Many White House staffers are catching the “holiday blues,” according to a report.
Politico’s Alex Thompson, Tina Sfondeles, and Max Tani reported, “In the first year of the Biden White House, comradery has been fleeting and many teams are suffering from low morale, according to several White House officials.”
According to the outlet, the result of it is “many White House aides are feeling gloomy this holiday season.”
The writers noted several are considering leaving, “creating the potential for higher-than-usual turnover at the beginning of the year, when aides feel they’ve been in the job long enough that it won’t look odd to depart.”
One White House official told Politico, “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.”
Thompson, Sfondeles, and Tani explained the perks of working at the White House, “Like the chance to take part in holiday parties and ceremonies, have also been in short supply.”
Another White House staffer argued, “It’s beyond demoralizing, it’s insulting” to not be invited to White House events.
The official added, “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.”
The anonymous staffer also suggested it is “hypocritical and ironic that a President whose brand is built on empathy and family has staff policies that fly in the face of that brand. It’s not a good look and it’s emblematic of how this place runs.”
Earlier this month, Axios reported some staffers are leaving the White House, in part, due to the fear of becoming a “Harris person,” as IJR reported.
According to people familiar with the situation, “Burnout, better opportunities and concern about being permanently branded a ‘Harris person’ is driving some of the turnover” in Vice President Kamala Harris’ office.