President Donald Trump, in collaboration with Elon Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has initiated a directive requiring federal employees to detail their weekly work accomplishments. Non-compliance with this mandate may result in termination. This move aims to identify and eliminate inefficiencies and potential payroll fraud within the federal government.
An email from DOGE instructed federal employees to list five tasks they completed in the past week. While some department heads advised their staff against responding, President Trump emphasized the necessity of this measure. He stated that the initiative seeks to uncover instances where individuals may be on the payroll without contributing effectively, highlighting concerns about absenteeism and even fictitious employees.
During his time with French Prime Minister Emmanuel Macron, Trump commented, “We have people who don’t show up to work, and nobody even knows if they work for the government, so by asking the question, ‘Tell us what you did this week,’ what [Elon’s] doing is saying, ‘Are you actually working?” He went onto add: “If you don’t answer … you’re fired.”
Elon Musk, leading DOGE, has been instrumental in implementing this policy. He mandated that employees respond to the email detailing their weekly achievements, with non-responses interpreted as voluntary resignations.
Trump stated: “That’s how badly various parts of our government were run. They’re trying to find out who is working for the government. We have found hundreds of billions of fraud, and we just started. We’re trying to find out if people are working. If people don’t respond, it’s very possible there is no such person, or they’re not working.”
