Game Changer
Back in January, leadership of the House and Senate announced their proposed legislative schedules for the first session of the 111th Congress. The House expected (hoped) to recess by October 30, just in time to go trick or treating. The Senate recess date was TBD (what a surprise), although, secretly, the “upper body” was hoping to be home in time for Thanksgiving. That was then – this is now, and now there’s a game changer wherein both House and Senate are expecting (hoping) to finish up sometime in December. Is anyone really surprised?
I’m not. However, what I am surprised at is that leadership announced the new proposed schedules so far in advance. Seriously, this is quite a heads-up. It is the good news about the bad news, and it sure beats working your head off day after day and then finding out that the light at the end of the tunnel is not the glow of recess but another oncoming train. Furthermore, as a life coach, I’m delighted that leadership had the foresight to factor a couple of breaks into the new extended schedule. Working people to their breaking point is never a good idea, especially when the main goal of the work is health care reform. Really!
Granted, there is a lot of work that Congress needs to complete by the end of the year. Nevertheless, this new schedule is a game changer in the life of every staffer. As a staffer, if there was anything that used to make me want to scream it was having a long-awaited recess period delayed, shortened or abolished all together. Aside from the personal disappointment, the constant uncertainty of the legislative schedule meant having to expend tremendous amounts of time and energy making all types of contingency arrangements, re-reorganizing, and dealing with situations that might not have required so much time and energy had I been able to stick with a plan — or, even better, had there been any plan!
Now, there is a new plan, but it is a plan nonetheless. I hope it means the elimination of the uncertainty of the legislative schedule so that staffers will be able to initiate their own game changers. I hope this advanced notice will prevent staffers from having to engage in a continually frustrating exercise of scrapping and revising professional and personal plans and schedules. I hope the new plan will prevent staffers from having to be constantly prepared to pivot in several different directions only to find everything around them coming to a standstill.
Life, especially life on the Hill, holds no guarantees, but having a clearer idea of what one can expect – should expect – to happen during the next couple of months will make a big difference in the life of every staffer. It is vitally important for even the most driven Hill staffer to have the ability to exercise some control over his or her professional and personal life. Exercising control is necessary in order for every staffer to maintain his or her personal health and well-being and effectively and efficiently carry out his or her professional responsibilities. The work of the Hill affects all of our lives, but it depends upon the health and well-being of staffers’ lives.
The fact is, the greatest stressor in a Hill staffer’s life is the uncertainty of the work schedule. I’m not just basing this on my own personal experience but also on empirical evidence gathered by the Congressional Management Foundation on behalf of the Joint Committee on the Organization of Congress. Okay, the evidence is from a survey of Hill staffers’ perceptions and attitudes conducted in 1993, but does anyone doubt things have changed since then? I don’t think so, but I would love to hear what you think because to the best of my knowledge – and I’ve been researching this for a while — no one has bothered to take a new survey. Really! What a surprise! I wonder what would happen if someone conducted a new survey on Hill staffers’ perceptions and attitudes. Given our new focus on wellness, that might be a real game changer.
Tricia Ferrone
Capital LifeWorks, LLC
Washington, DC
www.capitallifeworks.com
Tags: Congress, health-care reform, House, legislation, lifestyle, personal life, schedule health-care, Senate, stress, stress management, stressor, wellness