• Federal workers are protesting mass firings and workplace policy changes with subtle acts of dissent.
• The resistance follows workforce cuts and demands from Trump, Musk, and the White House's DOGE office.
• Workers are using snarky emails, pronouns, and legal action to counter the administration's policies.

First came the spoons, and then the staplers — subtle dissent is rippling through federal government offices in the era of cost cutting under Trump.

In response to a host of wide-ranging orders from President Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and the White House's DOGE office, they're displaying pride flags, flaunting their pronouns, and sending snarky emails. As one worker said, it's all about "malicious compliance."

"I just go back and forth over which is worse: giving them what they want (an excuse to fire us) or kowtowing to their illegal bullshit," the federal worker told BI, referencing Musk's threat to workers who don't list their week's accomplishments in an email.

Business Insider spoke to 10 federal workers about the ways they're pushing back, granting them anonymity to protect their jobs. While some publicly booed leaders in meetings, others said they're trying to be subtle about their dissent because they aren't always sure which of their coworkers or bosses agree with them.

It's illustrative of the rift that's broken open in recent weeks as the administration has spearheaded efforts to terminate thousands of federal workers, cut federal funding to key programs, and change the way remaining employees do their jobs. The federal employees BI spoke to said they've found comfort in banding together and making statements on the job whenever they can.

The first signs were workers embracing a spoon symbol as a contrast to the "fork in the road" offered by the government, which tried to incentivize workers to leave under a deferred resignation program. A meme of a stapler referencing the cult-classic movie "Office Space" and daring someone to "come and take it" circulated online. And then there's good old-fashioned unionizing.

"This convinced me to join the union at my agency right away, and convince four coworkers to join too," a longtime federal worker said, adding that DOGE has been the "best thing" to ever happen to union membership.

Booing, ignoring emails, and sharing pronouns

BI heard it from dozens of federal workers in recent weeks: They didn't like the emails asking them to list their accomplishments from the past week. A worker at the Office of Personnel Management, the agency that sent the Musk-inspired email, said that information sharing is "huge" among the federal workforce right now — including "ways to write your stupid bullet points."

One employee said that at a NASA town hall, workers booed a director who didn't have clear guidance on how to respond. A Department of Defense worker said, "A lot of people reported the emails as phishing."

While many federal agencies told workers that they were not required to respond to the first email, OPM sent a second email a week later — and some agencies shifted to requiring responses. A Health and Human Services worker was one of a few who said they'll continue to refuse to respond.

Several workers described protests against the administration's new policies regarding DEI and gender, as workers were asked to strip pronouns from their email signatures. Some NASA workers have been introducing themselves with their pronouns during town halls and company meetings, the NASA employee said, and some have pushed back on the agency taking down "gender neutral" signs on restrooms by putting their own signs up. One worker at the Social Security Administration said that while they can't include "she/her" in their email signature, they can still wear a button that says it.

"As soon as DEI stuff came down in the offices, it went up in our cubicles," the SSA worker said. "I know I went out and bought a Trans pride flag for my cubicle as soon as they made us only list male/female."

The NASA worker said that while they suspect there might be "DOGE sympathizers" in upper management, most of their coworkers are "pretty upset and have no problem asking about how to deal with DOGE." An OPM worker said they are being careful because they assume they're being monitored but that everyone they know has been "uniformly appalled." One Department of Defense worker said a coworker tried challenging them to a fight after overhearing them discuss their Trump-related fears.

"I try to be conscious about who I voice my opinions around," they said.

Potential legal action has also helped some employees resist the administration's changes. The OPM worker said that discussing how to file appeals with other employees has been unifying, and the HHS worker is hopeful that there will be further class actions to counter "the emotional distress, hostile work environment, and harassment."

Unions for federal workers filed a lawsuit on February 19 to block the Trump administration's firing of probationary federal workers, or workers who have typically been on the job for under one year. American Federation of Government Employees President Everett Kelley said in a statement that the administration "has abused the probationary period to conduct a chaotic, ill-informed, and politically-driven firing spree."

