Representative Don Bacon (R-NE)

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Representative Don Bacon (R-NE)

The office of Representative Don Bacon operates with the understanding that if you put your people first and empower them, they will put the mission first. Their office offers benefits including a flexible telework policy, compensatory time off, and three office-sanctioned fitness breaks per week. The office has the best staff retention rate and the smallest turnover index number in the entire Nebraska delegation, and eleven staff members have served since Rep. Bacon’s first term over seven years ago. The ability to focus on the mission in an open door and collaborative environment is one of the primary reasons that the Congressman has been recognized by the Center for Effective Lawmaking as the most effective Republican House Member in the last congress, as well as being a previous Democracy Award winner for the best constituent services. At any given point, there are almost always staff members enrolled in educational programs at the graduate level. In addition, the office frequently helps staff members get accepted into various fellowship programs. With a robust intern program, the office staff work with interns on actual legislative matters and the program also includes multiple one-day field trips hosted by the Chief of Staff to locations such as the National War College and Annapolis for the purposes of gaining a broader understanding of the history of American government and its various departments.

Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL)

Senator Tammy Duckworth has a saying she repeats to her team: “what’s the point in working for a Senator’s office if you can’t work to improve things you care about?” She’s passionate about hiring staff with a wide variety of backgrounds and experiences because she truly values hearing about issues and solutions from as many perspectives as possible. She also knows that if her staff succeeds, the State of Illinois and her constituents will succeed as well. To that end, the office hosts yearly staff retreats, conducts quarterly formal check-ins for staff to connect and communicate with their supervisors, and runs a year-long mentorship program which includes matching new staff with a longer-tenured employee for confidential advice and guidance as well as provides formal trainings and monthly group check-ins. The office boasts a “passion projects” initiative, which encourages staffers to work on spend time on projects they are passionate about regardless of their portfolio, and successful past passion projects have included writing and introducing a bill legislation, to drafting an oversight letters, to supporting a grant applications to and penning op-eds for the Senator. Additionally, the office has a dedicated staff member who leads a DEIA committee, which includes hosting that hosts “lunch and learns” with guest speakers and ensuring helps ensure that the office and the Senator herself are approaching their work through a DEIA lens. The Senator has also worked hard to make sure that their staff who are caregivers for family members feel supported, as she is always cognizant of the pressures staff in similar circumstances to hers are facing.