Street-level bureaucrats (SLBs) – public sector employees working directly with the general public - are central to the operation of a state and their work determines the implementation of government policy. Given their close link to policy, we expect their motivation to vary with changes in the direction associated with a turnover in government, increasing with political alignment with the government in power. This paper evaluates empirically the link between political alignment and SLB attitudes towards and behaviors at work. Using both cross-sectional data from 34 countries and panel data from Germany, I find that SLBs are far from politically impartial, enjoying their job more when they politically agree with the government in power. This finding is important for motivating the vast workforce crucial to policy implementation, issue particularly important in situations of big changes in government direction, such as those happening during regime transitions.