Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) leader Elon Musk on Monday (Feb 24) warned federal employees who have not returned to the office that they would be put on administrative leave if they fail to report back.

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This comes a month after US President Donald Trump said that government workers must return to office how it was before the pandemic “or be terminated.”

“Those who ignored President Trump’s executive order to return to work have now received over a month’s warning,” Musk wrote in an X post.

“Starting this week, those who still fail to return to office will be placed on administrative leave.”

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Musk’s post was a reply to a post by Rep. Ralph Norman, who said that no government agency was occupying even half of their office space.

In January, the president said that he believed very few federal workers would return to the office and “therefore our government will get smaller and more efficient.” 

Trump signed an executive order to end work from home and require employees to return to the office in person. The department heads were ordered to “as soon as practicable, take all necessary steps to terminate remote work arrangements and require employees to return to work in-person at their respective duty stations on a full-time basis.”

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All government agencies have given deadlines to employees for when they must return to the office full-time. Employees were offered buyouts in case they did not wish to return to the office.

Musk’s previous email

Over the weekend, federal workers were sent an email by Musk’s team asking workers, “What did you do last week?” Musk warned that failing to reply to the email would be taken as their resignation. 

However, FBI Director Kash Patel instructed the staff in his agency to “please pause any responses”, making clear that “no employee is obligated to report their activities outside of their Department chain of command.” This email sparked confusion among the employees.

(With inputs from agencies)