World Bank Group Engagement Survey 2015 Comments Report for: WBG-GPS This report is for Official Use Only Summary Explanation of Theming Comments The process of theming survey comments begins with cleaning the data. ORC International first corrects spelling in comments and then screens to remove profanity and offensive terms. Comments are classified according to a taxonomy of themes and subthemes whose structure and content are developed according to the needs of each client. The system calculates a mathematical relevance percentage based on how well a comment matches each expression in the various themes, and then the comment is attributed to the theme it has the highest relevance score for. ORC manually checks the automated theming to eliminate false positives. ORC then manually reviews unclassified comments to assess the effectiveness of existing themes and possibly create new themes, and manually categorize those comments to reduce the level of unclassified comments to below 10% of the total. What one thing would you change to improve the WBG as a place to work? Theme No. of Comments 342 Bureaucracy and Process Sub Theme: Process No. of Sub Theme Comments: 224 Sub Theme: Bureaucracy No. of Sub Theme Comments: 118 Sub Theme: Worklife Balance No. of Sub Theme Comments: 99 Sub Theme: Pressure and Stress No. of Sub Theme Comments: 81 Sub Theme: Workload No. of Sub Theme Comments: 69 Sub Theme: General Job Satisfaction No. of Sub Theme Comments: 3 252 Workload and Stress 251 Management Sub Theme: General Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 163 Sub Theme: Senior Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 68 Sub Theme: Line Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 20 247 Staffing and Resources Sub Theme: Resources No. of Sub Theme Comments: 193 Sub Theme: Retention and Recruitment No. of Sub Theme Comments: 34 Sub Theme: Staffing Levels No. of Sub Theme Comments: 20 243 Learning and Career Development Sub Theme: Career Development No. of Sub Theme Comments: 166 Sub Theme: Training No. of Sub Theme Comments: 77 221 Recognition and Reward Sub Theme: Reward No. of Sub Theme Comments: 103 Sub Theme: Value No. of Sub Theme Comments: 54 Sub Theme: Recognition No. of Sub Theme Comments: 36 Sub Theme: Respect No. of Sub Theme Comments: 28 214 Communication Sub Theme: Employee Voice No. of Sub Theme Comments: 98 Sub Theme: Transparency No. of Sub Theme Comments: 91 Sub Theme: Methods/Channels No. of Sub Theme Comments: 25 184 Managing Change Sub Theme: Job Security No. of Sub Theme Comments: 91 Sub Theme: Stability or Constant Change No. of Sub Theme Comments: 59 -1- Sub Theme: Restructure or Relocation No. of Sub Theme Comments: 34 Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 157 157 Customer/Client Service 145 Teamwork and Working Relationships Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 145 118 HR Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 118 115 Strategy and Planning Sub Theme: Strategy and Direction No. of Sub Theme Comments: 73 Sub Theme: Planning and Objectives No. of Sub Theme Comments: 42 97 Pay and Benefits Sub Theme: Pay No. of Sub Theme Comments: 70 Sub Theme: Other Benefits No. of Sub Theme Comments: 27 94 Inclusion and Fair Treatment Sub Theme: Equality and Fairness No. of Sub Theme Comments: 87 Sub Theme: Bullying and Harassment No. of Sub Theme Comments: 7 29 Work Environment and Facilities Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 29 29 Flexible Working Sub Theme: Working Patterns No. of Sub Theme Comments: 19 Sub Theme: Working Hours No. of Sub Theme Comments: 10 29 Administrative Client Support Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 29 26 Systems and technology Sub Theme: General ICT No. of Sub Theme Comments: 14 Sub Theme: IT Software, Systems and Information Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 12 70 Others Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 70 29 Nothing/ Dont Know/ Everything/ Refused Sub Theme: No sub theme No. of Sub Theme Comments: 29 -2- What one thing would you change to improve the WBG as a place to work? Theme: Sub Theme: Bureaucracy and Process No. of Comments: Process 342 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 224 Work on reducing length of internal processes, improve onboarding dramatically Internal bureaucratic processes. Internal process for quality review. I would change the bureaucratic processes involved in getting anything approved - and if there are processes necessary, they should be completed in a timely and effective manner. Work on addressing and changing “old corporate culture” in order to boost productivity and ensure good work environment. For example: There is a perceived notion (may or may not be an actual WBG policy) that only a certain level staff (G and above) can have office space with windows, so often times we end up having empty offices that “cannot” be used by “lower level staff”, while at the same time jamming people into shared space. While the change process is focused on big shifts within the organization we need to make sure that small, ever day operational things have a big impact on every day work life. Simplify internal processes. The GP reform has created more silos and more unnecessary management layers. Decision making for project is more complicated/cumbersome. Procedures and processes are still too cumbersome. One huge problem is also the GPVPs who don't seem to understand the need for flexibility for each practice in order to operate and want to use a cookie-cutter approach to all practices that are very different in regard to lending and KAS levels or resources and staffing needs. Worse is that the whole WBG Management team made a very big mistake by launching the global practice re-org at the same time as an expenditure review and now the strategic staffing review, It is similar to expecting a car to drive faster while pushing on the breaks... The sequencing of this reform was not well thought after and as a result the entire WBG staff lost trust in management. Honestly the biggest outcome is the level of disagreement of staff these days. more efficient IT, and more efficient software-related processes Processes that make it easier to replace poor performing staff. Reduce bureaucracy and simplify processes much more. .- Make the bureaucracy process more flexible and adaptable to countries it is intended to support in terms of its overall vision of reducing poverty. - For Project Investment Financing, consolidate lessons learned from operational projects and share with staff on an annual basis to guide new operation. A serious review of the reform process, senior management decisions and appointments made (ie. to remove longstanding, respected individuals, and to bring in outside talent, under dubious recruitment processes - individuals who have a very limited knowledge of the institution and how it formerly worked). This is needed to restore confidence across the institution. The reform process has resulted in: an exodus of high level talent; flat lining staff moral; and utter confusion in budget and resource management process such that our clients are suffering, staff exist in a perpetual uncertainty with limited understanding of the real objectives of reform, how or why decisions are made or future personal and professional development pathways, and the persistence of deeply entrenched institutional silos, which has been made worse in the competition for increasingly scarce resources - an attribute the reform was specifically intended to address. Technical staff and experts spend a lot of time dealing with internal procedures, travel arrangements, payment, contract processing, etc. - we are not making best use of in house technical expertise. Right now the uncertainty due to the reorganization is creating a negative work environment. I believe change was necessary and understand that this sort of process obviously takes time, but at the moment there doesn't seem to be buy-in or harmony. It is easier said than done, but the one thing I would change is (or hope to have changed) is to provide a direction that staff can get on board with AND that can boost morale. -3- The change process has taken too long. Staff morale is very low and it is very difficult to operate in the current environment. Staff need to know urgently i) what is going to happen to their units during the reorganization process; and ii) if they are going to keep their jobs. Moreover, with the reorganization staff have been remapped to new practice managers. Many of these staff members do not even meet regularly with the practice managers. As a result, staff lack of direction and are operating with no guidance from senior management. Frustration and fear is hindering the ability of staff to operate effectively. More direct communication with country offices at managers level and sharing knowledge I believe that all this change process has hurt very deeply to the institution, I would seriously revisit the decision to change just for the sake of it, without any visible and objective outcomes, and concentrate in our clients in the field. Entire Change Mgmt process has still failed in holding MANAGEMENT & MANAGERS accountable for failure to fulfill managerial functions. When problems emerge due to management failures, managers blame lower level (G & below) staff to avoid responsibility. When staff raise these issues they continue to be quashed at higher levels of mgmt, so all levels of mgmt continue to protect each other. Evidence of this was the recent YELLOW fliers demonstrating that [NUMBER]% of mgmt receive performance ratings of [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] and only [NUMBER]% of staff receive that rating. UNTIL THIS CHANGES, ALL THE CHANGE MGMT IN THE WORLD WILL NOT CHANGE THE DYSFUNCTIONAL CULTURE & MGMT PRACTICES OF THE WB. PERFORMANCE OF MANAGERS IS STILL NOT EFFECTIVELY ASSESSED IN OPEs & [NUMBER]s in a way that holds them TRULY accountable when they fail to adequately fulfill managerial & leadership roles & functions effectively and with INTEGRITY!!!!!!!!!!!! Effective organizations can resolve issues quickly, fairly & effectively. WB CANNOT ! Bring the systems and processes into the [NUMBER]st century. I've worked in several organizations in the private sector, and I'm stunned at how slow and cumbersome everything is at the Bank. With the rise of two new development banks and the increasing ability of developing countries to borrow on the commercial markets, we risk a long, slow decline into irrelevancy if we are not able to work more efficiently. Simplification of lending procedures Reduce internal processes and provide room of flexibility in dealing with government client Stop the endless focus on process and get back to substance More effective and efficient process of the review and approval of the new projects. Streamlining processes and enhancing coordination among teams. Improve sharing global knowledge. The simplification of internal business processes and procedures. Internal approval procedures Make manager selection criteria and processes truly clear and transparent. Increase ownership of procedure and inefficiency. Managers just push down problems and are content with getting problems out of their in-box. The managerial focus is on operational reporting not on poverty reduction or project completion. This is the source of the inefficiency in the bank. All this great change of [NAME] is not resulting in a more efficient system, just a new-looking old system. Facilitate procedures in doing business in operations Ground up reform of internal processes - rather than promises to reduce complexity that only add complexity Management accountability, remove managers who don't have soft skills, remove managers with bad behavior, focus on implementation rather than writing another strategy, make things happen, stop favoritism and office politics for promoting friends, stop corruption in recruitment process and hiring. As part of inclusion, pay attention to Part II women and special attention for women from Part II countries - not Sub Saharan Africa and Caribean - for promotion to GH level. Focus on client not internal processes Increase the number of technical experts, reduce the number of economist/generalist, and simplify the work process. The transaction cost in the Bank is too high (or there are so many unnecessary processes). Rebuild the staff loyalty that was eroded during the change process and expenditures review by making the staff feel again that they are assets instead of tools Simplify processes to deliver results in a timely manner. -4- Processes have become MUCH more onerous for team leaders and front line operational staff. They need to be streamlined. Centralized decision making slows down operations, sometimes to a snails pace, and provides opportunities to those with no background in operations to dictate to operational staff. So, decentralization of decision-making again and please a REAL streamlining of procedures, so we can do more with less hassle, not less delivery with more hassle which is a result of the change process. The strongly political promotion process within the Bank, which is most of the time untransparent, unfair, based on connections and relations and not on merits. There is a strong relationship between this process, the lack of accountability of managers, and a very deficient performance evaluation system. In that respect nothing has changed in the "new" Bank, on the contrary things have worsened and there is a culture of mistrust and disarray generated from the highest level. [NAME] and some of the senior management team needs to resign. The never ending reorganization has failed-there are noe more entrenched organizational silos, CMUs cannot effectively engage with the global practices, accountability is blurred, and rules and processes have increased. Morale is at an all-time low. This is nothing short of a crisis for the Bank and the senior leadership is to blame. Admit that reorganization process has flaws and not be afraid to go back on some measures. In operations: efforts have been made but still way too much bureaucracy and lengthy procedures to deliver projects. In general: reform process and poor communication (as well as not 'walking to talk'...re: the issue of bonuses to senior staff, salary raise only above G level, etc) have significantly lowered my trust in Senior Management. Sometimes I can see a difference on how supervisors treat STT/ETT compared with a WBG Staff and I found that very unfair. ETTs allow the situation because they are afraid of their contract not being renewed. Career development for a Level C in operations is now very limited, since you have to be an EA to get a Level D. Why if I would prefer to stay in the heart of the WBG - "Operations". EA Position does not really give you the opportunity to be up-to-date on last changes in operations for preparation and supervision processes. [NUMBER]. Revamp performance evaluation system (more than changes in FY[NUMBER]) to be both upward and downward looking and to measure effectiveness more objectives with inputs on a project basis rather than twice a year. [NUMBER]. Align compensation with evaluations meaningfully. High performers should get large bonuses and non performers should be transitioned. Make the incentives worthwhile for excelled performance. Incentives today are so weak that they promote broad-based mediocrity. [NUMBER]. Get rid of all open contracts and convert everyone in "at-will" contracts. Performance should equal job security. Job security is not a right, it should be earned. [NUMBER]. The new Analyst Program should be LARGE. We need to bring through [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] Analysts on at-will contracts that are fairly evaluated. [NUMBER]. The YP programs should be expanded to [NUMBER] or so YPs per year. [NUMBER]. Simplify processing of work. There are too many steps to get the work done. The long change process Bring the change management process to a conclusion, ensure proper staffing for operational requirements, and stop creating more management layers at HQ. Stop the change process. Admit measures that have been failures and reverse changes that have made things worse. we now have [NUMBER]+[NUMBER] silos with not coordination and turf wars of the kind that I have not seen since I joined the Bank in [NUMBER] Set the right incentives for cross-GP support and knowledge sharing. Managers will only act accordingly when there are incentives/objectives in place. More efficient internal procedures and processes Simplify the structure. More transparent and fair processes for professional development at all levels. Simplify, focus on a minimum set of goals that will have maximum impact Ensure better balance of Task Teams across country offices and regions. More transparency/sharing of information concerning WPA allocations. -5- Reduce hierarchy and elitism. Encourage managers to treat people with respect, and respect their staff's time and effort. Judge and promote people not on their age or the basis of the grad school they attended, but on their contribution to the World Bank's work. Expecting Managers to people-manage [NUMBER]+ staff plus provide QA on all technical outputs is completely ridiculous. Staff management is central to the health of organization, but everyone is too busy to care about people's work programs or career development. Instead, we plow money into the top levels, where various layers of management spend their time talking to each other (mostly about an apparently endless reform process) without anyone managing and developing the people actually doing things on the ground. a quicker reorganisation process Simplify MyTF and Opsportal, and make these applications faster to use. Improve myself for the best SSKE/ knowledge sharing/ learning events