23rd February 2025 – (Washington) Billionaire Elon Musk made headlines on Saturday with a bold announcement via social media, declaring that all U.S. federal employees must respond to an email detailing their job performance. This directive aligns with Musk’s role as the unofficial face of the new Department of Government Efficiency, established under President Donald Trump, aimed at reducing government power and workforce.
In his post on X, Musk stated, “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.” The email, titled “What did you do last week?” instructs federal employees to outline five key achievements from the previous week and to copy their manager in the response. Employees are required to submit their replies by Monday at 11.59pm.
However, the post raised questions about the logistics of managing potentially hundreds of thousands of responses across various departments and who would ultimately decide the fate of employees based on their replies. The White House has yet to comment on these concerns.
Critics have pointed out the irony in Musk’s demand for accountability. The tycoon, who recently spent $44 billion acquiring Twitter, was notably active on his platform throughout the day, posting over 100 times, including using derogatory language towards liberals.
Musk’s announcement may have been indirectly prompted by a prior all-caps social media post from Trump, urging him to adopt a more aggressive approach: “ELON IS DOING A GREAT JOB, BUT I WOULD LIKE TO SEE HIM GET MORE AGGRESSIVE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Under Musk’s leadership, the federal workforce has faced significant reductions through firings and layoffs. Just recently, the Pentagon revealed plans to terminate approximately 5,400 probationary workers, coupled with a hiring freeze, further illustrating the sweeping changes underway within the federal government.