Many federal supervisors this week had just hours to send tweet-length justifications to save their employees’ jobs

Several federal agencies this week received an urgent task from administration officials: tell us why each of your recent hires should keep their jobs.

In at least one case at the Energy Department, a supervisor was given 20 minutes to turn around the justifications. They were limited to 200 characters per employee, including spaces.

The directive came from the Office of Personnel Management and follows the human resources agency asking every agency for lists of employees still on their probationary periods. Such workers—usually those hired within the last one or two years, depending on their hiring mechanism—can typically be fired quickly and without much recourse, sparking concerns the Trump administration is planning to dismiss them in droves.

That supervisor was also included on the list, and now fears for their job.

An OPM official said the directives were given to agencies that had not yet fully complied with their previous guidance, which it issued on President Trump’s first day in office. Similar instructions were given to the Internal Revenue Service and at least some other agencies with an equally tight deadline, according to a source familiar with the process.

In its initial guidance, OPM directed agencies to “promptly determine” whether probationers “should be retained at the agency.” Employees at some agencies told Government Executive their supervisors had not received new guidance this week, instead initially telling OPM upon submitting their lists that all impacted staff in their divisions should be retained.