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Thousands of federal employees have a midnight deadline to reply to an email explaining what they accomplished last week, while civilian employees at the Pentagon are expected to receive instructions Monday.The Trump administration has described it as a "pulse check" amid a sweeping push to downsize the government's workforce. The message reads, "Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets describing what you accomplished last week and cc your manager." Federal workers at some other agencies started getting the email Friday with instructions to reply by 11:59 p.m. on Monday. It's the second time federal workers are getting an email like this after a similar directive last week caused confusion and backlash from workers unions."The President has made it clear that this is mandatory for the executive branch," said White House cost-cutting advisor Elon Musk in a post on X. "Anyone working on classified or other sensitive matters is still required to respond if they receive the email, but can simply reply that their work is sensitive."The email is expected to come from individual government agencies this time, rather than the White House’s Office of Personnel Management. In an updated guidance document published Friday, OPM said, "Individual federal government employees can decline to provide information by not responding to the email. The consequences for failure to provide the requested information will vary depending on the particular email at issue."At the Pentagon, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said non-compliance will lead to "further review," and replies will be consolidated internally within the department. "We will take that into consideration as we make sure we're being as focused and as tailored as possible in looking at how we streamline our workforce to both meet the fiscal demands at the moment but also ensure we have the strongest, most viable fighting force in the world," Hegseth said in a video message. The Pentagon previously paused the directive, but Hegseth now says civilian employees are required to respond. He told those workers to expect an email on Monday, with a reply due within 48 hours.Meanwhile, employees at the Department of Education have been offered a $25,000 buyout ahead of looming layoffs, according to the Associated Press. The AP reports that an email sent to all agency workers gave them until the end of the day Monday to decide on the offer. It comes as President Donald Trump pledges to work with Congress to abolish the department.