Overview

• After this week, Defense Department civilian staff will stop sending the 'five things' productivity emails and instead must propose one efficiency or waste-reduction idea by Wednesday each week.
• The 'five things' initiative was launched on Feb. 22 by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to track employee accomplishments across federal agencies.
• After initial pushback and a Feb. 28 memorandum from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth mandating compliance, the Office of Personnel Management later clarified the reports were voluntary.
• Several agencies including the National Institutes of Health and CDC have paused the bullet-point emails, while others such as NOAA and the Social Security Administration still require them.
• The Pentagon's new directive offers no financial incentives for suggestions, diverging from the Navy's Beneficial Suggestions program, which pays civilian workers for cost-saving ideas.