But for now, workers are engaging in moments of pushback: One federal worker is using their email signature to resist, signing off every email with a quote on the limits of OPM's power.

And the HHS worker is doing the most prudent thing for their career: "I've been trying to work business as usual," they said. "But I've also been applying to other jobs."

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI.

Have a tip? Contact these reporters via email at [email protected] or [email protected] or via Signal at julianakaplan.33or asheffey.97. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• The Trump Administration's OPM emailed federal workers again requesting a list of accomplishments.
• The latest email tells employees to expect to complete a productivity summary weekly going forward.
• Federal workers who shared the email with BI said the doubling down is "nuts" and "infuriating."

Federal workers across agencies are once again getting emails asking them to detail what they did this past week.

The second email, received by federal employees Friday night, promises weekly check-ins going forward. Elon Musk, a senior advisor to President Donald Trump who is closely tied to the White House DOGE office, hinted that this was coming after doubling down on the email check-ins this week.

"Please reply to this email with approx. 5 bullets describing what you accomplished last week and cc your manager," the email, reviewed by Business Insider, reads. "Going forward, please complete the above task each week by Mondays at 11:59pmET."

Federal workers from agencies including the Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs received the email from the Office of Personnel Management around 9 p.m. ET Friday night.

Representatives for the White House and the Office of Personnel Management did not immediately respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.

"Nuts. They did it again," one Department of Education employee told Business Insider upon receiving the email.

Federal workers who have spoken to Business Insider have expressed frustration over the emails from OPM, which circumvent each office's chain of command and are sent during late or weekend hours.

The heads of various agencies have offered differing guidance regarding how their employees should respond, with at least eight offices, including the Department of Defense and the State Department, previously telling workers they don't have to respond to DOGE's emails.

On Monday, Musk said that employees who had not yet responded to the email would be given "another chance," but "failure to respond a second time will result in termination."

Less than half of the federal workforce responded to the first email, the White House said Tuesday.

The productivity-tracking emails, first sent on the afternoon of February 22 from an HR account in the Office of Personnel Management, followed President Donald Trump's request that Musk "get more aggressive" with DOGE's budget cuts and layoffs. The emails are among the latest of the office's sweeping initiatives that have resulted in mass firings, funding pauses, and work stoppages in departments and agencies across the federal government.

Musk had teased that the emails would be coming in a post on X, writing: "Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation," but the emails received by employees have not detailed any potential consequences for failing to reply by the deadline. The email sent Friday night also made no mention of those consequences.

The email has two key differences from the one sent last weekend: It makes clear the request for accomplishments will be ongoing, and stipulates that employees working with sensitive information do not need to respond with specific tasks.

"If all of your activities are classified or sensitive, please write 'All of my activities are sensitive,'" the Friday email reads.

One nurse who works with the Department of Veterans Affairs told Business Insider said the emails are "infuriating," adding that they'd responded to the last one after installing a read receipt tracker on their emails. Their initial response still hasn't even been opened, they said.

"They're such cowards," the nurse said. "Nobody has the guts to sign their name to this, and we're expected to respond to some faceless entity like we're shouting into a void. It's not coming from my supervisor or anyone in my actual chain of command, just another generic 'HR' email with no accountability."

Other federal employees who previously spoke to Business Insider said they were considering quitting rather than dealing with the emails and conflicting guidance about how to respond to them.

The Department of Education employee said they are looking for a new job, but have been struggling to find work since so many federal employees are recently out of work in the area where they live. As a single parent with dual citizenship, the Department of Education employee said they are considering moving abroad with their children.

Earlier Friday, Department of Education employees received a buyout offer "in advance of a very significant Reduction in Force," according to an email reviewed by Business Insider. Employees who have worked at the department for at least 3 years were offered $25,000 in addition to any retirement funds they are eligible for. Interested employees have until 11:59pm ET on March 3 to accept the offer.