management and development. Further improve internal processes in terms of review meetings and documentation requirements. Less is sometimes more Issue unified and clear procedures and processes for preparing lending operations and ASA. Consider bolstering pay and benefits so that the institution can retain and attract the best. I know of several long time staff who left the Bank within the past year either as early retirement or to work for another development organization, and when the new Chinese development banks open for business, there will be real competition for qualified staff. get the Bank change process completed as quickly as possible. The change process resulted in uncertainty which causes low morale of staff members. Uncertainty should be removed ASAP. clear guillotine on the reform process. Regroup processes and teams in the same place, and get rid of all operational services groups - too many processes and staff watching, very few doing the work, and for those who do the work, because of service desks one question will take two weeks to be answered completely as a conversation between different zones by emails, back and forth is resolved in two weeks instead of two minutes. This chain process has to be abolished as we will be able to deliver [NUMBER] times sooner. We do not need so many people, less but in same time zone working as a team and all must be accountable not only TTLs Reduce middle management and institute proper delegation processes. The current Practice Manager level is almost totally internally focused, interested in only promoting good perceptions of their performance and lack the leadership and change management skills to promote the collaboration within the GP and more broadly across the organization. In short the current situation is dysfunctional. Change/improve the following constant work features: - ad hoc requests that end up dominating workdays/work programs - overdose of emails per day - risk aversion - fragmented work programs - if the model is to be aligned closer to [NAME] engagement model, then each staff needs to be covering a reasonable # of projects that have a finite life cycle instead of the rotating staff effect - ensure knowledge/learning/"exclusive"training for staff, which starts making each one of us more (not less) competitive as WBG years of service add up - minimize bureaucratic processes I would make sure that a "one staff one Bank" bank policy/procedure is designed and implemented to make sure that there is no distinction between a LRS and IRS. As it is now, staff with equal educational (PhD) background and experience ([NUMBER] yrs) are treated differently just because one is an IRS and the other a LRS. In some instances, staff with higher educational qualification and work experience are treated differently just because they are LRS. simplify. Improve process of recruitment ( from shortlisting to offer) and do not subject final decision to the hiring manager's will only. A bit of control system is needed. There are too many biaseds based on unfounded or undocumented opinions. Those who speak loud get the way through. -6- The strong leadership with technical expertise and strong operational experiences (of the types of business that WBG engage) within the senior management (rather than too much focusing on people management skills) would, I believe, help the WBG to strengthen the technical leadership among donors / development institutions. The processes of change management and reform is taking too long, sometime I feel this may show the confusion among senior management and its lack of capability to handle the changes / reforms on the ground and operationalize such changes into practices, that senior management originally promised and envision conceptually. Too long internally focused change process / inward looking senior management view contributes enormously (negatively) to the staff member's pride to be a part of the WBG. Ensure the sense of job security among staff so that they can focus more on sharing knowledge, collaborate across teams, and deliver quality work for clients- all that the senior management wants us to do, currently without ensuring job security of us. We are human beings - and most of us are "matchers" who are willing to give, but also need to be given. If the institution does not treat the staff with respect and only say staff should be happy because 'we are the best institution', Bank will soon end up with only those staff who try to "take" from others, who try to only self-promote, and who are very good at talking but not willing to sweat for work on the ground that requires patience, persistence and efforts that may not be easily seen from managements. Serious review of the project preparation processing. I support [NUMBER]% the "Change" however the only real change in our Sector was from the Practice Manager up. There has been absolutely "NO Change" from PM down. There has not been "ANY" exchange or sharing of knowledge, tasks, assignments with other Sectors or Regions. Contrary to our Director who came with the change and other PMs, our PM is opposed to the reforms and transfers the sense of fear and insecurity to us. The Survey questions regarding the Director above the PM was all “neither agree nor disagree’ because there is no contact with the Director. Attempts to contact Directors were followed by PM retaliation. The thing I would change is the PM who does not [NUMBER]) Know Staff capabilities, [NUMBER]) facilitate a dynamic movement of knowledge, experience and Staff among sectors and countries, [NUMBER]) motivate Staff to develop their (or new) skills. For the change to work, it is important for PMs Staff Management Skills to be no less than "Best Practice". [NUMBER]) Risk adverseness is NOT changing. Many managers (not mine) put in place extra controls and reviews outside procedures (I assume out of fear for not sustaining quality) which increases the TTL transaction costs, so you need to find a way to hire confident managers that can change the behavior. [NUMBER]) Internal processes: the new ISR is amazing, but the portal is not intuitive nor does it reflect the complexity of our world. [NUMBER]) Reorganization: The first phase was brilliant in identifying our challenges and opportunities. Since then the changes has been watered down and we are back to exactly what we had before (except the networks): regions, PM regional managers etc. We really needed to step up to the global changes, but it appears as if we have failed and staff deeply demoralized. [NUMBER]) Diversity and inclusion: I support this as long as it is merit based. [NUMBER]) Perverse incentives for not being candid on project performance reduce internal processes; remove headcount restrictions and focus on cost effectiveness instead; empower TTLs and cut management SIMPLIFICATION (esp. trust funds, processing steps and better support from some legal and fiduciary colleagues) Recruitment of people with missions aligned to the Bank's. Currently, there seem to be so many people who just like the lifestyle that the job affords them or the thrill of career advancement. I rarely hear people earnestly discuss how a particular project or research endeavor will help people living under $[NUMBER] a day. This may be why we have so many mediocre projects and why we produce analytical output that no one reads. This state of affairs has likely persisted because of the way recruitment panels are organized. People end up selecting candidates they already know or that their friends know. Perhaps the model employed by the IMF (in which all candidates, before being considered for a specific job, must clear a panel comprised of people whom the candidate may not work with in the near term but who do the basic business of quality control for the organization.) could be piloted. Wait a minute - isn't this the YP program? Yes. Why isn't all recruitment given this kind of scrutiny? -7- Tyranny of the regions, particularly Africa, should end. This is blocking implementation of reforms and frustrating role of the practices and emphasis on knowledge. This old fashioned World Bank relies on process and lending disempowering both staff and clients. This is linked to over reliance on STCs which undermines the establishment of knowledge at the Bank. The World Bank continues to have an approval and disbursement culture. There was some rhetoric about focusing on results when the GPs were created. Senior Management seems to have shied away from this. As such, the World Bank feels more like a loan factory than an institution seeking to make a difference. The World Bank could also be improved if the job selection and promotion process could be changed from a "who you know" process to one based on job performance. Well managed work programs (realistic time allocation) so people can give their best for each project, while also balancing knowledge sharing, development, and life provide the adequate budget structure and incentives to promote a culture of learning and sharing knowledge HR salary review processes for country offices (inaccurate) and subjective. Does not factor in livelihood indicators nor makes effort in studying the labor market. Less procedures clear communication and transparent process for dealing with the institution goals Proper Orientation for staff that have joined the Bank for the first time. this will enable them to know the procedures and where to go when you require assistance. currently, staff tend to mind their business. suffice to say that there are still staff that are willing to help you get started. Unclear role of the management team still cause many ineffectiveness in doing business. They would need to avoid overlapping and show more transparency when making decision. Too many layers of commands or requests involved in a process. Simplifying does not seem working well. I would stop talking about making clear career paths for managers and technical experts and actually do it. I would remove ineffective managers and consider them for technical expert positions or for exit from the Bank. I would review existing staff and clearly give them options for one of two paths - managerial or technical. This has been discussed for years but never implemented. To implement this process there would need to be a serious, substantive review of H and I level staff and clear designations made. Though people would be allowed to move across job streams if desired. Finalize the change process and get on with work with client. Appoint managers that have actual hands on experience and real expertise in the respective technical fields of their units. Without a strong technical expertise they do not have legitimacy vis a vis clients or staff and their role will continue to be mainly SAP process administrators which is what they are now Be more transparent in its processes. Especially the selection processes. We've seen that when high-level positions are open, teh bank does not share the clear picture of its needs and interests, and after the process finish, it puts its own staff in uncomfortable situations and sometime humiliating. Also, it's seen that other managers that lack transparency and have unethical behaviours continue to have the same position.. in this sense the bank is not transparent with its own guidelines and ethical procedures. Less focus on knowledge, more on operations. Focusing too much on knowledge sharing, as in the current system, encourages people to show off in endless, pointless BBLs which are a distraction from current work. Be truly transparent in the change process (as opposed to engaging staff on a fait accompli situation) Simplify processes, remove irrelevant work, accelerate delivery! WBG internal procedures we have not done enough to reduce bureaucrat and layers and simplify processes. Progresses have been minimum in this regard. Too few is done also to help manage carriers Replace Sr. Management with qualified people who know what the Bank does. The new administration should develop a strategy for a leading edge [NUMBER]st century development institution, prepare a strategic staffing plan that serves the actual strategy and then offer staff a transparent and open process for exit if necessary. -8- Offer more opportunities to young people for meaningful career development. The simultaneous deletion of JPA and ETC positions puts up a real barrier to entry for young professionals, particularly those with strong sector expertise. Our unit is essentially kept running by smart young ETCs, JPAs and STCs who do pretty much all of the heavy lifting in terms of writing, quantitative analysis and other technical work. STCs are treated as full time staff--until they reach their [NUMBER] day limit and are forced to leave, undermining the Bank's institutional knowledge and programmatic continuity. It is not yet clear that the number of people hired through the new Analyst position will be sufficient to meet the gap left by JPAs/ETCs, with the inevitable result that an increasing volume of work will have to be taken on by STCs, which is in nobody's best interest. It is also not yet clear how skills will be best matched to business need in the centrally-managed Analyst application process. Frequent changes in procedures and changes in the name of simplifying those has been a misnomer. Several procedures of approvals are very complex and made more and more complex with every revision or simplification, which are repetitive, duplicative, with multiple levels of clearances and approvals causing huge transaction costs to the institution. The practitioners should drive these simplification process rather than the management gurus and theoreticians. Reduce processes and increase private sector like approaches where staff in encourage do take risk Management at all levels should make an effort to equally share any information with all their staff instead of very few. This will not only reduce gossips but also avoid distortion of information. Abolish the unofficial YP career protection program. Whenever I meet underperforming managers and senior staff, colleagues all over the Bank says: ‘Ahh but that’s an YP’. It seems that there are doublet standards in this regard, which is contradicting to the Banks own policy and counterproductive to its strive towards professionalism. It is also a clear notion on the floor that a general trend in regard to practice managers is that they often have poor people skills. As one phrased it, ‘an archetype middle manager in the Bank has an IQ of [NUMBER] and [NUMBER] social skills’. Moreover, middle managers seems more to be system gatekeepers than change agents which makes it very difficult for the Bank as an institution to change it culture and ability to evolve as the world around is does so. The resent organizational change process was a golden opportunity for fostering a new archetype of middle managers, but it seems to a large degree to be a missed opportunity. That all staff (whether IRS or LRS) are treated in a fair manner by WBG Sr Management by enabling the right institutional culture and behavior - in terms of : HR staffing policies, level of compensation and benefits, respect in the workplace, and exercising decisive actions on Managers who do not really possess good management skills and retaliate against staff who speak out their minds. The ongoing change process produced more Managers who, in several cases, do not have the appropriate people and Management skills to effectively carry out the new vision and strategic goals on the WBG. For ex, we now have the right GLobal Practice model (but please consider merging the relevant and related ones), but these produced so many Managers with overlapping GP concerns and has not really helped inter GP collaboration. Clients are inundated with meetings w various GP managers who do not really give a complete range of their needs. Put the money where the talk is and reward collaboration and team work, knowledge sharing, etc, not just deliverables and talk. I also want to clarify that where ever I agreed with a statement about my work, motivation, quality, etc. it was due to my clients and colleagues and not senior management or WB culture. Be done with the change process -- it's taking too long. A more efficient distribution of responsibility and accountability for non-managerial professional staff in operational units is needed. The ADM protocol is the same for a TTL at GF, GG or GH level, as if seniority did not matter or was not a valuable input to quality. This makes little sense. A more efficient approach would be for managers to concentrate on quality assurance and mentoring of their GF and GG staff, knowing they can take less time reviewing the work of GH staff. Less bureaucracy and jumping through procedural hoops. Improved sharing of results and procedures for operations with government counterparts. Put the WBG goals before the geo-politic involvement and apply the same standard/criteria to engage with member countries. We can deliver services to tackle the poverty only when we engage. [Duty Country] get no new operation since [NUMBER]. The existing projects are mostly closed by now. Staff became vulnerable to the ongoing staff lay off process. The size of WBG's intervention in the country became negligible. I want to be proud to be the Bank's staff but not in such situation. -9- Get staff to trust in the institution and its goals again by allowing us to do the job; focus on the client, be innovative, i.e. allow us to take risks; and align the internal processes to these goals. Bring an end to this period of uncertainty. The last [NUMBER] months have been horrible, and there has been little impact on the issues identified as motivating the change. The same disconnect between client priorities and our business strategy persists. The regional reorganization to global practices has resulted in the