1st Edition
The Human Resource Management of Political Staffers Insights from Prime Ministers' Advisers and Reformers
The Human Resource Management of Political Staffers: Insights from Prime Ministers’ Advisers and Reformers explores the human resource management of political staffers and advisers who work for politicians.
Deeply grounded in the experiences of those who worked in the highest political offices under Prime Ministers Boris Johnson, Justin Trudeau, Scott Morrison and Jacinda Ardern, it makes the case for better management of staffers by illuminating past problems with the workplace such as extreme workloads, little work-life balance and lack of orientation and training. But it also offers a way forward by combining ad hoc positive experiences into guidance for future best practice. Drawing on interviews with advisers/staffers and practitioners working on HR reform in politics, in four countries – the UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand – it provides a research-informed best practice guide for the staffers/advisers, their managers and reformers which offers practical advice on how to recruit, orientate and train, manage and support staffers and advisers appropriately within the complex political environment. It also conveys the highly skilled roles staffers undertake and the democratic contribution they make.
The Human Resource Management of Political Staffers is a must-have guide to current and future advisers, politicians and ministers. Human resource management for political staffers is important not just for the individuals but to enable taxpayer-funded staffers to perform more effectively, which will in turn help elected politicians deliver for voters.
Chapters: Chapter 9 of this book is freely available as a downloadable Open Access PDF at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.
1. Introduction, methodology and data
Focus of the book
The importance of the topic and previous academic and practitioner work
Methodology
Structure of the book
Acknowledgements
Contribution
2. The case for better HRM for political staffers and advisers
Political staffer motivations and contributions
Why staffers love their jobs
The problems with current practice
Multiple areas of HRM ineffectiveness
The exceptionalism argument: politics is unique
“It’s just the way it is” is an unacceptable excuse
Improved HRM would bring multiple benefits
3. The nature and capabilities of the roles that political staffers and advisers play
Understanding the roles that political staffers undertake
Role variance across political offices
Job shaping amidst uncertainty
Appreciating the crucial element of working with colleagues
Comprehending what staffers seek to achieve in their role
Realising the capabilities the roles require
Summary
4. The recruitment and selection of political staffers and advisers
Taking into account the nature of the political staffer job
Being upfront with applicants about the demands and terms of the jobs
Drawing on partisan sources of recruitment
Being open to non-partisan sources of recruitment
Securing a mixed-source staffing pool
Ensuring selection assesses candidate suitability for the role
Aiming to end up with a diverse team
Summary
5. The orientation, training and development of political staffers and advisers
Offering peer-driven orientation
Providing ongoing training and development relevant to political staffers
Supporting visible career paths and progression
Summary
6. Managing the office structure, workloads and performance of political staffers and advisers
Setting up effective office structures
Helping staffers constrain and cope with workloads
Giving feedback to improve performance in political offices
Summary
7. Maintaining the morale and mental health of political staffers and advisers
Building a positive office culture
Using specific strategies to build and maintain motivation and morale
Facilitate a strong team spirit and camaraderie
Employing bespoke tools to mitigate challenges and support mental health
Summary
8. Improving the future HRM of political staffers and advisers
Creating a bespoke professional infrastructure for the HRM of political staffers
Improving recruitment and selection
Providing better training and mentoring of staffers and their managers
Instigating better working conditions for political staffers
Summary
9. Best practice guidance for political staffing for political managers, advisers and reformers
The privilege of service in political staffing
The current crisis in political staffing HRM
The potential for good HRM
This research
An overall vision and HRM architecture for political staffing
Best practice guidance for political staffers, their managers and reformers
Guidance for all practitioners
Guidance for political staffers
Guidance for political managers
Guidance for reformers
Biography
Jennifer Lees-Marshment is Professor of Political Marketing and Management at the University of Dundee, Scotland. She is a research-led but practice-oriented cross-disciplinary academic focused on researching Political Marketing, Political Management, Political Leadership and Public Participation. She has interviewed over 350 political practitioners, including government ministers and staffers/advisors to prime ministers and presidents, and is author/editor of 18 books.