And on Thursday, a memo seen by Business Insider was sent to employees in the Social Security Administration offering voluntary early retirements as part of a "restructuring that will include significant workforce reductions."

President Donald Trump's administration officially announced its plan for federal staff reductions in a Wednesday memo, telling agencies to prepare to cut staff and reorganize their departments by March 13.

The Department of Education employee said they would "probably not" take the buyout offer, adding that "it's crazy to give people just the weekend to think it over."

"I don't trust anything these people do," the Department of Education employee told BI.

Have a tip? Contact Katherine Tangalakis-Lippert via email at [email protected] or Signal at byktl.50. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• 56 million US workers lack employer-provided pension or retirement savings plans.
• A new AARP report highlights the financial insecurity facing workers without retirement plans.
• Those workers would likely have difficulty living solely off Social Security.

Many Americans don't feel ready for retirement — and their jobs aren't stepping in to fill in the economic gaps.

A new analysis from the AARP Public Policy Institute finds that, in 2022, 56 million Americans — nearly half of the private-sector workforce — worked for employers who didn't offer pension or retirement savings plans.

Workers with less education and lower earnings were less likely to have access to plans. Specifically, AARP said that about 75% of private-sector workers with less than a high school degree, 50% of workers with some college, and 31% of workers with a bachelor's degree do not have a retirement plan. On top of that, about 79% of workers earning $53,000 or less annually and 21% of workers earning over $53,000 do not have retirement plans.

David John, one of the AARP report's authors, told Business Insider that even while those workers would get Social Security benefits, they likely wouldn't be enough to supplement other expenses.

"The fact is that if you are a career lower-income individual, yes, Social Security is going to replace a higher proportion of your earnings, but you still have the emergencies that are going to come up," John said. "And that includes things like car repair, cost of medication, house repair — hot water heaters don't really care who you are at the time they decide to fail."

The AARP report said that, with the average Social Security benefit totaling around $1,767 a month in 2022, most retirees will need additional income sources to stay financially afloat.

"We have a substantial number of people who don't have sufficient retirement savings to supplement their Social Security. Social Security is it for a substantial number of people," John said. "And that means, essentially, that they may not have the kind of retirement that they dreamed of."

The report uses data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey on employer coverage, which provides data on Americans' work, earnings, and education, and adjusts it by factoring in additional data from the Survey of Consumer Finances and IRS to bring the findings in line with the overall population, allowing the researchers to break out specific demographic groups.

Financial security remains a top concern for many older adults. A recent report from the Alliance for Lifetime Income's Retirement Income Institute found that in 2024, over 30 million Americans born between 1959 and 1964 — the tail end of the baby boomer generation — will start turning 65, meaning many of them will increasingly start to rely on retirement savings. Without a retirement plan, some previously told BI they would likely have to continue working to supplement their Social Security.

Some states have taken steps to aid workers who do not have access to retirement plans through their employers. California created a program in 2019 called CalSavers, which requires employers in the state who do not sponsor a retirement plan to provide individual retirement accounts that employees are automatically enrolled into unless they opt out. John said that some variation on that type of plan could work at the federal level.

"The basic model or the basic way the state programs are structured can be a guide to help create a national solution to the retirement coverage problem," he said.

The latest Social Security and Medicare Board of Trustees report found that Social Security will only be able to pay out full benefits for the next 11 years if Congress does not intervene.

John said that the lack of coverage goes beyond just weighing down individuals — it could also have a drag on the wider economy.

"If we have a substantial number of people who don't have sufficient resources, they're going to put pressure on governments," he said. Those retirees will likely be more dependent on government programs like housing, healthcare, and senior citizen centers. "There is an expense to the economy and there is an expense to frankly the future by not dealing with this problem."

Do you not receive retirement benefits through work and are worried about your future? Contact these reporters at [email protected] and [email protected].