- The holiday gloom in the Biden White House might be pushing some staffers to join The Great Resignation.
- A new report from Politico cites interviews from White House staffers, who complained about poor management.
- The staffers also described the strain of working remotely and sparse instances of in-office camaraderie.
A new report from Politico says White House staffers may be swept up in The Great Resignation, too.
Rumblings of dissatisfaction with the work environment at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue were reported on by Politico's West Wing Playbook, which detailed the strains of working remotely and an "insular" top management composed of old-timers.
While some officials cited poor management as being a reason for the gloom, other Biden White House staffers pointed the finger at a closely-knit group of top Biden aides who operate in a separate sphere from the bulk of the staff. According to the officials who spoke to Politico, this was best summed up in the line: "no new friends in Biden world."
Politico also interviewed several White House staffers who told the news outlet that people were feeling burned out, with little opportunity for the camaraderie of in-person work. Separately, informal happy hours and dinners that have been organized at the White House have not had much of an impact wth cheering staffers up, per 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," said an unnamed official to Politico.
Politico reported that Biden's staff might be seeing a higher-than-usual turnover at the start of 2022 when people look to switch jobs after sticking it out at the White House for just over a year.
Politico's report comes the same month that Vice President Kamala Harris' office reported an unusually high staff turnover. This exodus of staffers included Symone Sanders, Harris' chief spokesperson, and Ashley Etienne, her communications director.
Representatives from the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.
