unusual and violates the typical chain of command.
I’m sure many employees found the message demeaning. There are ways to downsize tactfully without alienating the entire workforce. Many federal employees are dedicated and work tirelessly to accomplish their agencies’ goals and objectives.
OPM doesn’t have the staffing to handle this onslaught of emails and will have to defer this to managers and supervisors, who are to receive a copy of the employee’s reply. Agency heads would typically be tasked with sending out the emails from that agency’s HR department. They would then evaluate the replies as directed by OPM and the administration.
Confusion Persists
As I see it, the cart was placed before the horse. What do they intend to do with these emails? They appear to be more of a distraction than a thoughtful process. To what end?
Later that day, Kash Patel, the new FBI director, sent an email to all FBI employees asking them not to respond to the OPM request until further notice. The email, in part, stated, “The FBI, through the Office of the Director, is in charge of all of our review processes and will conduct reviews in accordance with FBI procedures.” Others may follow suit as this goes forward.
Conclusion
As this progresses, common sense will prevail. Agency directors will further clarify what is needed for their organization, if anything, and proceed as Patel allegedly has within the FBI. Haste makes waste and seems to be in direct opposition to DOGE’s founding principles.
Now that the President’s cabinet is selected, its members will work with the agencies under their purview to realistically find ways to downsize the government without major disruptions.
