Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Source: Washington Post

Feds to start getting weekly emails asking what they did. Bosses will see if it fits Trump goals.
The new strategy is in part meant to allow supervisors and agency heads to check whether employees' work fits into the Trump administration's goals and priorities, according to people familiar with it and records obtained by The Post.

Updated
February 28, 2025 at 12:06 p.m. EST


Billionaire Elon Musk speaks at the first Cabinet meeting of President Donald Trump's second term at the White House on Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By Emily Davies, Carol D. Leonnig and Hannah Natanson

Federal workers are slated to receive a second email as early as Saturday asking them for a bullet-point description of what they did in the past week -- only this time, a new strategy from the Trump administration means they might have to respond, according to three people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private talks. ... The emails are slated to become a weekly requirement, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post and a person briefed on the Office of Personnel Management's decisions. In part, the responses will serve to gauge agencies' alignment with President Donald Trump's agenda and executive orders, according to the documents and the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly.

Last weekend, OPM sent a message to government employees from [e-mail], asking for a list of what workers had accomplished the week before. The new message is expected to arrive from addresses associated with chiefs of agency HR departments across the federal government, two of the people said. The documents show, and the person briefed confirmed, that the eventual plan is for agencies to develop Microsoft forms to capture employees' five-bullet responses, that such replies will be mandatory and that the collected information will go to department heads across the government. Details on employees' work will not be released externally, according to the person briefed and the documents.

The switch could give the request more teeth, because agencies typically have more direct authority over their staff than OPM, which enacts HR policy across the bureaucracy but doesn't actually employ most workers. ... Several Cabinet departments and other federal agencies advised workers this week not to respond to the initial email, foiling plans by billionaire Elon Musk -- who is advising Trump on how to slash the government -- to consider those who didn't reply as having offered their resignations.

"The president of the United States cannot fire a career employee, because they are not reporting to him," said Max Stier, president and chief executive of the Partnership for Public Service, a nonpartisan group that advocates for a stronger federal government. "But if an agency head says this is what all employees need to do, there is fairly significant latitude."

{snip}

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/02/28/federal-workers-second-email-elon-musk/

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Whoops, I forgot the link.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. So, Musk and TSF now will control all government functions. No more independence for agencies nor departments.

[aggiesal]

4. Straight out of their Playbook Project 2025. The Unitary Presidency ...

Unitary, as in one.
One branch of government.
One decision maker.
One, one, one.

Here are some excerpts from Project 2025.

Pages 19 & 20.

Section 1
TAKING THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT

Just two years after the death of the last surviving Constitutional Convention delegate, James Madison, Abraham Lincoln warned that the greatest threat to America would come not from without, but from within. This is evident today: Whether it be mask and vaccine mandates, school and business closures, efforts to keep Americans from driving gas cars or using gas stoves, or efforts to defund the police, indoctrinate schoolchildren, alter beloved books, abridge free speech, undermine the colorblind ideal, or deny the biological reality that there are only two sexes, the Left’s steady stream of insanity appears to be never-ending. The next Administration must stand up for American ideals, American families, and American culture—all things in which, thankfully, most Americans still believe.

Highlighting this need, former director of the Office of Management and Budget Russ Vought writes in Chapter 2, “The modern conservative President’s task is to limit, control, and direct the executive branch on behalf of the American people.” At the core of this goal is the work of the White House and the central personnel agencies. Article II of the Constitution vests all federal executive power in a President, made accountable to the citizenry through regular elections. Our Founders wrote, “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” Accordingly, Vought writes, “it is the President’s agenda that should matter to the departments and agencies,” not their own.

[slightlv]

9. And no freedom for employees...

This is one move to make more employees leave their job, willingly. Big Brother wanting to know what you did? Where are the cameras watching you placed? This is just so infantilizing and humiliating...'

I saw something like this coming when they redesigned and reformed the Merit survey we do each year. Used to be it started with your supervisors, then anyone who'd like to comment on your work, and then to you to read, edit, and sign. sometimes you got a raise or a step increase, sometimes you didn't.

The redesigned survey starts with the employee... has him/her give a list of year-long accomplishments, etc., etc. etc. and then goes out to all departments that employee interacts with, and finally ends with the employee's supervisor. I knew the way they worded the questions on the form that it was designed to be a help in a RIF situation. Talking with my coworkers and others around us, we all agreed this wasn't a positive thing for the civilian feds... it was a negative. Nearly everyone agreed the questions were skewed and had nothing to do with our actual job. Just a one-size fits all form that will be on hand when they need to clear out the office again (we had just come back from that 3-week shutdown).

[aggiesal]

2. I think we should all send emails to our representatives at all levels and ask ...

for 5 issues they worked on, in the last week.
If those 5 issues don't line up with constituents needs, then they would be on notice that they would be primaried out of office in the next election.
We should insist that they produce those 5 issues on a weekly basis.
It should be posted on their website by noon (local time) Monday.

I've already sent my representative questions about the happenings in D.C. and I got a response back from each.

[travelingthrulife]

3. And WaPo continues to make this sound normal.

[Zackzzzz]

5. My job was Monday through Friday

But what is with this Saturday demand?
It's like the boss showing up at your front door.
To me, there is a creepy element to this Saturday order.

And Really, who is reading everyone's 5 points.
Maybe....I.... would like to play golf on Saturday.

[MLWR]

6. And exactly WHO is going to read all that nonsense?

[Akoto]

7. I'd print the list of duties from my job ad and post that. That's what I do every week. n/t

[wishstar]

8. Most agencies already keep meticulous records of each employee's performance stats

For instance at SSA where I used to work, they kept records of how many phone calls, interviews, claims and appeals taken, claims processed to completion, disability reviews initiated and completed, SSI redeterminations pending and completed, etc and etc and they also reviewed cases we worked on to evaluate accuracy and adherence to regulations. Our evaluations were based on all of the lists and statistics they kept on individual employees. This new requirement only serves as a time wasting distraction making it even harder for employees to concentrate on their jobs and fearful of criticism from a whole new unpredictable direction.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

10. When I was still working

I would call this technique 'micro managing' and it's about the worst style of management there is.