Understanding workplace conditions: an international perspective

Jennifer Lees-Marshment Professor, Chair of Political Marketing and Management at the University of Dundee

This essay applies a human resource management (HRM) perspective to understand the challenging environment politicians and their staff work in.

Problematic workplace behaviour in politics, including bullying, harassment and law-breaking, has been noted in repeated practitioner reports, parliamentary reviews and media stories around the world.¹ What has received less media and public attention is the substandard conditions under which politicians and their staff work.

Historically there has been a profound lack of basic HRM practices in place to orientate, train, manage and support both politicians and political advisors. While holding people accountable and regulating their behaviour is important, more effort should be put into creating appropriate HRM practices to support politicians to do their job – and do it well.

Work by pioneering civil servants and political advisors/staffers in parliament and parties has begun to develop more effective processes and support, but much more investment is needed to create comprehensive HRM that is fit for purpose, designed to suit the political nature and unique characteristics of these roles.

This essay explains why the political workplace is often challenging for politicians and their staff, making the case for more investment to support improvements, and offers research-led recommendations for where such investment should be focused. In doing so, it builds on international research in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the UK, which included 66 interviews with political advisors who worked in prime ministers’ offices and civil servants who worked in close association.²

High demands on politicians and their staff

Diverse and demanding jobs that require extensive and diverse skills

While the most visible part of political jobs features politicians making noise in parliament, speaking in front of a podium or being interviewed by the media, research has identified that the job of both a politician and a political advisor or staffer requires extensive and diverse skills and attributes.

The job of a politician “carries great responsibility, requires complex problem-solving, creativity and long-term thinking”.³ MPs have to effectively run a small business when managing a political office.⁴Job analysis has made clear that it requires multiple skills including interpersonal skills, leadership, management, communication, adaptability, drive and resilience.⁵

Likewise, politicians’ staff need to have multi-faceted abilities and attributes. Political advisors who recently worked for prime ministers in Canada, New Zealand, Australia and the UK made clear when interviewed⁶ that their roles involved diverse capabilities including political reasoning, strategic abilities, people skills, advisory aptitudes, coping capability and specific expertise for their particular role focus.

Multi-faceted capabilities of political staffer jobs

• Specific expertise – event management; project management; market research skills; media monitoring and management; communication skills

• Political reasoning – applying a political lens; political judgment, nous or acuity

• Strategic abilities – strategy and forecasting; risk and crisis management and checks; thought leadership, brainstorming and puzzle solving; understanding public opinion and voters

• People skills – emotional intelligence; horizontal cross-functional working; internal and external relationship building and management; negotiation, legislative management and diplomacy; staff management, recruitment and employment issues

• Advisory aptitudes – agility and openness; ability to speak up; creative, outside-the-box thinking

• Coping capacity – self-starter; hardworking and willing to do long hours; extreme resilience to manage pressure

• Fit with politician and political office – fit into the team culture; committed to the work, party and ideals; good match with politician and their thinking; loyal and trustworthy

The jobs require accepting abysmal working conditions

The hours and rights politicians and their staff experience in practice are very challenging, and in some cases would breach common employment laws:

The table below outlines working conditions that can exist. While this does not apply to all political staff in all offices and countries, and at all times, the data from interviews with advisors who had worked for ministers and MPs suggests it is more common than we would like, and that such challenges also apply to politicians.

The stressful nature of the work is strongly conveyed by political advisors when interviewed. Senior political advisors' descriptions of the political workplace include:

“A world of over-constrained work”

“Always on”

“Because the media runs all the time, the job doesn't stop”

“You had to have your phone on at all times, even when you're sleeping”

“The pressure-cooker world of politics”

“Frantic”

“Everything changes from moment to moment”

“Things are just thrown at you”

“Chaotic and unstable”

“On fire”

“No room for error”

“Under an extraordinary amount of stress”

“One of the least stable jobs in the country”

“We can all be there one day and gone the next”

“It’s brutal”

Of course, other professions are also highly stressful and pressured. But political advisors who have worked in business as well as politics say there is a difference. For example: “I've worked in big corporates and there's nothing like it. You take more decisions in an hour if you're Prime Minister than the average CEO will take in his or her tenure.”

The lack of effective HRM for politicians and their staff

Given the demands of the job, it would be logical to expect that the HRM infrastructure would be extensive and highly developed in politics and government. However, analysis of data from interviews with advisers in the four countries suggests that the individuals we elect as politicians to govern us and the staff we pay to support them do not, as yet, universally receive enough appropriate training, performance management or support.

