Musk's Joke About 'Pulse Check' Email Backfires After Only Half of Employees Respond

Elon Musk giggled while defending his controversial ultimatum email that demanded federal workers submit five-bullet work summaries or resign, calling it a "pulse check" and not a "performance review."

"To think like, I think that, you know, perhaps, was first interpreted as a performance review, but actually it was a pulse check review. Do you have a pulse? Do you have a pulse and two neurons?" Musk said at a cabinet meeting. "If you have a pulse and two neurons, you can reply to an email. This is, you know, I think not a high bar, is what I'm saying."

Musk and President Donald Trump alleged some government paychecks are going to nonexistent employees.

"What we are trying to get to the bottom of is we think there are a number of people on the payroll who are dead, which is probably why they can't respond," Musk claimed. "Some people who are not real people have been literally fictional individuals that are collecting paychecks. Somebody's collecting paychecks on a fictional individual."

The Tesla CEO's reasoning was slammed by several users online, some of which argued that Musk's method was not the most effective.

"Because the best way to find out if someone is dead is to send an email," one X user clapped back.

"Do they actually think dead people are being paid?" another asked.

"So only the living will continue to be on the payroll," someone else joked.

Musk, head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), issued the email directive Saturday. FBI Director Kash Patel advised employees to ignore the request, while the Office of Personnel Management later confirmed workers were not obligated to respond. To date, around 50% of employees have replied.

On Wednesday, agencies were given two weeks to propose "significant" layoffs under Trump's executive order to shrink the government.

"The American people registered their verdict on the bloated, corrupt federal bureaucracy on November 5, 2024, by voting for President Trump and his promises to sweepingly reform the federal government," an Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management Wednesday memo said.

With 2.3 million federal employees, thousands have already lost their jobs.