Career Employees can Derail an Initiative in Government

In the public sector, broadly speaking, the political employees develop and implement policies, and career employees (again, called “bureaucrats”) run the day-to-day operations. If a bureaucratic employee does not care for a policy or initiative being implemented, there are multiple ways to derail it— especially in the last year of an administration. A bureaucrat employee can simply slow-roll an initiative: essentially, wait it out and unwind it after the political leadership departs. Or one could work behind the scenes with Congress to alter the initiative.

This is not a minor occurrence. Not all employees are aligned with the objective of the President’s Management Agenda or that secretary. For example, not all bureaucrats at an agency may be on board with various policy decisions being made by the new administration. Bureaucratic employees have long-standing relationships with bureaucrat personnel at OMB and on Capitol Hill. A simple behind-the-scenes phone call could cease funding or derail a policy.

In the private sector, generally speaking, the leadership produces policies that are then implemented by employees. Good companies will seek input from relevant parties before major initiative decisions are launched. Once leadership determines a path forward for a strategy shift, however, any employee caught trying to derail it would be reassigned or terminated quickly. If an employee tries to derail a company-mandated initiative, there are consequences.