same people in the same structure aligning on the same regional incentives. The hiring freeze and now staff review have seriously affected our delivery to the clients. Admit these failures, draw a line and bring the organization together to find a way forward. There is still enormous capacity and motivation in the Bank, and the world still looks to us to deliver so much important work. Find a way to bring the focus away from this endless internal process and back to the reason we are all here - development. Anonymous peer reviewing process. Reduce the number of clearance processes needed to get things done - we should standardize approval processes of AA, TFs etc. Modernize the building so it feels less like the [NUMBER]s and make it more open and modern Have also the reform (operational project preparation process requierement,) in line with the policies requirements which has not yet been changes Reduce on the bureaucratic processes in the World Bank and pay staff in Country Offices better Simplify processes and procedures so that staff can focus on the real work and spend more time doing quality work instead of focusing on "checking" the boxes and feeding the monster. This super lengthy change process has done a lot of damage to our operations, people, cadre and staff morale. Suggest to quickly reevaluate, and drop the not-so-good decisions, and finally finish the change. we are all suffering from post-traumatic stress from such a lengthy and demoralizing change. Improve decision making by making it streamlined, and with proper involvement of the country offices. We are still too bureaucratic, an example being our procurement process which often hinders us from offering quick solutions to the client. Prioritize decision making on staff processes - both unit staffing and then HR processes of position hiring and onboarding. Big events are fine but when you have an entire workforce unsure of their jobs past June it is really an unacceptable answer to say that management is too busy with too many meetings so decisions continue to be delayed. It has created a toxic environment for all. Institute reforms in the project cycle to enable staff to deliver operations more quickly and at a lower cost, e.g. making so-called emergency procedures into standard operating procedures, thus simultaneously increasing our impact, portfolio and lending Hurry up and complete the change process! The prolonged uncertainty that is the fallout of a lengthened transition period is the single most corrosive factor in an otherwise great institution. Complete and finalize the strategic staffing and change process so that we can get on with our work without worrying about job security. More consultation and transparency particularly on key decisions which affect staff. There is clearly a lack of open dialogue between Sr. Management and staff. Management's response are live chats which do not really engage staff and often difficult to access when you are in the field. Minimize level of reviews for packages and deliverables. (non operational) internal processes are getting worse, too many desks make the job slow and painful (HR, catering, E-services, TP desk, RM, etc. ... ) I cannot organize any event without going thru tons of paperwork and calls to Chenail. As an example, I used to be able to hire a consultant in [NUMBER] days flat, now I need to go thru Director's approval for rate clearance, TP desk for processing, HR for LOA issuance... it takes [NUMBER] weeks. And it's getting worse HR: Change the leadership at the senior management level (why do we have so many directors and advisors); move more resources to the country offices; get rid of HR as it is ineffective. Take a hard look at the way management talent is being recruited. Things seems to have gone back to business as usual. Improve the bureaucratic processes- quality control is going out of hand Centralization of safeguard functions is not working well Give country directors more autonomy to manage work program planning - 10 - Have staff understand how Senior Managers have been leading in example on every desired changes that the Bank group is moving to. For example, how Senior Management has done to reduce the expense without compromising their job performance? Or how Senior Management has been sharing knowledge across? The biggest problem we are having now is that we have got too many poor-quality middle level managers who do not have adequate leadership and who do not get adequate respect from their staff and their clients. The Bank needs to reform the HR process to ensure we get the best middle level managers who have both strong technical knowledge and strong people-management skills, and also to ensure their performance is closely monitored and evaluated. Conclude the change management process and move on. The amount of time and effort that staff and management alike have put into it, and the fact that we still have dozens of management positions unfilled, uncertainty over budget processes, and incentives for collaboration unimplemented is simply not acceptable. reduce process internal processes are so long and sometimes not necessary Internal processes and procedures are excessive and could be simplified - work-life balance is affected simply due to the intense paperwork required to get anything done. It would be important to reduce the processes for projects approval and make more efficient use of technical staff time. HR systems - transparency of hiring and evaluation processes Openness in communicating regarding the change process. I would flatten the senior management layers (vice presidents, senior directors, directors ... these should be only one layer) and remove all quality control etc. reviewer functions that just generate discussion between Bank staff ignoring any connection to clients. Operational/technical people spend [NUMBER]% of project development time to entertaining non-substance professional managerial and reviewer suggestions and comments, which add little value to the work with client. Right now, one thing is we need the President to step down and the senior management team needs a reshuffle. This change process that is going on now is bizzarre. It should be done based on business objective and World Bank vision and mission. What's going on now is we are making our life more complicated and unclear. I'm proud working at the Bank, I love this institution but the way now the management leading the bank is not something that I proud of. I agree with the concept of Strategic Staff Plan but it should be fair and transparent. IMF can do it in a fair way but WB management decides to make the plan ambiguous and create unsecurity among the staff. Simplify procedures for approval and decision making, particularly thinner bureaucracy; focusing on quality, efficiency, including timely response to clients. The change process only brought additional layers of bureaucracy with multiple and unclear reporting lines. There are no incentives for cross-practice collaboration. Less tedious procedures Rules need to be clear and if not, processes to define them should be effective and don't take many months to get a solution. With the reform I ve seen my manager doing her best to solve problems but facing a wall on processes that were not decided and people in charge taking months to resolve. The breadth of scope of WBG activities - we are spread too thinly. And our culture - which is still inherently risk averse and drives all of our processes. Finish the current change process. Cut down of the approval processes for new projects while at the same time ensuring that risk related issues are adequately mitigated. Remove non-performers; remove nonsense procedures; enforce quality control Complete the restructuring process and make sure that management and performance are evaluated based on results. Management structures, manager objectives, and decisions are currently not motivating good behavior of collaboration and respect. Better align incentives, performance evaluation and objectives. Define results expected for Global Practices - is it development impact or is it IBRD lending? If IFC Advisory is meant to be shut down, then just shut it down, do not drag it out. simplify the procedure, have standard indicators for OPE Less talk more action - 11 - Eliminate unnecessary Internal processes to enhance delivery to the clients!! The WBG needs to be fast, agile, and smart Complete the change process and get on with the business of delivering environmentally sustainable development. Decrease bureaucratic processes and hierarchical structure. Increased effectiveness of processes (less bureaucracy and key focus on Client`s needs) more simplification of internal Bank processes Simplify internal clearance process. Rationalized procedures. Many things: ([NUMBER]) overhaul HR so we are effectively recruiting and retaining top talent; ([NUMBER]) focus on rewarding performance based on measurable outcome-oriented achievements; ([NUMBER]) empower younger staff and hold them account for great performance; ([NUMBER]) penalize poor performance; ([NUMBER]) dramatically enhance technical quality control; ([NUMBER]) offer unambiguous and substantial incentives for creativity, collaboration and risk-taking; ([NUMBER]) incentivise effective client orientation; etc. Less bureaucratic way of handling procedures and process Introduce transparency in the hiring process. We all know what happens. For instance many people get promoted who don't know anything about their jobs or have not done anything to deserve their promotion. The recent appointment of the PM for Social in ECA is a key example. More consistent Technical Monitoring of operational processes so that operational staff do not have to navigate through "smart/better systems/sites". Excessive self-preservation culture among staff members, reinforced by the increased sense of job insecurity. It is generating more competitive, rather than collaborative atmosphere, deviating our attention and energy from creating and trying new things. I feel that colleagues are increasingly looking for opportunities to attack, criticize, blame, and accuse others--tarnishing the reputation and credibility of others to come out on top of the survival race. This makes me more risk averse, discouraging me from exposing myself to any unnecessary attack. It discourages me from sharing my experience and knowledge with others or from trying something new. Simplification and flexibilities in the polices for the fragile status countries. Since the reorganization, the quality of the work in my GP has plummeted. The main reason for this is that it is unclear who is responsible for quality assurance. The previous sector managers and directors knew that they were accountable for the quality of all lending, ESW, notes, comments etc. This unevenness in the quality of what we deliver is difficult to deal with on an everyday basis. Moreover, those who should focus on this clearly do not do so. As a result the Bank is not a beneficiary of the synergies one would expect to see with the formation of the new GPs. This also spills over to our work on generating, managing and sharing knowledge - where the the content is poor and the process inchoate. Part of the problem - is that the different work streams that now fall under GGP for instance had their own methods of assuring quality, promoting staff, assigning work etc. etc. The obvious gender bias in the promotions (to H Level) for the Public Sector staff is now buried. There should be consequences for non performing staff. Not necessarily being lay offs, but at least a consultative process that will improve performance. This should be done especially for those senior staff who are neither technical experts, nor managers or leading projects. Its demotivating to see senior staff wasting time on the job. I WOULD HIRE VPs and senior managers from THE AMERICAN PRIVATE SECTOR who could help change the culture of this place, make it exponentially more efficient, less arrogant and less concerned about appearances and petty politics; and be much more concerned about the actual mission of the Bank of helping poor people and becoming truly competent professionals in the process (versus merely being politicians). Currently, we have a horribly inefficient institution, completely looking inward v. outward, trapped by its own game, and full of dissatisfied workers who only work here for the sake of a visa to live in the [Duty Country] and/or milk the prestige of the Bank (in some circles), or go on an ego trip. Frankly, the best thing would be to get rid of our President. He has lost the confidence and respect of most of us. The change process has been a disaster --slow and ineffective, with the overall result of reverting to a model abandoned some [NUMBER] yrs. Slowly eroding benefit packages can only result in a demoralized staff and keep away highly qualified individuals. The progressive centralization of decisions is cumbersome, ineffective and demoralizing. Reduce bureaucratic processes. Too many reviews and controls are in place Open access to internal processes. - 12 - Less paperwork and process oriented tasks Eliminate incredible number of business processes. Reduce the number of managers and add more persons at cutting edge level. Promote technical knowledge learning. Simplify processes and reward high performers Currently, transparency in the hiring process is quite atrocious. Get managers and directors out of the way of front line staff delivery to clients. Internal Bank processes are crazily bureaucratic at all levels - e.g. a manager having to sign off all travel even for a TTL or Technical leader advising on billion dollar issues with a client. There are two separate worlds often - delivering to a client where there are tough issues and creative solutions with hard work and good outcomes - and the internal Bank were there is hard work, delay, the potential for conflict and suspicion and little evidence of value add. Provide more stable and predictable change process to avoid uncertainty Wrap up the change process which is taking too long and is fakely transparent Clarify AMD responsibilities for all processes and avoid leaving contradictory information on various intranet/extranet web pages and guideline documents. Knowledge sharing I would fire the President and all Senior Management for starting a never-ending change process that has resulted in zero improvements, higher transaction costs, massive demotivation across all levels of staff and distraction amongst staff who are either looking for new jobs outside, or worried about saving their job here. It is quite amazing how bad things are – as evidenced by the FY[NUMBER] deliverables and FY[NUMBER] lending pipeline. The disconnection between senior management communication and platitudes, and the reality in which the rest of us work, is becoming simply unbearable. I feel sorry for those on G[NUMBER] visas that are utterly trapped in this collapsing institution. They have put their pencils down and become depressed because they have sacrificed family and social lives (by constantly traveling) to be part of what will be one day a Harvard Business School case study on how quickly strong institutions can be destroyed. Simplify internal processes for project preparation, approval, and supervision. Management procedure need to be simplified, and not too bureaucratic Some processes internally to the bank can be cumbersome. Streamlining bureaucratic processes could benefit all and save money. Align procedures with real context in the field, where the work on development is really happened. Further simplify processes and focus on achieving results to help meet the twin goals. Reduce useless and time consuming procedures so that projects do not take such a long time to become operational and time of technical staff is not wasted doing non-technical/administrative work To see Sr. Management, starting with the President, to acknowledge what has clearly not worked AND to be held clearly accountable for missteps and failures, including all the various pieces that has been part of this change process. Two things. [NUMBER]) Improve how information is stored and shared - especially the intranet but also more generally (W drive, Box, WBDocs, Portal) in terms of usability and search infrastructure but also standards of practice - the default rule which managers and ACS staff should pioneer, is never to send important attachments (such as new policies, guidance, corporate instructions, organization chart etc) without also including a link to where the attachment is accessible elsewhere. [NUMBER]) Management's inexplicable silence (beyond a couple of internal blogs from the Treasurer) to legitimate questions raised by staff about pension investment policy sends dangerous signals concerning not just the substance of pension investment policy (e.g. tobacco, black-listed companies), but more worringly about lack of transparency of the Pension Finance Committee. To build staff trust, PFC should disclose its Rules, Policies and meeting minutes, with non-disclosure the exception. Reduce bureaucratic procedures and do not change processes too frequently - 13 - Finish the change process and stop the strategic staffing exercise There should be clear policy on rotation of staff in HQ between regions within GP and similarly there should not be just reentry for field based staff and should be guaranteed position in [Duty City] Fake advertisements when the manager has somebody in mind should stop. Similarly the position which can be rotated between IRS staff should not be advertised to waste everybody time and leads erosion of faith in the hiring process. Remove all nonsense internal process of ISR. modernise to ensure that internal procedures do provide better quality but not obstacles for operations. Accelerate completion of