Advocates tell federal workers not to respond to DOGE email: 'What did you do last week?'

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Advocates for federal workers across the country are urging federal workers not to respond to an email that was sent out over the weekend from the Office of Personnel Management asking for employees to reply with five accomplishments from last week, with the subject line: "What did you do last week?"

"As part of the Trump Administration's commitment to an efficient and accountable federal workforce, OPM is asking employees to provide a brief summary of what they did last week by the end of Monday, CC'ing their manager," a spokesperson for OPM told ABC News. "Agencies will determine any next steps."

Though the email doesn't state that there would be any consequences for not responding, Elon Musk posted on X that failure to respond would signify resignation.

"There's nothing in this memo that says if you don't comply, you will be considered to resign. Those are words that have been spoken, but they are not in the memo itself," Thomas Link told ABC11. Link serves President of the North Carolina chapter of the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association (NARFE), which is a nonpartisan organization.

Link is urging federal employees not to respond to the email, echoing calls from the leaders of several federal departments, like the Department of Defense, Homeland Security, State, and Energy.

Notably, Trump-appointed director of the FBI, Kash Patel, also encouraging FBI workers to not reply to the email.

"My advice to you is don't respond. Talk to your first line supervisor first and ask them what you should do," Link said.

Though it's not explicitly stated what the goal is in sending this email out, Link said it's creating fear among the workforce.

"The message federal employees are getting is: 'your job is in danger. Forget about the protections you thought you had, because we're coming after you. No matter what you do, no matter how you been rated in the past,'" said Link.

For those who don't work directly in the federal government or rely financially on someone who does, Link wants to make clear that if there are widespread layoffs on the federal level, everyone could start to feel the effects one way or another.

"You will care when you don't get your mail, when you don't get your Medicare payments, your Medicaid coverage, you don't get your Social Security checks, if you go to National Park and you can't get in because it's closed, these are all run by, federal employees and federal agencies," Link said.

According to OPM data, North Carolina has more than 51,000 federal civilian workers as of December 2024.