Chicago – February 24, 2025
Another federal government-wide email asking staff, “What did you do last week?” sparked a weekend of uncertainty and conflicting orders. Billionaire Elon Musk, a White House adviser, warned failing to respond would be seen as resignation. However, several agency leaders advised their employees to wait before reacting.
Adding to the uncertainty is previous instructions from the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), the agency that sent the broad request, which stated that responses to such mass emails were “voluntary.”
Federal employees resurrected the OPM guidance following Saturday’s email, expressing their latest opposition to changes proposed by Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency.
The leader of the DOGE initiative also said “failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”
Many federal workers are covered by civil service protections that prevent them from being fired without cause, and the actual text of the email sent from an OPM address did not include the ultimatum. Employees were asked to reply with “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager” by Monday 11:59 p.m. ET.
