Federal workers who received an email demanding they list their accomplishments from the past week are not required to respond, according to the Trump administration's Office of Personnel Management.
The email, which came from Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, asked some 2.3 million employees to provide five bullet points detailing their recent work output.
"Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullet points of what you accomplished last week and cc your manager. Please do not send any classified information, links, or attachments," the email said. "Deadline is Monday at 11:59pmEST."
Although Musk had threatened that workers who did not comply with the request by the specified deadline could face job termination, the Office of Personnel Management clarified that participation in the request was not mandatory. The department further assured federal employees that any information submitted in response to the email would not be used for any specific purpose.
The directive, which set off confusion across various government agencies, was met with mixed responses.
While some agencies, including the Department of Transportation and the Department of Education, told employees to comply, others like the Department of Justice and the FBI advised workers to disregard the email. Agencies like the Securities and Exchange Commission provided a template for responses, while General Services Administration and Department of Commerce encouraged caution about sharing sensitive or classified information in responses.
President Donald Trump publicly supported the effort, which caused even more confusion among federal workers.
Despite the threats from Musk, the statement from the Office of Personnel Management made it clear that employees' participation in the initiative was voluntary, easing some concerns among federal workers.
Musk's Department of Government Efficiency is auditing federal agencies for wasteful spending, corruption and mismanagement, as President Trump aims to clean house within the government.