There is the need for much more development across countries and political parties. Important work has been and is being done to try to improve that – as highlighted by the Speaker’s Conference in the UK.⁷ However, to be fully effective, much greater resource needs to be put into this area to address gaps and deficiencies and enable political advisors and politicians to perform to their full potential.

Unique workplace with a historically limited appropriate HRM infrastructure

The political workplace is like no other. There is no handover from the party who lost to the party who won. Job retention depends – rightly so in a democracy – on the votes cast by citizens in elections, a judgement that only loosely reflects individual performance. The HR we experience and rightly expect in other organisations just does not exist in politics.⁷ Most parliaments “lack anything resembling a human resources department”⁸, and HRM practices are “often ineffective”⁹. Advisors call politics “the Wild West”, arguing HRM is unregulated, outdated and forgotten, or made up as they go along.

Ineffective orientation and training

There is typically a lack of fit-for-purpose orientation and professional development for these political roles. Civil servants are understandably uncomfortable in supporting political roles for fear of crossing the line of neutrality.¹⁰ Existing induction programmes are often limited to technological aspects such as office and IT access, health and safety, and formal rules¹¹, and do not adequately prepare politicians or advisors to do their job.¹²

Politicians who assume leadership roles rarely receive training in managing their colleagues, advisors or a government department. We elect politicians to represent and serve us and then throw them in the deep end and their advisors are, as one who worked in Number 10 described it, “parachuted onto a ship that is bouncing around in four metre waves.”

Limited – if not deficient – performance management

Formal performance management is infrequent, not least because line-management is blurred. Who is an MP’s boss – the Prime Minister or the voter? Voters cannot provide appropriate professional feedback. Ferguson and MacCaulay’s research found that in practice, politicians receive informal, ad hoc feedback from party whips, the Leader of the House, party boards and their own senior advisors.¹³ Feedback and rewards for good performance of MPs are rare, and sanctions for poor performance lacking, unless it develops into a major public and media issue.

Feedback for political staffers depends on the capacity and willingness of their MP to engage in feedback or on senior staffers in charge of the team. Advisors recall “I had no meaningful line management at all” and “I don't think I had a single performance review when I was there.”¹⁴

Rising mental health problems

Politicians and their staff thus face significant challenges and stress. Weinberg pioneered research on concerns about the mental health and politicians,¹⁵ concluding that long hours and a poor work-life balance have a negative impact on MPs’ psychological health and ultimately their ability to function effectively.

BBC Radio 4 broadcast a programme focusing on politicians’ declining mental health.¹⁶ The Apolitical Foundation’s global survey of politicians found that politicians had worse mental wellbeing than emergency-service employees.¹⁷ Recent surveys of MPs’ staff also found that half showed clinical levels of mental distress from their work and felt under-resourced to deal with their workload.¹⁸

Why it matters

Ineffective HRM and problematic workplace conditions matter for everyone.

• Politicians make decisions that affect millions of people – we need to support them to make the best possible judgement.

• We all need training and support to do our job – politicians are no different.

What we can do about it: the case for more investment

We cannot just wave a magic wand and reduce the demands on politicians and their staff. But what we can do is help them do their job better by investing more in developing effective orientation, training, management and support that is fit for purpose.

The core recommendation is to create a properly resourced and permanent Office of Political Staff Support.²⁴ This should provide support to elected MPs, ministers, shadow ministers, political parties, party leaders and the prime. A permanent office would transcend disturbances arising from leadership changes and election outcomes, provide continuity of support for political advisers, and enable exponential improvements in the management of advisory staff over time, helping government and parliament be more effective.

The Office should build on appropriate existing initiatives carried out by pioneering practitioners from both the civil service and political staff but be able to go much further with appropriate resourcing and remit.

It needs to be led by civil servants, human resources (HR) professionals and political advisers, combining their expertise, and ensuring all involved are HR literate and politically astute so they fully understand the nature of the working environment that political staffers operate in. The Office can then connect staff across parliamentary and governmental offices to develop and foster a professional community that can support politicians effectively and improve the functioning of political offices.

The new Office should support, facilitate and offer multiple aspects of HRM either through direct provision or collaborating with other experts and practitioners, especially in two key areas: fit-for-purpose orientation and peer-mentoring, and development of a professional community and ongoing training, which are outlined below.

Develop fit-for-purpose orientation and peer-mentoring by:

• Creating and sharing succinct written information such as a staff handbook that covers the different jobs, expectations, common acronyms, etc.

• Training office/team managers to provide specific induction that includes clear expectations of the role.

• Facilitating formal mentoring, connecting new politicians/staffers with experienced politicians/staffers to support ongoing peer learning, sharing tips and coping strategies.

