(NewsNation) — Elon Musk on Monday said hundreds of thousands of federal employees have “another chance” to justify their recent accomplishments or risk losing their jobs.
“Subject to the discretion of the President, they will be given another chance. Failure to respond a second time will result in termination,” he wrote on social media, referring to an email asking federal employees to list five things they accomplished last week by 11:59 p.m. Monday.
The directive appeared to contradict guidance from the Office of Personnel Management, which told federal departments and agencies responses were voluntary. Multiple federal agencies had instructed employees to disregard Musk’s initial email, at least temporarily.
There is no word yet on how many federal workers complied with the original directive.
OPM’s new guidance
OPM turned its attention to senior managers in the civil service on Tuesday.
OPM Acting Agency Head Chris Ezell published a memo requiring poorly performing managers to be fired and directing their superiors to evaluate them in part on how well they advanced the president’s goals.
The agency also released new guidance instructing employees to send notes to agency management, stating, “Agencies should review responses and evaluate nonresponses, considering such factors as whether the employee was on excused leave on Monday, February 24, 2025, or had access to email on that date.”
“Here’s the reality of the situation, there’s one person we’re supposed to be listening to, that’s President Trump, and what the American people mandated, which is we’re doing.” Alina Habba, a counselor to President Trump, told reporters Tuesday. “People need to be accountable. You need to be able to answer the question. You couldn’t answer it yesterday, you have until today.”
Federal workers rattled by Elon Musk’s ultimatum
Musk, who oversees the Department of Government Efficiency, sent an email to hundreds of thousands of federal employees Saturday, giving them roughly 48 hours to report five specific things they had accomplished during the week prior. In a separate message posted on social media, Musk said any employee who failed to respond by the deadline — set in the email as 11:59 p.m. EST Monday — would lose their job.
The OPM issued a memo Monday to federal departments and agencies, clarifying that it was not mandatory for workers to respond to the email.
The office later clarified individual agencies must decide if they require responses and to determine the consequences of those who fail to do so. It added that agencies should consider whether the “accomplishment bullets” should be integrated into the agency’s weekly activity report.
President Donald Trump signaled his support of Musk early Monday.
Federal workers blast Elon Musk-caused ‘chaos’
Musk’s unusual demand has faced resistance from several key U.S. agencies led by the president’s loyalists — including the FBI, State Department, Homeland Security and the Pentagon — which instructed their employees over the weekend not to comply. Lawmakers in both parties said that Musk’s mandate may be illegal, while unions are threatening to sue.
Amid federal budget cuts, NewsNation has received messages from workers affected by the layoffs, with some departments letting longtime workers go.
One federal worker from the Department of Health and Human Services shared an email with NewsNation they received at 5 p.m. ET Monday night. “No HHS expectation that HHS employees respond to OPM and there is no impact to your employment with the agency if you choose not to respond,” the email read.
However, if employees did respond, they were advised to tailor their answers as if “malign foreign actors” might read them.
A Veterans Affairs worker told NewsNation that some nurses came in on their day off Monday, bringing their children, to fill out the required bullet points. These workers were unable to access email from home due to firewall restrictions, creating anxiety about possible consequences.
One VA worker expressed concern about how these changes could impact veterans’ services. “Making efficient is one thing, shrinking and crippling is another,” the employee said. “Ultimately, they are taking away protection and support for Americans. That is what I am most concerned about.”
Employees resign from DOGE
Meanwhile, 21 civil service employees resigned Tuesday from DOGE, saying they refused to use their technical expertise to “dismantle critical public services.”
The employees also warned that many of those enlisted by Musk to help him slash the size of the federal government under Trump’s administration were political ideologues who did not have the necessary skills or experience for the task ahead of them.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.