Dear White Staffers: Mystery Instagram account reveals dirty secrets of Congress

‘However bad people think the financial situation and treatment of Hill staffers is, it’s worse,’ aide says

An Instagram account where congressional staffers share their grievances about their bosses and toxic offices is roiling Capitol Hill, with some employees seemingly being told to unfollow and stop interacting with the account.

The account has promoted issues for Capitol Hill staffers such as being paid so little they qualify for food stamps, having to deal with abusive behaviour from their superiors, and minority employees feeling blocked from applying for more senior jobs.

Anonymous posts on the account are revealing how lower-level staffers are being treated, some so badly they have to seek support for their mental health.

The account, called “Dear White Staffers”, has now amassed more than 40,000 followers, including senior reporters from the nation’s top news outlets. The issues that are being highlighted have been problems for a long time, such as long hours and poor pay, and lacking staff diversity.

Hill aides say the issues are intensely rooted in the institution and despite the increased attention on the issues and bipartisan efforts to change the workplace culture, there’s widespread scepticism that Congress is willing to change to properly support those who work there.

A former Hill employee who sent in an anonymous story to the Instagram account told Politico that “Capitol Hill is staffed by the kid in the front row that has their hand up. They want to serve”.

“And then they get ground up and spit out,” they added.

Hill aides read the account’s constant stream of posts to feel understood concerning their own issues in the workplace, or to make sure that their member isn’t being unfairly criticised. Sometimes the same person follows the content for both reasons at the same time.

The Longworth House Office Building on Capitol Hill, Thursday Dec. 9, 2021, in Washington. (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

“When I started, it was just an open secret that things were bad, but you just put your head down,” the former House staffer added to Politico. “And I think there’s something happening right now with Dear White Staffers — that it’s just generations of staffers who have trauma-bonded, and it’s all coming to light through this Instagram account. And it’s so cathartic, and it’s so bleak. And that open secret is just being obliterated.”

The informal “Rooney rule” among Democrats is to interview at least one person of colour for each job, but some offices only adhere to this for senior positions. A former chief of staff of colour told Politico: “I can say the norm is, you know, maybe you’re lucky to get one person of colour [as a] candidate for some of these positions.”

Another previous Hill employee told the outlet they submitted a story to the Instagram account to urge others not to do “exactly what I did and stumble into an office that does not represent them, and does not share their values, and does not exemplify what they want their career to be like”.

Many staffers say that each office having its own rules and structures is a problem for the working environment.

“I would want a break-up of this system where every office is their own independent little world,” a current staffer told Politico. “That leads to a lot of abuse.”

The lack of a union for Hill staffers has also been a major talking point on the account. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on Thursday that she supported the efforts.

“Like all Americans, our tireless Congressional staff have the right to organize their workplace and join together in a union. If and when staffers choose to exercise that right, they would have Speaker Pelosi’s full support,” Ms Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, said in a statement.