the reform process, especially strategic staffing. Dragging it for months and months is wearing us down Reduce procedures Reduce bureaucracy - remove the multiple layers of control; reduce processing and reporting requirements; significantly simply safeguards and procurement To solve problem of knowledge sharing and ensuring fair learning opportunities for the staff. Make PMs accountable for : -under performing staff -treat staff daily -fair and transparent recruitment process and extension or termination of contracts -Stop promoting staff as TTLs that have no technical capacity or skills to lead a team -Stop promoting local staff just because "they are local" or they were hired under by them Get rid of non-performers even if they are on open-ended contracts. It fundamentally and irreparably damages morale to see low performers just changing around because it is too difficult to fire them. This makes a mockery of 'strategic staffing' process where it is crystal clear that term contracts are in a much more precarious position. The Bank should publish information of the "cuts" indicating the numbers of people "cut" according to their contract type so this perception (if not true) can be changed. Enhance operational staff and process simplification (improvement) in accordance with increased workloads, quality requirements and continuous change. Clear vision from senior management about where the institution is going in a world tha is no longer dominated by the US; changes to US visa rules to reduce vulnerability among G[NUMBER] staff (impossible to get but would make a big difference); serious attempt to reduce burden of approvals processes on TTLs. We are a large institution, but we need to be more cutting edge on everything! technology, development, climate change, faith-based development. Keep trying to find the balance between risk-taking and institutional reputation. [NUMBER]) focus strongly on making sure the change process can be efficiently implemented so it does not impede our operations and client focus. at the moment, still much confusion on how the change will work in practice. [NUMBER]) i have been on a term contract for almost a decade now, with a strong performance record. at some point will this be converted to an open - ended ? [NUMBER]) make the talent review and promotions process more transparent - at the moment it is very much based on favoritism rather than an objective and rational review of a person's entire work history and diverse work experience. a person is penalized for taking risks and moving in/out of country offices and across regions because they have to change managers and there are other people who have already made patronage to their managers for years to get "in line" for promotion. Fix internal procedures to make them more efficient. Finalize this Change process as soon as possible to let things actually function as they are supposed to. Too many bureaucratic processes, and systems (people working for systems, not systems enabling people's work), which detracts efforts to serve clients better. Bank simplification is always a nightmare, since it often brings in more trouble. Too much inward-looking Bank discourages risk taking and innovations. - 14 - For operational staff, the operational procedures are simply unbearable and operational specialists are no longer available. The TTL ends up entangled in processes and unable to really serve the client. I also think that the WB should be made more client oriented, and staff behavior assessed against their responsiveness to the country clients they serve. Reduce amount of meetings, requests for information, and generally bureaucratic processes. Attempts to simplification have not yet been noticeable. Reduce uncertainty and misinformation on the organizational change process. Reduce approval procedures, decentralize the power Reduce internal processes to enable staff to use time more efficiently towards achieving development outcomes. The GPs apparently created more silos. WBG has no single voice to the clients. Unhealthy competition created within the GPs. GPs need to share information on programs and projects and stop competition. Prohibit talking in the open space working areas, increase a number of facilities/conference rooms where people can talk without disturbing and destructing work process of others A real simplification process for operational procedures, avoid overlapping mandates between the regions and VPs. Less slogan-driven targets. Empower and provide real equal treatment and recognition to local hired technical staff in the CO. Seems that reform process is going to re-centralize the Bank in [Duty City], that will make more difficult to recognize local hired technical staff qualifications and skills and to make them able to work globally even being located in the CO. Clients do note care about change or reform process, but they do care and account the quality of response from staff, the proximity and the deeper/longer dialogue. That's is an important advantage of having local hired technical staff that fils similar qualifications and skills of international staff. But the incentives to allow this staff to share the knowledge and experience through projects preparation and implementation is not yet set. Implementation of the reform process is slow, lacks transparency, and the people in command seem to be lost. Institutional decisions are so slow that staff feel that lack of action by Senior Management is hindering the implementation of the vision of the President--is this a deliberate decision by people that oppose the reform process? Meritocracy is no longer the criteria guiding the selection of staff for positions as an implicit quota system has been put in place resulting in the selection of staff that have not distinguished on a day to day basis. less career oriented people, more visionary people who care for content, client, and knowledge sharing I would make decision-making at Practice and higher levels much more transparent, especially the hiring process for unit managers and above. The last round of hiring in my practice did not include external postings and some of the interview panels comprised people representing conflicts of interest for candidates. Reduce bureaucracy and burdensome, overlapping processes. Having too many layers of oversight is not synonymous to enhancing work quality Throughout the last two years and the entire change process, I have often been disappointed with the unclear and euphemistic style of communication from Senior Management that sells every change as a great opportunity and often avoids the hard facts. Instead of wishy-washy corporate communication lingo, we could really use some straight talk on what is being done and why. Town hall meetings and surveys like this one are helpful, but the questions are often to unstructured and / or leave room for evasive answers. The reason that blog posts like those of our colleague [NAME] are so popular is that people are eager for objective no-BS information and a serious debate on what is really going on and how it will affect them. I would recommend a change in employment type from term to open ended, ensure salaries respond to country inflation situation and also streamline processes Make hiring process much more competitive and minimize the amount of "managerial" interference in the selection processes. To ensure the job positions are truly based on qualifications and not favoritism, with transparency throughout the process. It is a sincere honor for me to be part of WBG. Thank you. - 15 - I think the change process is the right thing to do for the WB, but in my opinion there is still little clarity about how managers are evaluated and considered accountable for the WB work program. Also, the relationship between the GP and the country CMUs could be better clarified, sometimes I have the impression that the objectives are not completely aligned. Finally, while there is an effort for making the criteria for performance evaluation and career progression explicit, it is not completely clear whether these criteria "de facto" are applied uniformly and in a standardized way across GPs, contract types and country offices. More focus on content and real issues, less on "process" and disbursement Revisit the Change process profoundly, specifically the "strategic staffing" approach. create very specific incentives for staff across GPs to collaborate. make it [NUMBER] percent of their OPE rating, with at least [NUMBER]% of OPE reviewers from other units. create a new mechanism for IFC and WB to collaborate to share skills and knowledge. currently, IFC investment staff and WB technical staff have little real incentive to collaborate because neither "benefits" in their work program or OPE from working with the other -- all of these relationships are purely bilateral and personal! Much less processes as far too much time is spent on completing these requirements than on results. There has been so much talk about streamlining and improving the Bank's effectiveness and efficiency, but very little difference has been seen till date. The only visible one I could think of is removal from SMO from missions, which is only a very small process but even that has not materialized in reality. CMUs like [Duty Country] now require the same information to be included in the mission announcement letter, which entirely defeats the purpose. Such developments discourage me from being hopeful of much progress in streamlining. Transparent hiring process [NUMBER]. Better and clearer contractual and career progression opportunities for good performers, regardless of contract and grade; improved talent retention. [NUMBER]. Making this endless change process end so people can focus more on delivering quality results, with clarity of purpose and clarity on their own role and contract situation. Create a client focused culture that embraces failure as a learning opportunity. A client focused culture does not exist. Incentives are on boxes ticked and size of deals; not how much value the client received. This is a change of mindset that must take place globally. I would initiate a change management process to a value based approach, reward collaboration and the ability to make decisions quickly. People are scared to make decisions and take ownership because the culture frowns on failure. Incentives to share mistakes and find value in learning from them need to be provided as well. Post-restructuring there are so many new and major problems that exist so it is difficult to choose just one. However, if I had to identify one area of change, it would be to fix the quality control in the World Bank. Under the new set-up, the focus of almost all managers and staff in operations is delivery rather than quality or what is best for the long-term interest of the countries we are trying to serve. The CDs are pushing out programs (AAA and projects) without concern for quality, relevance or value added. The Program Leaders are not effectively playing the coordinating role they were meant to but many promote their own GPs rather than coordinate across GPs, and PMs are too busy to actually review anymore. A second issue is that professional growth in the Bank is limited. There are few GH positions and you have to be a self-promoter to get them (mostly men). This results in feeling that you are stagnating. If I had private sector marketable skills I would leave. Simplify internal processes and focus on external competitiveness Sub Theme: Bureaucracy No. of Sub Theme Comments: 118 Transparent selection of unit managers and constant monitoring of their performances using [NUMBER] degree evaluation. Improve STC net rates so they are more competitive...we can't hire good people with rates this low. Reduce bureaucracy always; and continue to become more efficient. Serious issue with internal processes/procedures/complexity of clearances - this has gotten to be ridiculous over the past year and needs immediate attention so that we can start focusing on clients. Quite a lot of time spent talking to each other - internally - need to start focusing on clients and letting them speak. - 16 - To make sure the WBG can attract the best specialists to support rapidly developing client countries that do nto only need financing, but equally important knowledge and diverse experiences and allow these specialists to work without too much internal bureaucracy obstructing them. Less bureaucracy would make the work easier and more efficient. Reward high performers and get rid of non- performers. Ge rid of layers of bureaucracy that has been created as part of the new structure which has increased cost of doing business. The Bank has a number of set rules and procedures that guide each and every part of the work. However, some of them are too complicated to the client to understand. Approval of procurement some times require long bureaucracy that might hinder reaching the poor and needy community on time. If the Bank want address the issue of poverty, it has to look on simplification of the system with out compromising transparency, ethical performance and quality of services. Drastically simplify internal procedures. Too many layers of approval. Less bureaucracy I would simplify the procedures and paper work need for the technical assistance projects. This is taking too much time with very little impact on the quality of actual assistance provided to countries. Cut bureaucracy. I would create a Operations E grade position serving to [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] TTLs to administrate and provide operational support as co-TTL to help with TTLship routine bureaucracy, dealing with Operational Portal etc. giving more time and opportunity for TTLs to be more focused on implementation and strategic stuff. Reducing layers of approvals in operations portal Less bureaucracy and more work. less bureaucracy Reduce bureaucracy and streamline the decision-making processes, reinforcing the managing chain (RVP - CD - TTLs) dealing with clients and reducing the size and power of the non-operational units. Simplifying administrative procedures Reduce bureaucracy and increasing turf battles Less bureaucracy that is meaningless, more accountability and less layers of "advisors" , more opportunity for young people to speak in meetings and share views, less of an old boys club. Less internal bureaucracy, clearances = less managers. Less time spent on internal bureaucratic and more time spent serving the client Bureaucracy Less bureaucracy simplify its structure and procedures Much more of a culture of innovation, and less emphasis on box-ticking and processes. less rules, more confidence in the quality of staff Reduce bureaucratic layers and clearances in order to release time and energy for client-facing work Lessen the layers of bureaucracy that seem to have gotten worse since the GPs have become operational. Reduce bureaucracy. there is a need to reduce bureaucracy and formal authorizations for work approvals. the WBG need to trust its staff to do good work with simple (and understandable) layers of oversight and accountability. simplify the internal procedures to improve the work efficiency. Less paperwork less bureaucracy, more risk-taking, more business-driven, more client-orientation simplify procedures and improve efficiency, otherwise the competitiveness of WBG will be gone. - 17 - get rid of the bureaucracy instead of increasing it; let under-skilled GP staff go, too many of these; stop adding layers of management! streamline doing business, stop adding layers of control and clearance, it's getting ridiculous Revise bureaucracy. internal procedures are way to costly Revise remuneration, no longer competitive compared with other similar institutions Promote concrete actions to reduce internal bureaucracy to ensure efficiency. More balanced treatment of local and international staff, in terms of work opportunities available and benefits received. More streamlined admin procedures to facilitate work of the sector units, not constrain and delay them. Reduce bureaucracy in working with the clients, especially due to the introduction of PLs in country offices -- staff should be encouraged and empowered to meet/discuss with clients as in the old set-up. More responsive in time manner to the client needs and client concerns particularly on administration / bureaucracy procedures Bureaucracy, bureaucracy. I feel that we are actually a very inefficient place at times. One of the reasons has to do with some top down deadlines that come and go. The other is the concentration on the "quality" of the paper work rather than the impact of what we are doing. Cut down on the internal bureaucracy Decrease the level of bureaucracy. Reduce the high number of layers of revision. Empower frontline staff and further simplify layers of bureaucracy/procedures Reduce the bureaucracy and reinforce the frontline in operations. simplify admin procedures much further (creation of codes, monitoring projects, approval processes - delegate much more to TTLs and depend less on a how chain of managerial approval for projects). Improve support to operations, lessen the controls and layers Take care of bureaucracy Reduce internal bureaucratic procedures. Promote the objective of becoming, once again, world leaders in key technical areas were we have lost ground (e.g. WB in social safeguards). Provide clear signals to TTLs to minimize unnecessary travel for support staff (e.g. safeguards) Getting rid of the attitudes of people from the old arrogant Bank that demands things to be done their way and think that the Bank knows best all the time. More importantly is ensuring that people who speak on corporate issues (safeguards, procurement, legal, OPCS, etc.) are held accountable for their decisions, recommendations and actions. TTLs always have to deal with