How Much Does White House Chief Of Staff Make? All You Need To Know About The Chief Of Staff

The White House Chief of Staff holds a very prestigious position. The Chief of staff has tremendous responsibilities. 

The Chief of Staff is a political appointee that does not need the senate’s verification. The Chief of staff does work at the pleasure of the President. 

The Chief of Staff is regarded as the President’s assistant The Chief of Staff is commissioned to oversee the President’s Executive office. 

President Franklin D. Roosevelt created this position in 1939. The Chief of Staff supports the President’s agendas.

The position is so prestigious and very demanding. This has done many wonders how much someone working so close to the President earns. 

So, let’s get back to the question.

How Much Does White House Chief Of Staff Make? 

The average salary of the Chief of Staff of the white house is $218,915. The least and the maximum salary for this position ranges from $179,284 to $270,748. However, the salary does vary due to several factors. They include things like education, certifications, work experience, and additional skills.

Primary Responsibilities Of The Chief Of Staff

The responsibilities and duties of the Chief of staff vary according to the presidents. The presidents do have different desires and working styles. 

However, they are tasked with both advisory and managerial roles. Here are the primary and most common roles for all the Chiefs of Staff.

  • They are responsible for managing all communication and information in the white house.
  • Appointment of the white house staff
  • They offer advice to the President on politics and policies.
  • Ensures the president calendar and schedule is well maintained
  • Creating the structures that will guarantee proper information flow

The Managerial Duties Of The Chief Of Staff

The Chiefs of Staff are the managers of the white house. They are commissioned with the role of recruiting the staff members of the white house. 

The Chiefs of Staff do a background check on the staff before appointing them. The white house staff should be dependable and have an excellent track record. 

Under the managerial duty is the role of maintaining the President’s calendar and schedule. The Chief of Staff ensures the President doesn’t miss any meetings or appointments. 

The Chief of Staff also verifies the information received by the President. The Chiefs of Staff appointed at the start of a president’s reign are lucky.

It’s because they’ll have the maximum control over the previous white house staff. The Chief of Staff appointed early gets the chance to arrange all the structures required by him and the President.  

Those appointed at the mid-way through the administration find it quite hard. They have to rearrange the staffs to suit their needs. The reorganizing is referred to as layering by the white house staff. 

In their restructuring, they select the most trusted individuals into prominent positions. Having support and trust from the white house staff is so beneficial. It improves the quality of work and services at the white house.

The Chief of Staff is required to check on his staff constantly. It helps them to find out whether the staff members are overworked. 

The white house tends to have a lot of work. Without proper planning and structure, the staff members will feel overworked. This might make them rebellious. 

Scheduling 

The Chiefs of Staff have the role of ensuring the President attends the planned meetings and briefings. The COS checks the President’s speech first. This helps them know the emotions that the various statements will elicit. 

The Chiefs of Staff and the white house staff meet the President before essential appearances. They then offer the President advice and help to shape the intended impact.

The Chiefs of Staff travel to attend the meetings and make an appearance out of the white house. This keeps them more informed and can provide the necessary information from the meetings.

The Advisory Role Of The Chief Of Staff

The chiefs of staff should be competent politically. They should have a great understanding of the country’s political landscape. With a good understanding, the Chief of staff will give honest opinions to the President. 

The chiefs of staff need to have excellent negotiation skills. At some point, the COS has to negotiate with donors, congress, and the executive cabinet.

The Chief Of Staff Office Structure

The Chief of staff is responsible for the formulation of the structures. In addition, the Chief of staff makes the principal decision for the white house staff. 

However, the structure put in place is dependent on the President’s style of operation. Therefore, it’s the role of the Chief of Staff to study and understand the President’s behavior.

The Chiefs of Staff do get labels from the white house staff. Some are labeled as strong, while others are referred to as weak. 

The strong ones are pretty hands-on. They require the information intended for the President to pass through them. 

They then check out the information by verifying the source and its validity. It is only passed to the President after they confirm it’s valid and helpful to the President.

The weak ones are not keen on the information brought forward. The information is pushed to the President immediately it comes in. 

They have designated employees that are responsible for checking the information. They focus on other administrative and managerial roles.

For management efficiency, the Chiefs of Staff do appoint one to three assistants. Their position is quite demanding and has several responsibilities. One person cannot manage all the responsibilities.

The Chiefs of Staff appoint one to oversee the everyday political issues and give back an extensive report. 

The other one manages the political issues during the election periods. This assistant does a check on the opponent and generates ideas and strategies. 

The last one is responsible for the President’s campaigns and gives detailed information about its progress. 

The Chief of Staff holds regular meetings with the vital statehouse staff. Through such meetings, the Chief of Staff learns about several aspects of the job. 

The Role Of Chief Of Staff In Maintaining Information Flow

Information is the most critical thing in the White House. It’s this information that helps that President to make informed decisions. 

The Chiefs of Staff ensure the President timely receives necessary information and important points of view. 

The Chief of staff monitors all information that comes from the staff. However, in decision making the white house members are fully involved. 

This ensures that the Chief of Staff is not the only person offering directives. With white house staff involvement, the information presented to the President becomes more dependable. 

The Chief of Staff is required to provide any background information concerning essential issues to the President. 

The information offered to the President is also filtered. Any information from close supporters and friends is not passed to the President. 

This reduces the chances of the President giving favors. The given favors tend to be detrimental to the President’s office. 

The chiefs of staff have to be so informed. They have to know what the President tells the people and vice versa. 

As a Chief of staff, you must be close to the President. You must have a great understanding of the President. 

The Chief of Staff has to be so honest with the President. Talk about his official position. This will sort any form of bias from different view parts.

Do Presidents Get Paid For Life?

An act that was passed years ago guarantees all the former United States presidents lifetime benefits. It includes pension, staff, health care, and many more.

The pension offered to former presidents is relatively high. It equals the salary of a cabinet secretary. 

The pension is about $219,200 yearly. The amount remittance begins immediately after the President leaves office. 

The former first lady is also subject to pension. The former President’s spouse gets around $20,000 yearly.

The former presidents have guaranteed medical treatment. However, the treatment is only received for military hospitals. However, presidents who have completed two terms in office can purchase health insurance.

The former President, their spouses, and children under 16 years old have guaranteed protection. It’s known as secret service protection. 

They are entitled to lifetime protection. In the early years, the President’s protection was limited to ten years. However, it was extended to a lifetime during the reign of Barack Obama.

Conclusion 

The most famous occupant of the white house is the President and the first lady. Other very powerful staffs are tucked somewhere in the scenes.

The Chief of Staff is one of them. The position is unelected, but they do hold a lot of sway and power. 

The current Chief of Staff is Ron Klain and is responsible for various functions. He’s the President’s right-hand aide.  They ensure the white house is performing its functions effectively. 

The chiefs of staff offer advice to the President. They do control all the information that goes to the President. This makes the position very powerful.

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I have always been a shopaholic. A lot of times my questions went unanswered when it came to retail questions, so I started Talk Radio News. - Caitlyn Johnson

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