Earlier this month, there were multiple media reports about staffers leaving the office of Kamala Harris over supposed strife, but it turns out the vice president is not alone in this problem.
Some unhappy staff members are apparently planning to leave the Biden White House after the holidays.
Andrew Mark Miller reports at FOX News:
Biden’s popularity sinking in the White House as unhappy staffers plan post-holiday exit: reportMorale among staffers is reportedly low in President Biden’s White House as his first year in office comes to a close and polls show his popularity underwater with the majority of Americans.According to a Politico report late Wednesday, White House staffers are unhappy with their jobs to the point where they anonymously leaked to the online publication in hopes that senior staffers would be alerted to the lack of comradery and overall happiness in the workplace.”A lot of the natural coordination that happens in a typically functioning White House has been lost, and there has been no proactive effort to make up for it through intentional team building,” one White House official said.Staffers say they have struggled with virtual events and some staffers have complained that those who are “outsiders” to Biden’s inside circle and network are often left out.Additionally, staffers say they have been left out of certain events while staffers from around the capital are invited in their stead due to a “lottery system” used to decide who comes to certain gatherings.
The Politico report has more and indicates that many of the people who go into this work expect perks as a result:
Some staffers say it’s the result of an insular, top-heavy White House of longtime Biden aides who are distant from much of the staff — “no new friends in Biden world,” goes the refrain. And others say it’s just poor management.The small perks of working in the White House, like the chance to take part in holiday parties and ceremonies, have also been in short supply. For the White House’s Independence Day party, most White House staff could only attend if they worked as unpaid volunteers staffing the event, per an email from White House operations sent at the time and shared with us. For the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning and the Christmas tree lighting, attendance was doled out via a lottery system, leaving out many White House aides…“No one expects business as usual during the pandemic, but it’s beyond demoralizing, it’s insulting — especially when you see DNC and Hill staff and other D.C. types get invited,” explained a White House official who was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to talk to us. “Many colleagues have brought this up to me unprompted. And I’ve had D.C. friends ask me if I wanted to grab coffee after they attended. Meanwhile, we work here, and most of us haven’t worked here before or stepped foot into the White House.”
When Trump was president, I seem to remember people in the media feeling this way. During the Obama years, members of the press were always going to fancy events at the White House and in 2016, they were suddenly outsiders.
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