Family Friendly

The New York Times reports that White House appointees are having a hard time maintaining their work-life balance, despite the fact that they've been assigned laptops so they can work from home, and that the Obama administration is trying to be considerate, doing things like hosting screenings of family-oriented movies so parents can bring their children to work. It's good to see that the administration is practicing for its appointees, the employees it has the most direct control over, what Michelle Obama's been preaching for federal employees. But the problems appointees are facing makes clear how hard it can be to make sure everyone has a balance between their work and personal lives.

If you're worried about IRS auditors getting overwhelmed during tax season, or about a spike in investigations requested of the Government Accountability Office, you can hire more people to do those things. Sure, there's a cost to that, but it may pay off in increased productivity, decreased turnover, folks taking fewer sick days, etc. You can't necessarily hire another person to run the Sonia Sotomayor nomination. Some jobs require one person at the top who can keep track of everything and run the big picture strategy. There's no simple viable way to take the pressure off of those people.