Create a professional community with bespoke ongoing training through:

• Investment in organising regular meetings for all politicians and advisors for both formal events and informal interaction to support peer-learning, support and socialising.

• Facilitating ongoing training, including partisan content delivered by current/former politicians/staffers, political parties and outside experts.

• Covering non-partisan content relevant and specific to the political role and workplace, including bespoke skills, tips and tools for challenges in the role and policy and socio-economic-environmental updates from the Civil Service.

• Offering specific training for those managing political offices or teams to discuss strategies to help build effective political offices within a demanding political environment, such as maintaining motivation, acknowledging challenges and providing adequate feedback.

Potential benefits of improving workplace conditions in politics

To help politicians help us, we need to ensure they and their staff are well-prepared to do their jobs. Ensuring politicians and especially their staff are effectively trained, developed, upskilled, supported, healthy, happy and retained will bring long-term dividends for both the individuals doing the job and for the country. It will help attract the best people to these roles and enable them to perform at a high level. Higher-functioning political offices will lead to better outputs: more being delivered, more effective government and voters better represented by politicians they elect.

Endnotes

1. For example Australian Human Rights Commission (2021) Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces; New Zealand Parliament (2019) Bullying and Harassment in the New Zealand Parliamentary Workplace, External Independent Review; Canadian Government (2020), Respectful Workplace Policy, Office of the Prime Minister and Ministers’ Offices, Canada https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/respectful-workplace-policy-office-prime-minister-ministers-offices.html; UK House of Commons (2018) The Bullying and Harassment of House of Commons Staff, Independent Inquiry Report by Dame Laura Cox; UK House of Commons (2019) Bullying and Harassment of MPs’ Parliamentary Staff Independent Inquiry Report Gemma White QC; UK House of Lords (2019) An Independent inquiry into Bullying and Harassment in the House of Lords, Report by Naomi Ellenbogen QC https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/lords-committees/house-of-lords-commission/2017-19/ellenbogen-report.pdf; Scottish Government (2021), Review of the Scottish Government Procedure for Handling Harassment Complaints involving Current or Former Ministers’ by Laura Dunlop QC https://www.gov.scot/publications/review-of-the-scottish-government-procedure-for-handling-harassment-complaints-involving-current-or-former-ministers/

2. Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The Human Resource Management of Political Staffers: insights from Prime Ministers’ advisers and reformers Routledge – see open access final chapter Best Practice Guidance for Political Staffing for Political Managers, Advisers and Reformers and Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The State of Human Resource Management of Political Advisers in Prime Minister’s Offices, Chapter 2 in Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 7-22.

3. Apolitical foundation (2023) ‘Mere mortals: The State of Politicians’ Mental Wellbeing and Why It Matters’ December p. 6.

4. Coghill, K., Holland, P., Donohue, R., Rozzoli, K. and Grant, G. (2008) ‘Professional Development Programmes for Members of Parliament’, Parliamentary Affairs, 61: 73–98.

5. Silvester, J (2012) 'Recruiting politicians: designing competency-based selection for UK parliamentary candidates' in A Weinberg (Ed)The Psychology of Politicians Cambridge University Press; see also Silvester, J. and C. Dykes (2007). "Selecting political candidates: A longitudinal study of assessment centre performance and political success in the 2005 UK General Election." Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology 80(1): 11-25.

6. Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The Human Resource Management of Political Staffers: insights from Prime Ministers’ advisers and reformers Routledge.

7. The Speakers Conference on the employment conditions of Members’ staff: Second Report, HC1714, Published on 20 July 2023 by authority of the House of Commons.

8. Lees-Marshment, J (2020) Political Management: The Dance of Government and Politics. Routledge; Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The Human Resource Management of Political Staffers: insights from Prime Ministers’ advisers and reformers; Routledge Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The State of Human Resource Management of Political Advisers in Prime Minister’s Offices, Chapter 2 in Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 7-22; Vodfrey, Simon (2024) The Problematic Workplace Conditions Facing Political Staffers in Canada and the US, Chapter 5 in in Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 56-73; Ferguson, A and M Macaulay (2024) Managing the Performance of Members of Parliament: Views from New Zealand in Lees-Marshment, J (Ed.) (2024) Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 7-224.

9. Apolitical foundation (2023) ‘Mere mortals: The State of Politicians’ Mental Wellbeing and Why It Matters’ December.

10. Australian Human Rights Commission (2021) Set the Standard: Report on the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces.

11. Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The State of Human Resource Management of Political Advisers in Prime Minister’s Offices, Chapter 2 in Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 7-22.

12. For examples see UK House of Commons (2013) First weeks at Westminster: induction arrangements for new MPs in 2015 House of Commons Administration Committee First Report of Session 2013–14 9 September and Fox, R., and M Korris. (2012) ‘A Fresh Start? The Orientation and Induction of New MPs at Westminster Following the 2010 General Election’, Parliamentary Affairs, 65, 559–75.

