WASHINGTON, United States. The Trump administration has formally ended the “five things” email program introduced by billionaire and former Trump adviser Elon Musk, which required federal employees to list their five workplace achievements from the previous week.
The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) announced the decision on Tuesday through a memo rescinding earlier guidance that instructed employees to comply with the initiative. OPM Director Scott Kupor stated that managers already have other tools to track employee work and confirmed that the agency would no longer manage or use the process internally.
Many federal agencies had already stopped implementing the weekly email, but the move marks a formal end to one of Musk’s most unpopular initiatives. The decision comes after a public falling out between Musk and Trump in early June, months after Musk departed the administration in May to focus on his business ventures.
Musk, who helped lead the Department of Government Efficiency’s cost-cutting efforts, initially parted on good terms with Trump. However, tensions rose after Musk criticized Trump’s tax cut and spending bill, calling it an abomination. This led Trump to pull the nomination of Musk ally Jared Isaacman to head NASA and to threaten cancellation of federal contracts with Musk’s companies.
Launched in February, the “five things” email was intended to improve accountability but faced resistance from department chiefs and confusion among federal employees. Kupor, who became OPM director in July, had earlier questioned the program’s efficiency, describing the process as “very manual” and of questionable value.
Edgardo Hernal started college at UP Diliman and received his BA in Economics from San Sebastian College, Manila, and Masters in Information Systems Management from Keller Graduate School of Management of DeVry University in Oak Brook, IL. He has 25 years of copy editing and management experience at Thomson West, a subsidiary of Thomson Reuters.
- EDGARDO HERNAL
- EDGARDO HERNAL
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