CMF recognizes that the government shutdown puts strains not only on the executive branch but also on the legislative branch. Member personal office and committee staff are concerned about the effects of furloughs on both their professional and personal lives. CMF urges managers to follow the official guidance regarding the legal requirements during this time.

We also recognize that this time of uncertainty requires certain changes in how managers conduct business and communicate with both furloughed and non-furloughed staff. Additionally, constituents who depend on congressional offices for services also will need to be considered when creating communications and conducting office work. Therefore, CMF has the following four tips for managing congressional offices in a government shutdown.

1. Set up systems to communicate with furloughed staff. Guidance provided to managers indicates that furloughed staff may not use their BlackBerrys or other email accounts for official business. Therefore, prior to any government shutdown affecting congressional offices managers should collect personal email addresses of all furloughed staff. Guidance from the Committee on House Administration states, "[A]n employing office may not communicate with a furloughed employee about official duties." However, it also states that, "Offices may contact employees to notify them to return to work."
2. Give furloughed staff daily updates via email about returning to work. Times of professional uncertainty like these can be devastating to office morale. Congressional staff are dedicated to their professions, and the uncertainty surrounding these furloughs weighs heavily on staff. The best way to alleviate this stress is to provide staff with daily updates to their personal email. Conflicting news reports will cause confusion among furloughed staff. Therefore, it is essential for managers to be a source of calm counsel and information for affected employees. (Please keep in mind that setting up alternative communications paths may not be used to get around official guidance to allow staff to engage in official activities. Communications should be limited to the likelihood and timing of when an employee should plan to return to work.)
3. Update your website and social media to set constituent expectations. If offices will be furloughing staff who provide constituent services, managers should draft appropriate language to be posted prominently on the Member website. If responses to constituent mail will be delayed, casework in-take suspended, or district staff attendance at local events cancelled, it is important to communicate this information to constituents through your website and social media platforms.
4. Give talking points to people answering the phone to set constituent expectations. While you don't want people answering phones to be the "shutdown spokesperson," providing two or three talking points about how the office is altering constituent services is highly recommended. Referring callers to the website for more information is an option, but a lesser one. When a constituent calls the office they want an answer to their question...immediately – that's why they called. Certainly, complex questions should be routed accordingly. But providing a general script to staff answering the phones will provide constituents with clearer expectations about availability of office services and reduce anxiety amongst those staff members on the front lines.

Finally, recognize that from an employee's perspective, this is a crisis. And the most common comment from an employee after a crisis is this: "I didn't know what was going on." Managers can alleviate some stress by communicating to staff frequently about the situation, even if you don't have an update or new information to impart.