13. Silvester, J. & Cooper-Thomas, H.D. (2012). Organizational socialization and transition into Parliament: The case of new M.P.s. Symposium conducted at the 3rd Biennial Institute of Work Psychology International Conference; Cooper-Thomas, H (2015) Becoming an MP: Helena Cooper-Thomas considers the transition into the role, and how this compares with other workplaces. The psychologist. The British Psychological Society; Cooper-Thomas, H. and Silvester, J. (2014) Ideas and Advice to Accelerate the Transition for New MPs Entering New Zealand’s House of Representatives, New Zealand, University of Auckland; Fox, R., and M Korris. (2012) ‘A Fresh Start? The Orientation and Induction of New MPs at Westminster Following the 2010 General Election’, Parliamentary Affairs, 65, 559–75; Coghill, K., Holland, P., Donohue, R., Rozzoli, K. and Grant, G. (2008) ‘Professional Development Programmes for Members of Parliament’, Parliamentary Affairs, 61: 73–98; Coghill, K., Donohue, R., Holland, P., Neesham, C. and Richardson, A. (2009) ‘Capacity Building for New Parliamentarians: Survey of Orientation and Induction Programmes’, Journal of Legislative Studies, 15, 521–534; Coghill, K., Donohue, R., Holland, P. and Lewis, C. (2010) ‘Parliamentary Careers: Design, Delivery and Evaluation of Improved Professional Development’, Australian Research Council Linkage Grant; Neesham, C., Lewis, C., Holland, P., Donohue, R. & Coghill, K. (2010) Educating and training parliamentarians Australasian Parliamentary Review. 25, 1, p. 41 – 48; Donohue, R, and P Holland, (2012) Building Parliamentary Human Capital, Parliamentary Affairs 65(3): 529–540 and Lewis, C and K Coghill (Eds) (2015) Parliamentarians’ Professional Development: The Need for Reform Springer.

14. Ferguson, A and M Macaulay (2024) Managing the Performance of Members of Parliament: Views from New Zealand in Lees-Marshment, J (Ed.) (2024) Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 7-224.

15. Lees-Marshment, J (2024) The State of Human Resource Management of Political Advisers in Prime Minister’s Offices, Chapter 2 in Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 7-22.

16. Weinberg, A (Ed.) (2011) The Psychology of Politicians Cambridge University Press; Weinberg, A. (2015). "A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Changes in the Job and the Expenses Scandal on UK National Politicians' Experiences of Work, Stress and the Home–Work Interface." Parliamentary Affairs 68(2): 248-71; Weinberg, Ashley (2022) ‘Half of UK MPs’ staff have clinical levels of psychological distress, study finds.’ The Guardian Newspaper https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/may/23/half-uk-mps-staff-clinical-levels-psychological-distress-study; Weinberg, A. and Cooper, C. (2003) ‘Stress among National Politicians Elected to Parliament for the First Time’, Stress and Health 19: 111–7; Weinberg, A; C L. Cooper, A Weinberg (1999) ‘Workload, stress and family life in British Members of Parliament and the psychological impact of reforms to their working hours’ Stress Medicine 15, 79–87.

17. BBC Radio 4 (2024) Broken Politicians, Broken Politics; see also The Guardian Newspaper (2024) ‘I spoke to MPs about their mental health. What I found should shock us all’.

18. Apolitical foundation (2023) ‘Mere mortals: The State of Politicians’ Mental Wellbeing and Why It Matters’ December p. 10.

19. Weinberg, A, E Warhurst and T Fairweather (2024) Mental health and well-being of MPs’ staff, Chapter 6 in Political Management in Practice: lessons from around the globe Routledge pp 73-90.

20. OECD (2023), General government spending (indicator), OECD Data.

21. Weinberg, A. (2015). "A Longitudinal Study of the Impact of Changes in the Job and the Expenses Scandal on UK National Politicians' Experiences of Work, Stress and the Home–Work Interface." Parliamentary Affairs 68(2): 248-71, p. 252.

22. Neesham, C., Lewis, C., Holland, P., Donohue, R. & Coghill, K. (2010) Educating and training parliamentarians Australasian Parliamentary Review. 25, 1, p. 41 – 48 p. 41.

23. Apolitical foundation (2023) ‘Mere mortals: The State of Politicians’ Mental Wellbeing and Why It Matters’ December pp 6-7.

24. See Lees-Marshment, J. (2025). Professionalizing the management of political advisers. Public Money & Management, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/09540962.2025.2540466