US federal workers again receive e-mail asking them to detail accomplishments
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Earlier this week, Mr Elon Musk explained why he wanted federal employees to fulfill his demand to detail their work.
PHOTO: AFP
Madeleine Ngo, Eileen Sullivan
WASHINGTON – Federal workers started to receive e-mails late in the evening of Feb 28 asking them to provide a list of accomplishments from the week, a reprise of a request by Mr Elon Musk that spread fear and confusion through the government just days ago.
The e-mail, titled “What did you do last week? Part II”, echoed one sent to federal workers last weekend that instructed them to reply with a list of around five accomplishments from their work week.
That blast came shortly after Mr Musk, the billionaire President Donald Trump has assigned to shrink the federal workforce,
The e-mail on Feb 28 from the Office of Personnel Management, the government’s human resources arm, went to workers at various agencies, including the FBI, General Services Administration as well as the Defence, Justice, Labour and Agriculture departments, according to copies of e-mails seen by The New York Times.
Like the earlier e-mail, it directed them to send approximately five bullets describing what they achieved this week. It also said that, going forward, employees would be expected to complete the task weekly.
It is unclear what consequences, if any, there will be if they fail to comply with the new directive.
Adding to the confusion at the end of the week, some workers were told to expect the next e-mail to come at a later date.
On Feb 28, civilian employees at the Defence Department were informed that the e-mail would arrive on March 3, and that a response was expected.
By the night of Feb 28, workers at the department had already received an e-mail from the Office of Personnel Management. Agencies had been expected to send the directive to their staff directly this time.
Earlier this week, Mr Musk explained why he wanted federal employees to fulfill his demand to detail their work.
“What we are trying to get to the bottom of is, we think there are a number of people on the government payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can’t respond,” he said during a Cabinet meeting on Feb 26.
“So, we’re just literally trying to figure out are these people real, are they alive, and can they write an e-mail, which I think is a reasonable expectation.” NYTIMES