demands from every corporate unit to incorporate stuff in projects and demand that things be done a certain way but are never held accountable for their statements, recommendations, or actions. When things don't work well it is always the TTL who is blamed (not procurement, safeguards, quality or legal) who conveniently use the "I am only providing advice excuse" yet the truth is the TTL cannot move a hair without their clearances. Less bureaucratic. I drafted a Notice of Mission letter to the gov yesterday. Admin assistance made numerous tweets causing the letter to take [NUMBER] hrs for it go out. Firstly, the gov. was well aware and supportive of the mission and admin changes were tiny and petty - for form only. It was a waste of time when there is so much more important work to do. Why do we do this? This letter is just one of many examples. Reduce the layers of senior management. It is not clear what we need the senior VP for what have we added by having VPs, Senior VPs and Senior Directors? just more bureaucracy..... simplify procedures of project management Cut red tape Make the best use of my skills by simplifying operational procedures and ensuring that technical people in operations like me do not spend most of their time doing bureaucratic/administrative work It seems the reorganization has created multiple layers of bureaucracy, and has made it more difficult to get work done. I am hopeful that this will improve next FY, as things settle down a bit. Cut back on paperwork required for AAA and related projects cut inefficient bureaucratic behaviour (and do it seriously) - 18 - Lighten the process oriented and bureaucratic part of our work on focus on the substance. There is an exaggerated focus on form over function. Example: all project documents and country strategies are more about "Storyline" than the actual activities and results expected. Simplify the procedures. Sometimes it is too cumbersome. Some progress has been made to simplify silly paperwork (BTOR/AM, etc), but there is plenty more to do in that regard. Seem to spend [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] of my time doing silly paperwork and procedures and approvals are constantly changing. Less bureaucracy and the constant changing and chipping without the end being in sight. A lot more of management accountability and a lot less of bureaucracy. Someone please assess the amount of time we spend doing BTORs, PADs, SOEs, SPARKs, To further simplify the internal bureaucratic procedures. Less paper-work. Minimise approval/clearance procedures. reduce bureaucracy Reduce internal clearances and red-tape, things have improved but more can be done related to our procurement and contracting norms. Reduce bureaucracy and devolve decision making on a risk-management basis so that people throughout the organisation can do their work without being oppressed by the weight of management hierarchy. The WBG functions like a [NUMBER]s public sector bureaucracy. Reduce needless complexity in the organization and in the procedures (by reducing the excessive division of labour which is creating a multiplicity of veto points in the organization and creating the organizational incentives for growth of bureaucracy). For instance, Safeguards, M&E or inspections panels have grown out of control in complexity and creating costly burdens without obvious substantial benefits. Adding mandatory citizen engagement in operation regardless of the nature of the project will contribute to make our institution less competitive in the eyes of our clients. Bureaucracy...reduce number of clearances..empower TTLs Much more delegation downwards Simplify all the bank processes to remove bureaucracy Recognize the fact that the much hyped new GP structure is not working, and make radical change to it, including changes in senior GP leadership, to try to make it work better. That's because all the GP is at the moment is another layer on an already top heavy bureaucratic pyramid which subtracts value rather than adding. Furthermore, drastically downsize or eliminate OPCS-SOS altogether, since all that it is contributing to is change for the sake of change in processes and procedures and is adding more rather than less bureaucracy to how we do business. Finally, to save real money, eliminate [NUMBER]% of the PL positions and keep them only in countries were we have very large programs, since they are very expensive and do not add value to what we do. Improve efficiency through reducing bureaucracy and timely decision making Reduce bureaucracy Better management and less paperwork so that we can focus on the people we set out to serve Place more emphasis on knowledge and less on lending. The overarching imperative to lend stifles debate and actual learning about how development occurs. It's very frustrating to see "lessons learned" in ICR after ICR that are lessons known, such as don't overestimate government commitment, make projects simpler, and, create less ambitious targets. My absolute worst experience at the Bank was to give an honest assessment of a project. I was condemned for it and since then I have kept my mouth shut. Simplify operating procedures. Multiple layers of reviews and clearances for project preparation documents Bureaucracy is still an issue instead of increasing the bureaucracy and the layers of review, cut those and give more responsibilities to the teams. reduce the ridiculous bureaucracy - 19 - .- Reduce the number of concurrences/clearances TTLs need to get (informlly, but required, and officially, from GSL, PM-GP, D-GP, SD-GP, PL, CPC, CM, CD, RVP, OPCS, etc etc) in each and every step - Improve Op Portal so that TTLs don't need to do the same things twice (offline by e-mail and again through the system officially) Less meetings Yes diversity is important but also the quality and productivity of an employee matters. Is is right to put someone just for diversity sake and not delivery nor produce quality and timely deliverables. Another thing especially with the big unit where I am at, not all ACS in our unit have the same skill set. They have grade level D who do not know about technical work as an ACS, right now times have changed one cannot just manage calendars and do logistics only especially it is a grade level up than us program assistants who are really working and only grade level C. Things has to be transparent too as for applying jobs in the job world, most of the units has already preferred candidates who are sometimes do not have the competency to do the work but because they know someone in the unit hiring them. ACS - admin and client support should not be seen as assistants majority have the talent and skill set to work as research assistants or analyst work but we are not given a chance. reduce bureaucracy and internal procedures More empowerment of TTLs to apply their technical skills rather than chase up the bureaucracy. The amount of time highly trained and expensive technical skills spends dealing with administrative issues (and making sure that other people in that structure attend to their requests) is very inefficient. Reduce bureaucratic hurdles to get things done. Ensure that managers actively engage in management of staff and programs rather than simply focus on administering an increasing internally focused and bureaucratic system that is measured by quantitative measures dissociated from development impact. Would do an open discussion of any new bureaucratic tightening of the procedures. Ultimately, would get back to the practice of trust between management and TTLs, which is being more and more lost over my eight years with the Bank. reduce bureaucracy ! the cost of the bureaucracy is commensurately high and is growing with the new structure of the institution although one of the objectives of change was to reduce bureaucracy Bureaucracy Reduce the paperwork and multiple reviews and clearances for documents I would dramatically cut on bureaucracy in procedures, and put more focus on results rather than internal paper work and approvals and double and triple checks all based on an excessive risk averseness I would also have less people in [Duty City] and more people in the field, it would reduce our self-righteous and arrogant inner culture Reduce internal bureaucracy. Everyone spends most of their time dealing with internal reviews, processes and requirements (which are not unnecessary, but are excessive). Bureaucracy Reduce bureaucracy. cutting down the bureaucratic behaviors and doing its business better to serve for the real people in the ground for the future of the World Bank Less bureaucracy Reduce bureaucracy and useless events not aligned with our twin goals (knowledge meetings, BBLs..) and focus on simple actions with tangible results on poverty reduction. Reduce internal processes - especially on TTLs - or at least allow the delegation of some of these tasks to ACS staff. This was the first and foremost recommendation from staff to Senior Management when the first call for changes happened two years ago. There is no sign of this whatsoever - and in fact it looks as though there are more processes and existing ones have become more complicated with more steps. This is why I indicated that I do not have time to learn more of what is going on in the Bank. Fairness, less bureaucracy - 20 - Focus on clear career streams, especially for operations and M&E staff, and keep us working on activities that maintain our relevancy to the external job market. I feel all my marketable skills have been sucked out of me after [NUMBER] years of perfecting my skills in the Bank bureaucracy by only working on internal paper pushing, reviews and processes that are of no value to me as a marketable asset. This is ever more important since we have been told clearly that the Bank is not an employer for life. Reduce by a significant amount time spent on administration and bureaucracy. The Bureaucratic culture in the Bank. It seemed to have worsened since the inception of the Global Practice. To a reasonable extent, it is still not clear who does what in the Bank. Procedures are still not appropriately aligned. Simplifying internal clearance procedures WB Internal systems Reduce bureaucracy (to improve productivity). Cut down bureaucracy Its important for WBG to refocus on the core operations and enable the TTL; this will require a rethink on the layers of management, bureaucracy, reviews and quality of management (in terms of technical and operational know how). Terrible bureaucracy and internal focus which makes us inefficient. Really simplify some procedures instead of just declaring that they are being or have been simplified. Unfortunately, in [NUMBER] percent of cases, "simplification" actually leads to more complicated procedures. Reduce the level of bureaucracy. Enable the staff to be entrepreneurial and find flexible and interesting projects. reduce the bureaucracy so we can focus on the substance and results. A reduction in the number of bureaucratic steps, and the number of clearances required, would help for most aspects of work, especially operational work. Administrative bureaucracy in WBG can be a hinder to one's role at work. Being a support staff, the experience of several unnecessary work procedures include examples of use of routine systems where profile access granted to create Travel Request on behalf of others and SAP related are limited to some staff. In addition, some policies/guidelines established with our service providers such as BCD Travel Agency can be a challenge. I believe having equal access to work-related information can improve efficiency at work. Having said that, I believe staff training of the knowledge of routine systems relevant to work is an important investment. Two things: [NUMBER]. Less Directors and GI level positions, more Practice Managers with reduced span of control, and Senior TTL with time and opportunities to coach younger TTLs. [NUMBER]. Less bureaucracy, more decisions Remove excessive layers of bureaucracy. Make employment assured rather than uncertain contracts (except in cases where it really is only a short, non repeating assignment) Theme: Sub Theme: Workload and Stress No. of Comments: Worklife Balance 252 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 99 Better work life balance. Less nepotism. I would support mothers at the WBG more. Maternity leave is too little, the support for mothers who return to work is minimal, the mission requirements too many. We have a lot to learn more the IMF and from other countries (not the US). Many of the cost reducing measures have affected our work -life balance. For example, lowest cost fares generally have bad flight schedules and poor connections. These generally implies, having to leave on a weekend to be able to make it to destination, loosing connections hence delaying return, etc. This is just a minor example, but it would be good to understand that cost saving have other implications for the well-being of the dedicated staff. Focus on work balance more real work life balance - staff should not be expected to reply emails over weekends - 21 - .- Management - More family-friendly policies to encourage women to work - Better HR policies and career development mechanisms - Equal treatment (especially in terms of pay and recognition mechanisms) between staff located at HQ and those at country offices flexible working arrangements not just on paper available but embedded in management culture Better manage work-life balance; be more candid and realistic about shortcomings of projects There should be more incentives to staff and fair treatment to all in terms of work/life balance, career growth opportunities and recognition. .- Must change culture of fear - underperformers, workplace conflicts, disagreement of perspectives must be openly addressed rather than swept under the rug which is too often the case. - Must have honest conversations about performance and project development; no more BS rhetoric about delivering with the perspective that nothing is ever wrong. - Must provide clear objectives to technical staff with regards to work program development. Delivering or doing more should be acknowledged. Not delivering needs to be identified and openly addressed. Too many staff are over-loaded and burnt out while others rarely produce anything. ACS underperformance needs to be addressed ASAP. - Must provide better work-life balance including more flexibility around long missions and rest stops. - Must provide more safety information for those of us working in conflict and fragile states. - Must carve out time in ALL STAFF's WORK PROGRAM for creativity/writing/skill development. - Change abusive STC use work-life balance Flexibility to work from home. The [Duty City] metro area is a challenging environment for working families with small children and both parents working outside the home. Flexibility is a premium in this environment and management needs to trust staff. Outliers of those who abuse flexible benefits should be dealt with, but should not be a reason to put restrictions on everyone. To consistently apply 'work life balance' More work life balance Improve on the remuneration and ensure work life balance is implemented not just on paper. Improve life-work balance. The WBG is an institution that values commitment to the organization among anything else, including planning a family, spending free time with your family, do sports, etc. Also, I would provide a more supportive environment to young people who is strongly committed with this institution, but that cannot find a clear path for career development and growth. Introduce competitive mobility packages for families, including family friendly work arrangements while working in a different country (e.g. home based work), extended maternity/paternity leave. Having children in developing countries is challenging. For instance most colleagues chose that children are born in developed countries, the father cannot usually get an arrangement to stay with his wife away from his duty station for the [NUMBER] months until the baby is born. After that the parental leave for fathers is ridiculously short. work-life balance and clear career development patterns really promote work-life balance. it's broken right now, during this transition and for the foreseeable future. improve work-life balance! Please first note the following which relate to my responses: - My Unit had an absence of Practice Manager for several months. We have had an Acting Practice Manager for several months until recently. The Acting PM went beyond expectations to meet her obligations and has demonstrated remarkable management and leadership skills. However, this is not sustainable as now we have to get to know a new Practice Manager and without proper handover of manager tasks some concerns about our work flow and career development may be lost in transition. - I am based in a country office. Opportunities for career advancement have been de facto less obvious for us in the country offices. Also, our understanding of where the WBG as an institution has been heading is somewhat not clear compared to other colleagues at HQ. In addition, the sense of urgency is much more present in the Country Office and thus generally country office staff suffer tremendously from work-life balance issues. Work life balance - 22 - One would not be enough! Re-instate the balance between pure development work (not for profit) and bank operations ("disburse, disburse, disburse!!!"). Sanction excessive ego. Assure fair treatment in terms of benefits and notably pension. Sanction toxicity at the work place. As a work place, offer better and fair training opportunities to develop and expand technical skills; improve work-life balance; offer opportunities for country assignments for GF staff better life balance Sorry there are more than one. If the procedures could be simplified further and made more logical. A good work life balance and improved less cumbersome procedures. One thing that the Bank has not been able to do is improve its search engine. Its lousy and you are never able to locate what you want to with the logical key words that one can use to search. This is a big time waster. Even Google works better for Bank related searches. [NUMBER]. Aligning staffing with the needs. There are tons of staff providing advice, measuring, monitoring, reviewing, who never worked on operations. We would be an healthier organization with [NUMBER],[NUMBER] staff less and a focus on doing instead of measuring, monitoring, and declaring we have the best experts on any topic. [NUMBER]. There are activities, that if known from clients or media, could simply kill us: e.g., the cost and effort put in documents nobody reads (TA without a cause, ICRs etc); seminars in Rio for monitoring results, and the likes. [NUMBER]. Live / work balance is history. This is considered a problem if you do not answer your main on weekends. Units like mine will have minus [NUMBER]% BB next year with a portfolio growing very steady. Work more, faster, with less. This needs to be addressed. [NUMBER]) Evaluate staff performance according to their TORs, objectives and commitment to work [NUMBER]) setting clear, measurable, doable and less ambitious objectives, based on specifics of regions, countries and people behaviour [NUMBER]) work and life balance Ensure a better balance between work and life, especially when it comes to mission assignments. [NUMBER]. Longer maternity leave and flexible working. [NUMBER]. Systems that are easier to use on the road in places with poor internet. Spend a lot of time trying to get on email me SAP in the field. Encourage staff to be part of one or two teams at the most and focus on one or two tasks at any given time. The most unhealthy aspect of the new re-organization is the incentive for staff to spread their time across countries and teams and tasks to the point where one cannot commit to any given team or see through any given task. This is a recipe for ineffectiveness and poor quality of life. .