Hundreds of government employees who were purged by Elon Musk ‘s DOGE are being begged to return to work, according to a new report. The General Services Administration, the federal entity that oversees the government’s real estate and workspaces, sent out a memo asking employees to return to work. GSA’s Public Buildings Service employees acquire and lease government workspaces and federal facilities across the country.

Around 400 GSA Public Building Services employees who received reduction-in-force (RIF) notifications, or termination letters, have been asked to return. Former GSA staffers received notice that they have until the end of the week to accept or decline reinstatement to their previous posts, according to an internal memo obtained by the Associated Press. Individuals who accept the offer, which was sent out last Friday, must start work on October 6.

Those being asked to return to work after receiving a RIF notification will, in many cases, have received pay for months without having to work due to court cases and internal reviews delaying their termination. ‘Ultimately, the outcome was the agency was left broken and understaffed,’ Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official, told the AP. ‘They didn’t have the people they needed to carry out basic functions,’ he added.

Becker shared that GSA has been in ‘triage mode’ while grappling with the number of people who left. The former GSA official noted how Musk’s program went too far, too quickly. But a GSA spokesperson told the Daily Mail that most of those who left did so of their own accord. ‘When we talk about the size and scope of this, it’s important to understand that the majority of our separations have been voluntary – the employee’s choice,’ the spokesperson said in a statement.

‘GSA’s leadership team has comprehensively considered workforce actions and is making adjustments in the best interest of the customer agencies we serve and the American taxpayers.’ Since March, thousands of GSA employees have left the agency after taking the deferred resignation offers or other programs that encouraged early retirement or buyouts. GSA had roughly 12,000 employees at the beginning of the year.

After a leadership change at the agency and a subsequent review of staff, the decision was made to offer former employees their jobs back, a GSA employee told the Daily Mail. The decision to return to the GSA is voluntary, the memo sent to ex-staffers stated.

It is just the latest government agency that has brought former employees back into the fold. The Internal Revenue Service, the Labor Department and the National Park Service have all reinstated former employees who opted for the deferred resignation or were cut by DOGE.