‘Those Who Fail To Return To Office…’: Elon Musk’s Fresh Warning To US Govt Employees Working From Home

Last Updated:February 24, 2025, 18:06 IST

Elon Musk in a fresh directive said that US federal government employees will be placed on administrative leave.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is leading a drive to increase “government efficiency” and has sought reports from US government employees and ordered them to return to working from office. (IMAGE: REUTERS)

US President Donald Trump’s special advisor Elon Musk said that those federal employees who have not heeded the call to return to office and are working from home will be placed on administrative leave.

In a social media post on the site X, which is owned by him, the billionaire tech mogul said: “Those who ignored President Trump’s executive order to return to work have now received over a month’s warning. Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave."

The SpaceX and Tesla CEO was commenting on a separate post made by Republican senator Ralph Norman who claimed that “not a single government agency is occupying even HALF of their office space" and that it was unfair to the American taxpayer.

The Trump administration, through the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) led by Elon Musk, plans to eliminate all remote work for federal employees.

Trump has put Musk — the world’s richest person and the president’s biggest donor — in charge of the new Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) advisory body, tasking him with slashing public spending and tackling alleged waste and corruption.

DOGE is a free-ranging entity run by the tech entrepreneur, though its cost-cutting spree has been met with pushback on several fronts and mixed court rulings.

Last week Musk said all US federal employees must justify their work or lose their jobs, hours after the president pushed him to be “more aggressive" in slashing government spending.

“All federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week. Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," Musk wrote.

Federal workers were asked to submit “approx. 5 bullets of what you accomplished last week."

The email came from the US Office of Personnel Management (OPM), with the subject line “What did you do last week?". The deadline to reply was 11:59 pm Monday, though the message did not say failure to do so would lead to termination.

Washington D.C., United States of America (USA)

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