- Finding a real work-life balance. There are too many internal procedures, which can probably be considerably cut down to enable staff to focus more on delivering quality products to clients, without having this encroach on the personal, family and health sides. - Recruitment processes and promotions need be made more transparent. Give some better incentives to country based staff like opportunities to become a international staff and open ended staff. Encourage work /life balance for staff. Implement the ability for cross support to other regions. Encourage DIAS for technical local staff based in the country offices. Encourage movement of good ACS staff to apply for posts as technical staff Balance work load of staff especially TTLs improve work life balance Work-life balance A better work and personal life balance - 23 - Make a better effort at work balance, and treating all staff equal in terms of salary. An example: A number of staff at the Bank are dual citizens, many being US citizens, but several having strong ties to other countries, in terms of family, professional, etc. but because of citizenship when posted at HQ they are not eligible for benefits that other international staff have. Some have never lived in the US for extended periods and come to work for the WB. In particular, mobility premiums should apply in these cases to. Particularly, when staff who come to the Bank but have been for a long time in the US still do get the benefits. Work/personal life balance is inadequate. It should not be requested from employees to systematically cancel personal commitments including holidays to attend to project issues where there is no urgent need expressed from clients. In some teams, younger and female members have a disproportionately higher work load than more senior and [Duty City] colleagues. This is not necessarily recognized at performance review discussions, nor addressed where it may become an issue. Furthermore, much higher work load hinders cross-practice work opportunities. Improve on the work and family life balance by ensuring that the staff work load is also monitoring so that the staff are not overloaded. Life work balance Do something radical about email. For example, institute a bank wide rule under which an email request for a task to be done has a one month validity only, whereafter the request becomes null and void. If the task is still required then the request needs to be re-sent. This formalised system would shift the onus of responsibility away from the passive receiver of the message onto the active sender (people are currently drowning in scattergun email requests and their productivity, creativity and indeed their family lives are suffering). This would most likely cut the impact of the large quantity of trivial requests for information that flood the inboxes currently. Important tasks would continue to be dealt with and the time consuming fluff would reduce. I am sure that there would be unintended consequences of this proposal but given the current overburden of trivia it must be worth a shot. Improving work life balance Less micromanagement, control and rigidity, more flexible conditions at work, more trust in the staff, more incentives for staff with family, better balance family-work, more investment in business development and strategy Better managers, much better work-life balance, recognition for efforts, greater accountability, transparency restart the emphasis on the need for work-life balance; everyone is being asked to do more; there is no boundary between work hours and personal hours -- especially for those in the field and more so for those in EAP given the [NUMBER] hour time difference. Promote better work life balance. There should be a clear and transparent back-up system in place so staff can take leave and be sure that important work continues to be done while they are on leave. And leave needs to be taken to ensure proper work-life balance. The [NUMBER] results areas per person in the results agreement. It is not possible to be deep and innovate when you have to deliver [NUMBER] different results in one year there is tradeoff for quality. Plus there is no weight attached to each result area. it undermines work life balance.. better balance of administrative and technical work...too much administrative distracts from focus on technical Fairness across staff regardless of gender, origin, sexual preference or religion. Real consultation and participation in changes. Better work-life balance and respect to personal commitments. Clear criteria and avenues for growth within the Bank. No retaliation to those of us who think different than management. A flatter organizational structure, instead of the heavy-top one imposed on us. Continue to support flexible work arrangements. There should be more work-life balance. We would need to apply the dynamic selectivity approach at all levels in order to make sure that we have enough time and human resources to deliver state of the arte products and services to our clients. Applying this approach would let us focus on those strategic activities and lead the global dialogue in the different development areas by allowing us to allocate enough funds for each activity according to the levels of complexity and risk for each case, and would also leave funds available to differentially support cross-GP programmatic activities. Additionally, this would also help to reach the work-life balance we always pursue for our staff members. - 24 - exit lowest performers ensure balanced work-load among staff Work-life balance More Flexible working hours would be better. Some kind of works do not require to be in the office. They can be well done outside either. work-life balance communication and work-life balance [NUMBER]. Replace the President, HR VP and CFO who do not seem to understand what is needed to improve productivity and performance in Operations. [NUMBER]. Improve the benefits package so that it is inline with other IFIs (like the IMF) [NUMBER]. Move beyond 'lip service' to a work-life balance. Note that a work/life balance is difficult to achieve when we are all competing against each other to ensure that we retain our jobs. [NUMBER]. Do A REAL expenditure review to determine what needs to be cut (i.e. not some arbitrarily determined number). For mothers and mother to-be, I would strongly encourage World Bank to enhance options to better combine children and work: a) better benefit options for maternity leave, or at least longer maternity times, even with less or without pay ([NUMBER] month is nothing), b) better offers to combine travel during breastfeeding time (a lot of us are travelling VERY frequently, please look at other development agencies that allow companions to travel with you while breast feeding, c) enhance options for breastfeeding at country offices, which is mostly non existing at the moment d) (non-monetary) child care support at country offices, also non existing (helping search for options, agreements with close to the office day care centers) Better work life balance. Have open discussions on work life balance and burn out ... More work-life balance is needed. Some staff work more than others so it would be nice if there was more of a balance. Better support for young mothers to handle work-life balance, including maternity leave, flex work, and promotions (at the moment approvals for such requests are depending on the good will of your manager). Streamline the internal systems and procedures. Integrate in the travel policy and the factors to determine the itinerary allowed, the comfort of staff not in terms of class of travel but in terms of avoiding night flights when in economic class even though this is the lowest rate. Make more effective on the ground the life/work balance promoted in principle. Consider hiring more staff in some GPs to allow more work-life balance for current staff. In [NUMBER] we were asked to work in emergency mode with a reason. After that we never went back to "normal" mode. We have been told all this time that this surveys will take action on the issues identified. However, every time is the same, no real action. To give the typical example of work/life balance. This topic is an issue every time and nothing structural has been done to address this issue. The change process was highly expected and rose a lot of expectations. However, it has been very painful and disappointing. Management are abusing of the passion that people have for working in developing in this institution and pushing to do more and more. We might be one of the development institutions that put more hours at work. If you consider the missions, we work weekends, extra hours, and there is no benefit attached to it (no extra payment). At the same time to save money on travel we need to travel on weekends but that is a day that our family loses, for saving an extra dollar to the WB Improve benefits for Families with Children (Longer Maternity/Paternity leave - recent HR development appreciated in this regard and Subsidized daycare voucher system) better work/life balance. Give work life balance the attention it received under previous presidencies (it is almost entirely missing from management discourse these days). improve work life balance Work life balance - 25 - Bank has to work more on the work-life-balance issue to allow staff to be more comfortable to stay and also bank will need to give more consideration on the difference between IRS and LRS staff, in term of compensation, benefits, etc. Country offices is not always consider when important decisions are made. There should be more work life balance and better career development opportunities for country office staff, including effectively global practice implementation. Improve maternity leave benefits. The paid time off seems low particularly if you are based in a country office and need to go to another country to have the baby. This will encourage more mid-career women to work in the organization. Significantly increase internationally-recruited staff presence in country offices. Our rate of international country assignments is low and falling. Management pitches the WBG as a knowledge and solutions bank, but fails to recognize that development is at least as much about about addressing human and institutional issues as it is about solving technical problems. World Bank impact on a country-led development agenda cannot be sustained with flyin-fly-out missions and local "fixers" . We come across as arrogant and insensitive to local context, and are ignored as often as we are listened to. We should demonstrate our commitment to the client by living in country and getting to know the people and institutions. People say this is unaffordable, but the benefit to our work effectiveness would be substantial and there would be significant savings in terms of travel and improved work-life balance for those with families. Staff should be treated with more dignity. Not only has staff to put up with a reform where silos and lack of cooperation incentives among staff have worsened but also work contracts have deteriorated. Staff with [NUMBER] years contract are now being offered two years renewals with total disregard to family needs and constraints of foreign staff. The WBG should continue to find a way to Improve work life balance To differentiate in terms of benefits (not just the financial ones) from a HQ and a CO assignment. We definitely don't have the same conditions and this should be considered. Here are two concrete examples: [NUMBER]) Health. In many places there are not sufficient health care centers, which requires a staff member to travel within the region to have proper medical care. This should be clearly reflected in the LoA. [NUMBER]) Annual Leave. Life in a different country is often far from our original places and according to the flight hours a staff member takes to travel home (which is often days) this should be reflected in the Annual Leave days for CO - to have additional travel days. Although the WBG makes statements about work life balance, inclusion, integrity, innovation, collaboration, and the right to fail, these are all platitudes. In truth, to succeed, you must work all the time. You must collaborate only if it makes your practice visible. Never at the expense of your practice. Managers do not value your work across practices because they cannot account for that time. So the staff has the internal dilemma of needing to be global/cross practice without it being valued (and in fact it plays as a liability). Innovation is applauded, but good old fashioned due diligence is suddenly passe. The Bank talks about instilling a climate without fear, but it does exactly the things it can to provoke fear (such as investigating [NAME]). What keeps staff going is the commitment to the Bank ideals, not the commitment to this president's model. If it succeeds, it will be despite him. Work life balance Work -life balance Work-Life balance - a culture of lending at all cost - a culture of making noise in order to remain visible- A culture where institutional decisions are taken in very close doors Provide compensation leave days when staff work or travel over the weekends for missions. Missions are exhausting and often they are filled with work from the day you leave until you return. This often covers weekends. It would be beneficial to compensate staff for these personal days that are given up, to help encourage a healthy work-life balance and stop employees from getting over-tired or burnt out. Encourage cross-GP projects more - it is clear that the objectives of our projects often overlap e.g., helping the extreme poor or vulnerable populations in rural areas can fit within agriculture, social protection, social development, rural development, and many other GPs. It still seems difficult to create joint projects/programs. - 26 - The WBG should focus both human and financial resources on operations/projects delivery which is the WBG's core mandate. Work Life Balance should be better addressed, particularly for staff working in operations. If we are asked to do more with less, we need to be transparent and clear about the associated risks in terms of quality, which can in the medium term jeopardize the Bank's reputation. support to our families Option to work from home that will reduce the office rental and maintenance costs consistent with many large development consultant firms. incentives to good work not to be more work, but resources to allocate sufficient time to invest in learning and improving quality of delivered products without sacrificing personal time/life Improve the work-life balance. The employee evaluation process should be made more transparent; more than one person should interpret the feedback from your peer reviewers. Managers “interpreting” feedback from your peer reviewers is a recipe for unfair and unequal treatment. You are left at the mercy of your manager, which in the case of our unit is completely bias and asymmetric in her treatment of her team. The talks about improving work-family life balance and gender equality are big fallacies at the Bank. We go around the world preaching about these two goals but we have not yet attained neither of them “at home.” When is the Bank going to do something real to change the status quo? Is a work force composed of single, childless, divorced, or plain unhappy people, preferably [Duty City], the real goal? Better work-life balance I am a staff on a [NUMBER]-year term contract. I would change the current term contract such that, by default, the contract can be extended by [NUMBER] year at the end of each FY, provided adequate performance. This way, I will