Hundreds of federal employees who were fired in Musk’s cost-cutting blitz are being asked to return to work. The General Services Administration ( GSA) has given the employees – who managed government workspaces – until the end of the week to decide. Those who accept must report to work on 6 October after what amounts to a seven-month paid vacation. “Ultimately, the outcome was the agency was left broken and understaffed,” said Chad Becker, a former GSA real estate official. “They didn’t have the people they needed to carry out basic functions.”