always have [NUMBER] years left in my contract and don't have to worry about looking for a new job every [NUMBER] years or so, which takes up so much time away from actual work. As long as I perform well enough, my job is always secured for the next [NUMBER] years, which gives me a great balance of incentives to keep working hard and a sense of job security. Poor performers are not given the extension at the end of the FY, which gives them even a stronger incentive to work harder. Those who continue to underperform for [NUMBER] years will leave the bank, which I think is fair, as long as there is a good performance evaluation system. Being on a term contract, I am very concerned about job security, but open-ended contracts should not be the only answer - the optimal should be somewhere in the middle. A more balanced work-lifeapproach. There are so many request and it is so competitive inside, that I feel if I do not put [NUMBER]% of me or more, I will start lagging behind my peers. I would put a greater emphasis on work/life balance. Work life balance Introduce strong disincentives for not working. People at the Bank Group seem to be abusing the flexibility and the emphasis on work life balance. At times it seems like there is more life and less work - that needs to change. Simplify processes, cut red tape, eliminate unnecessary meetings, promote a better work-family balance. improve work-life balance. it's hard to disconnect. Little time to effectively recharge batteries. Sub Theme: Pressure and Stress No. of Sub Theme Comments: 81 On my case, currently I'm dealing with a bossy colleague who gives me a lot of pressure. I would like to talk with somebody to find a better way to handle it. We need to improve our customer-centricity. One example: I am very often on the frontline giving advice to governments, and writing my reports systematically on the last day of my mission to ensure that the client gets the product asap, and we often need to wait for a month before we can share the results due to peer review process or other types of clearance. On the one hand quality is very important but on the other hand we will soon become irrelevant if we don't have a true "client-oriented" or even "customer-centric" approach. Another thing we should change is term contracts of [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] years. I have worked for over [NUMBER] years on [NUMBER] year and [NUMBER] years contract. I am posted in a country office which requires me to have a visa etc. I find it most stressful to be on [NUMBER] year contracts after over ten years of very good services - there is not one year when I got a bad results review. Why not make all term contracts at least [NUMBER][NUMBER] years after [NUMBER] years of good services? - 27 - Dramatically reduce uncertainty. In particular with regards to hiring, work portfolios, career development/progression and training. Clients create enough uncertainty as it is. If staff don't know what comes next, they cannot be prepared for it. Institutional uncertainty undermines our ability to deliver for our clients. We all have very demanding delivery schedules, institutional uncertainty raises stress levels to very high levels, which, for some, degraded effectiveness by reducing focus, incentives, sense of purpose and sense of belonging. Take seriously the "theoretical" concept of work-life balance. Over the last two years this has barely been mentioned and recently laughable 'stress counselling' offered when the problem lies not with the staff as individuals with the the poor high level WBG leadership and management, in particular in our GP. My manager ( last [NUMBER]+ years) is as good as any manager anywhere could be. She is under such extreme pressures from all sides (as we all are) she is now acting out of character, as I am probably too. I've received an OPE/SRI of [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] for the last five years, but in the chaotic, short term and unclear environment I'm unable to achieve now work effectively. My marriage, son and my health are suffering too. The high-level management (WBG and GP) appear to be institutionally, personally ego-centric (when they preach "partnership" ); excessively introverted (but saying 'client-orientened' and '"partnership" ) and unreasonable (more with less, and more, more from staff) Sense of fairness and openness. I feel that people at the Bank are not open enough and that relationships are more valued than skills. In addition, staff do not have the same work opportunities, if one does not know influent people (TTls with large projects, managers, etc.) in the Bank then the opportunities to grow are small. The other important issue is the nature of the contracts offered by the Bank! If a person is at the Bank for more than [NUMBER] years, it means that he/she is worth keeping, then the contract should be converted into open ended or have a longer term contract. Otherwise, the staff lives in constant stress and does not focus on the work. [NUMBER]. Reduce administrative burden on TTLs so we can focus more on technical issues. [NUMBER]. Better career planning, as this is a tremendous source of stress, particularly for field-based staff whose assignments are ending. Ease the administrative and processing burden by: * Placing a one-year moratorium on systems upgrading and procedure changes, except where a user survey has indicated the need for change, and where the system has been fully vetted and tested with a broad range of staff, including ACS; * Enabling and encouraging staff to report all current systems glitches and programing problems to the responsible IT managers, and mandating their repair; this requires the ability to directly contact managers or programmers, and not having to rely on x[NUMBER]; * Cleaning up and better organizing the intranet, especially by removing obsolete web pages, standardizing websites, providing a decent site map, and establishing good web governance (this was done for the external site in [NUMBER] and [NUMBER]); * Fixing the worse-than-useless intranet Search function; * Reversing the decision to move transaction processing to [Duty City] (you will understand why if you do a staff survey on their performance in other services Team work and Collaboration among colleagues. Some staff like to be helped in time of pressure, but they will never give back. Stress more on knowledge management and advisory support and reduce stress on disbursements I have the fire in the belly, but because of this am I to accept contracts where I can't buy a house, continually worry that if my contract is not renewed will have to pull my children from school during an exam year to return home with a completely different curriculum. The uncertainty of contracts is the hardest. I am sure you would get more out of people if they knew they had a future at the Bank. I am going to leave at the first opportunity and I am sure you are missing out on some excellent talent because people are not, especially international recruits, are not willing to move from a secure role to work at the Bank where salaries and conditions have dipped in recent years. Complete the restructuring process as soon as possible as it has caused a lot of uncertainty/anxiety among staff The heavy bureaucratic burden. It's still there. Several times it is as if those designing the interfaces are completely disconnected from our work in the field with our counterparts. It should not be so difficult. - 28 - Restructure the incentive structure for ACSs and make sure that IRS in Country Offices are not pressured to work Globally, as this generates a LOT of friction with the CMU given the sunk costs of having an IRS in a local office. More open-ended positions - the stress of having [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] years contact do not promote loyalty and encourages competition between colleagues Lending pressure. This is a development bank, not a commercial bank. Less bureaucracy on the shoulders of TTLs (we keep hearing about plans to reduce the bureaucratic burden on TTLs, but the reality is that it keeps getting worse year after year)... Create an environment where staff could be able to share issues without fear of retaliation. There has been so much anxiety for people on short term contracts around renewals that usually has nothing to do with performance or need. This dynamic leaves one always in search for the next job and never able to be truly committed to the Bank. The Bank feels like a place of transition rather than a place of commitment. Clarify why the change process was needed and make adjustments. Budgets remain an issue of stress Retaliation. In the current environment, most staff feel that they may be cut by the end of the fiscal year. This of course may not be true, though rumors are that it will be about [NUMBER]% for the GPs. This creates an insecure place to work. Recreation room where staff can do stress relief activities such as meditation, listening to music etc and also exercise on creativity or brain healing. The recent cuts to our travel policy have hit a small subset of operational staff very hard. I calculate that reductions to per-diems have taken about US$ [NUMBER],[NUMBER] out of my overall package last year as I travel so much. We are also under pressure to chain our missions to save cost. To put this in perspective, on each long mission I incur about US$ [NUMBER] - $[NUMBER] in additional child care expenses as I need to fly family members to [Duty City] to help my spouse care for our young son while I am away. The need to spend our money better is very clear and understandable, but the problem is that these cuts are hitting the front lines really hard which was not the intended purpose of our change process. I love my job and what it enables me to due for people who really need our help. However, I also need to care for my family and I am thinking of trying to work for the new AIIB if they are able to take better care of their front line teams. There is an incredible work load. Constant work pressure and competing demands and deadlines, make finding a work-life balance close to impossible. I would encourage the WBG to carry a Health Survey as a next step. better structured and simplified procedures for project preparation. Provide ample time for project preparation without always rushing to meet te board date. This will give less pressure to everyone and makes our work-life balance more balanced reduce administrative burden and number of approvals as well as shadow approvers. take the pressure off TTLs in having to deliver projects at any cost; change the incentives so that good implementation and good results are as valued as much as taking a project to the Board. Despite this having been said [NUMBER]s of times over the last couple of years; despite the rhetoric of behavior change by senior management, NOTHING has changed in this regard, there is no recognition for good project implementation, it is still all about delivering projects to the Board as quickly as possible, irrespective of quality. Also, appointments of managers and directors under the new GP model is NOT based on the model behaviors that were originally espoused - this is incredibly demoralizing to see The pressure put on staff to deliver projects. Sometimes, this looks like an harassment . I am not certain about only ONE thing, I am personally very client oriented and a experienced technical specialist, I very much love the content of my work, and of course the clients, so for me this is already a great place to work. However, improvement in the WBG could be achieved through perhaps hiring more inspirational, motivational, creative, stress-free, less individualistic, less "career-oriented", but more sharing, more practical, more results (impact) oriented, honest and transparent highly experienced technical specialists, as leaders. This could be very helpful in order to minimize complex situations, instead of magnifying simple things, and it would certainly increase the moral, the trust, hence the effectiveness of the employees. This is indeed a great place to work, but with so much more potential. Thank you very much for the opportunity to express our opinions, and observations. The incentives. The institution and its people should be judged on impact and budgets and results agreements should be used flexibly and adoptively to achieve impact in a complex world. Until Sr management stops disbursement pressures, rewards based on size of loans and provides pathetic supervision norms, no high quality impact will happen - 29 - Instead of saving little money on technical experts and TTLs who implement projects, the WBG could and should save big money on ACS, HR and RM staff who most of the time do not even support technical experts and TTLs who growingly have to do those things by themselves. The quality brand of the Bank is about technical knowledge, not administration burden. Technical experts and TTLs too often have the feeling that the staff supposed to support them in fact rule and make their work even more difficult. This is sad for the institution, and demotivating for the technical staff who are supposed to be the heart of the Organization. Equal and fair treatment for all staff ; local and international in all regions. Differences in benefits and pay between international and local staff cannot always be justified by one working away from home. Principle of equal pay for equal work can be further improved in this regard. Short term contracts cause staff anxiety and as a result they perform sub optimally as they worry about future prospects. There is need to have more predictable contracts with longer term. Switch from open term to OPEN ENDED CONTRACTS as SOON AS POSSIBLE. This will reduce anxiety and uncertainty at work for non US citizens because our G[NUMBER] visas depend on the WB contract Get rid of fear amongst staff. At this point I must say pressure of resources available to GPs. Receiving many emails about time sheets and overruns of BB budget affects work of employees, not to mention managers. It is a pressure and not an easy one. Looking critically at and removing all non necessary operational procedures that hinder WBG effectiveness in preparing and supervising implementation of operations and which give our clients the perception that WBG is heavily weighted bureaucracy which uneasy to do development with. Let's look at the long list of OP/BP and all procedural steps in operation ask ourselves for each of them two question : does the marginal benefit worth the burden on staff and client? Will it have any negative impact for WBG or its clients if r? If the answer is know the let' s REMOVE it. If YES is the response to both or one of the questions, let see to what extend and under which circumstances it needs to be triggered and then differentiate its application. As part of the process, project documentation should be reviewed deeply and simplified. The process should be led by a task force of seasoned operational staff across the tech, fiduciary and safeguards who have delivered at least [NUMBER] operations. Opportunities for career advancement - There is need to increase transparency and objectivity in the management team, particularly on how decisions are made that have an impact on the career advancement of staff. There are currently no transparent benchmarks by which promotions and salary increases are made. There is a perception among staff that regardless of how hard you work if you do not have advocates in the management team you do not get to work on high visibility projects or initiatives, you do not get promoted and you do not get the salary increase that you may deserve. The HNP Global Practice is particularly notorious for cronyism. Managers should be held accountable for their actions, and there should be an open and transparent assessment of staff with opportunities created for career advancement. The same benchmarks should be used to assess all staff. Promotions and high SRIs should not be reserved for a selected few that are favored by the management team. Continue to clarify and simplify procedures for processing projects. Very urgent to clarify roles of Sr. Directors, Directors, and Practice Managers, in which overlaps are growing and causing tension, churning and confusion among staff. Behavior is an area that needs improvement al the Bank. There are still staff at the Bank that are a bit arrogant and treat others at a lower grade (e.g., ACS) disrespectfully, especially when they are under pressure. Staff who do not know how to deal with pressure, maybe the World Bank is not a place for these individuals. people need to be able to work and speak up if there are issue without fear od retaliation. this is not the case. Hire the right staff in the appropriate numbers to keep work pressure in balance with employees' lives outside the institution. - 30 - Decisions at VP level must be done in a timely and coordinated manner. Too many new ways of doing things where there is not sufficient technology nor 'back room' effective support. REPORT FROM STAFF: Here is an example of how our systems (econsult) and institutions ([NUMBER]) hamstring us. How can something so trivial (staff name/email address) take a week and not yet be resolved? This is definitely not the fault of the much-maligned TPs (that seems to cut across GPs). Took more than a week for IT support to fix the problem. Colleagues, If there is not a user-side fix, can you do something in the background to expedite this? We need to be able to processed and XXX has a very large number of items to process. It is unfair and illogical to put the burden of following on xxx—the system clearly does not work from xxx side. Please update us as soon as possible on what can be done to resolve the problem and advance this process. Thank you in advance, END OF EXAMPLE. I would complete the reorganization of the WBG as soon as possible so as to reduce uncertainty with respect to potential reduction of staff. Thus, staff would focus on their job instead of worrying about their continuity in the institution. There is still a tremendous pressure to lend no matter the quality of the project or investment. This is sad. due to pressure to work on multiple (& multi-country) projects it is challenging to focus and react promptly to client demands A sense of collegiality and common mission, beyond covering ourselves, is declining, and needs to be rebuilt, through greater integrity and pragmatic pursuit of core goals, rather than what appears to be desired. At the time of the last survey, I felt that the work I was doing was a step ahead of other development organizations, I had a great mentoring relationship with my management and some colleagues, I worked effectively within my team and with other teams, and it was clear what we were trying to achieve. Things were not perfect, but I was willing to balance the significant impacts on my quality of personal life from my job for the professional reward. That is no longer the case. We are losing integrity in what we do - we're pressured to get money out the door regardless of need or quality of use. I have colleagues making personal attacks rather than seeking analytical justification for their activities, and others who do not share their work. And my manager is effectively absent. The WBG should abolish term contracts because they greatly undermine the ability of valuable staff to be innovative and healthy risk-takers, to move internally to other units or regions, to envision a long-term career development plan, and to feel valued and empowered by the institution. Overall, it harms the WBG's work quality and productivity. The Bank should be a voice of innovation and leadership in the international development community, and therefore it should not try to model itself after other IFIs for the ratio open/term. Instead, the Bank should blaze a new trail by embracing a model in which the Bank clearly places its trust and confidence in the managers it has appointed. This will contribute to a culture of innovation through healthy risk-taking. For these reasons, "a one-staff appointment" looks the best. In addition, it will foster simplification and reduce administrative cost burden, two features supposedly making up the backbone of the current reform. More clarity about opportunities for career advancement. The current atmosphere seems very unstable and unsettling leading to lack of commitment to the mission and a sense of disenfranchisement of many employees. The constant worrying about career stability means that much time is lost searching for employment opportunities elsewhere in case things at the WBG do not pan out. It is destabilizing to families as well as to commitments to the WBG. Globalization of compensations/benefits to employees would play a long way to motivate staff. Being an ETT/ETC also makes one feel left out sometimes. It would be worthwhile to confirm one as a permanent employee after the first or second year, because the job security would make the WBG the best place to work. However the sense of uncertainty for new employees causes anxiety and sometimes affects their stability and performance. - 31 - WBG should provide more practical training programs which includes opportunity to have hands-on experiences, accreditation which can truly lead to the job opportunities. In my area, training currently provided for safeguards works are mostly classroom-based and presentation-based which are very basic and not very practical. Most people who wants to develop their career need to find a way to break into the field on their own, but often they cannot even get opportunities because they don't have previous experience, so this is a chiecken-or-egg dilemma. As more and more pressure is putting on the Bank regarding the Bank's safeguards practices, the Bank should be more serious about developing its body of the safeguards specialists who are equipped with the required knowledge and skills. Don't put pressure.. Just encourage Remove the culture of fear. Too many people are more worried about their jobs than doing them. This is creating a risk adverse culture, too many reviews, too much "churn" . Those of us in operations are being bled dry by unnecessary and useless reviews adding no value to our projects. The reality is that, in spite of the restructuring, the Bank still has too many overhead staff, too many managers, and not enough people and funds for getting the work done. Keep a better check on micro-managing directors and how vertical, military-like management styles can affect staff morale and enthusiasm for doing our work. We can't trust the system to be honest and voice our disagreement with bosses that will take it as an attack on their authority and subtly or not so subtly retaliate. The Bank has a disconnect between the rhetoric of change and client-orientation, and the actual labyrinth of bureaucratic requirements that have little or nothing to do with benefitting the client and people we work for (that is, the poor, not the WB managers). Numbers on internal monitoring tools (like dashboards and portfolios) are put above actual results on the ground, and incentives are aligned with pleasing the system, not with impacting the lives of people. With such pressure to lend and worries expressed by management when a country does not need lending, it is very hard to believe that what we are working for as an institution is to end poverty. I perceive a renewed pressure to lend but with a Quality vacuum originated from the departure of the Sector Director Figure, the current Directors and Senior Directors, and their respective VPs, are more managing up than providing quality guidance to a batch of new TTLs, this will inevitably lead to: i) portfolio issues down the road; and ii) a drop in the quality of analytical work. Stop these ridiculous engagement surveys and implement the recommendations of the previous surveys. A survey should not be an end in of itself but a tool to affect change, eg., what is the incentive for the staff, especially the "mules", to bear the burden of operations. GET RID OF ALL THE ADVISORS. The WB needs to be more efficient in changing things that do not work, and stop changing things that proved to be working well. Sharp shifts in direction/focus areas/ priorities make me feel insecure that I would be able to deliver my work on time and with a quality. There needs to be a formal discrimination policy in place (when I called the EBC unit, I was surprised we do not have one) and mandatory training of management on how to handle instances where staff are discriminated by the client, rather than sweeping it under the rug and trying to be "over responsive" to the client - e.g. taking staff off missions on the client's request due to their nationality, religion, skin color, or gender. This is very bad workplace behavior and undermining of staff, not to mention unethical and contrary to the principles of an organization like the World Bank. Other : - Staff charge out rates should be on net basis to avoid heavier budget liability of engaging US staff - People pages should reflect if staff were EVER TTL on a project (right now, it only shows CURRENT TTL - so there is a disincentive to develop a project and move on vs take over someone else's project) - Travel burden should be reduced - Education grants for degree programs should be given - 32 - There is no proper career path at the Bank, the feeling of being stuck (experienced at all levels), and the stress of being on term contracts (not even talking about the plight of STCs), is completely demoralizing, even if the actual risk of getting fired or not renewed is not that high, it doesn't matter, each contract renewal feels like a stressful deadline. we focus on that and finding potential back up positions instead of keeping our head [NUMBER]% focused on work. Create additional levels, stop creating barriers: why can't an E level staff grow in its position to become an F, and then a G etc? If you need to control costs create more levels, salary is not the main issue here. People stuck as" analyst" at [NUMBER], "officer" at [NUMBER] or senior officer at [NUMBER], will all feel at some point the burning humiliation and reduced motivation of having a job title that doesn't match their experience and actual job. It also makes it difficult to get out of the WB, who would hire a [NUMBER] yr old analyst? Awareness from WBG on the stresses working in low capacity countries and respect for time needed to take on language courses which are essential for work in the field. This is done at one's own time (which one has very little of) and at one's own expense with little understanding of the value of acculturation. To compare rates and benefits package with comparable benchmarks, ie other development partners operating in the same space. To harmonize the procurement rules that we ask our clients to comply with in recipient executed projects with our internal procurement processes when doing Bank-executed activities [right now they are different and it doesn't seem fair]. To do orientation sessions to staff to better understand what it means to work in a development institution. I feel there is still a lot to be done to improve incentives for cross-cutting collaboration (between units and between regions). After July [NUMBER] [NUMBER] I have heard a lot of complaints about how managers are encouraging or discouraging collaboration. Over the past time I have felt a lot of pressure to expand the portfolio regardless of quality, just because if we have lending we will be able to have staff. It seems to be the Global Practices were born unequal and now managers are making every effort possible to strengthen the GP portfolio and position the GP (get more lending). Finally, there are a number of items that the Bank should treat more even-handed: staffing and benefits (I always hear about people that, even if they are F like me,, has much more benefits); among the GP there a different approaches to dealing with corporate activities (AGR GP was not "allowed" to have a "mega" learning event, why [GSU] is doing a big event??? It's up the Directors? Stop sending documents to work on/review on Friday night and request a response by [NUMBER] am on Monday. Everything cannot be that urgent and it affects work life balance. Management should practice this first by not sending emails on weekends (unless really an emergency). When there is an emergency, we must learn why it was an emergency and how to mitigate it in future. Will reduce staff stress considerably. Assure there is an adequate support (budget, staff, temporary staff) considered/provided under pressure time and tightness deadlines to deliver products. Job security based on clear and transparent performance benchmark. With all the changes that has happened since the start of FY [NUMBER], staff has been uninspired and has been working under fear of being part of the cut. Morale is very very low. We are always told that change is always hard, but in my almost [NUMBER] years in the Bank, this is the first time that I have seen most staff are worried and uninspired in their work. Too many top management meetings are being held for "change" - which is costly. All the corporate demands of due dates for surveys, strategic staffing, etc during the [NUMBER] weeks of spring meeting has taken a toll on staff. Senior managers need to stop kidding themselves that all the recent improvements to the Bank are making a material difference to the way we work or what we do. Simplifications rarely make things simpler. Additional reporting requirements add a burden to the task teams (remember the Wapenhans report? [NUMBER]% of the information the Bank requires to be collected is never used... - 33 - I personally do not think that the current institutional changes are engendering a "better/improved" WB structure. I feel that silos have been emphasized, preventing teams from working smoothly together. The change process is also creating unnecessary stress among staff members, undermining delivery to clients. I would suggest further streamlining bureaucratic processes in the Bank that dilutes genuine accountability in delivery. Solve definitely the issue of renewable terms contracts. There is an enormous cost to employees, personally and professionally. RTCs cause unnecessary anxiety among staff who are subjected to them. I wish the WBG would adopt better hiring/firing practices, in particular firing in cases of poor performance. It seems to me that since the institution finds it so difficult to fire low-performers, we have opted for term contracts, to have flexibility not to renew the staff we do not want to keep. This is bad on multiple levels: - tolerating poor performers ruins motivation within teams and set a negative example that it is OK to perform poorly; - poor performers are a dead weight and contribute to bad reputation for the organization; - term contracts impose high stress on staff in times when the term approaches. Staff who have limited other options outside the WBG will invest time and energy in pleasing Managers (vs possibly doing their jobs) as terms approach, whereas strong performers with other opportunities will more likely look for opportunities outside WBG where they feel their skills are more valued => WBG remains with poor performers on staff... Make it less bureaucratic and more responsive to client needs/requests. The diagnosis for the need for Change was correct. Unfortunately, the solution put in place in the form of the Change Program has been a disaster. We are now more bureaucratic and cumbersome than ever. I am tired of hearing empty cheerleading platitudes from Managers/Directors/Senior Management, too many of which are political maneuvers rather than serious professionals who actually care about the Bank's mission and about the staff. The Bank is becoming more irrelevant than ever. Some career progression for technical staff would be nice but it doesn't look likely in this environment. Career progression seems to be skipping the technical/operational staff, especially the Task Team Leaders who bear the work burden/bureaucracy/blame/risks of the institution. On diversity, is anyone looking? There is little diversity in my GP. Can diversity measures be applied to technical staff and not just managers? The OPE. I have no faith in the system. Everyone knows that one must never say the slightest "bad" thing about a colleague, even if it is justified, for fear of reprisal. One never has the sense that any action is taken to help people improve if they are underachieving. Less stress on staff Less pressure on tight schedule of project delivery. The beloved principle: One Bank, one staff. So, it's time to show that this is true. The Bank has to revise its staffing framework. Short and med term assignments - I am not referring to STC/ETC, but regular term - are damaging for teh institution as a whole and for staff in particular. This also creates unequal opportunities to apply to benefits. Staff should be given open-ended employment, especially when there is a long term work program and engagement. But even if not: who would work to develop new activities??? Implementation is just part of the entire operational cycle. I really trust the Bank will act as it preaches. In Country Offices staff is often exposed to severe pressures having and being imposed to go against vested interests accompanying Bank's operations. Not having confidence of employment and protection by the institution for serving its interests puts severe psychological pressure and really discourages risk taking. The Bank needs to show it cares about its staff. Reduce the fear from loosing the job, anxiety is huge Stress is common in WB's staff. The balance between the personal and work life is not positive in general. Operations requires a huge quantity of time and efforts, additionally we need to deliver the technical services. I recommend more operational support to TTLs, not jus strategic orientation, but at managerial level No retaliation - 34 - .- Better people management by managers. Managers should not be afraid to demote "star" specialists who are performing poorly (not in terms of technical expertise, but in terms of being responsible and responsive action oriented task team leaders). - MUCH more focus is needed on rewarding staff based on implementation results rather than getting projects approved by the Board. Cannot stress how much incentive this would provide for the "star" specialists to be better TTLs. Being a TTL is not just about expertise, it is about effective project management. Many of the problem projects are not solely caused by "the lack of capacity within the client", which are usually stated in the ISR/MTRs. Some TTLs are simply slacking off and OK with not responding to clients/consultants for weeks. There is so much stress around the strategic staffing exercise. This is affecting the quality of the overall work. The Bank is squeezing our last drop of everything! The feeling of "fighting to eradicate poverty" no longer exists as everyone is working [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] mainly to meet deadlines and to please our management teams. There is no work-life balance any more and the working conditions are getting worse and worse as we speak. I worked and continue to work hard because that's how I operate. I like to do everything right and as efficient as possible. I used to come to the office motivated, full of enthusiasm and energy, but that's not the case any more. Every day feels like a Monday and it's not a good thing! I feel that management is putting the pressure on all of us to see who resists and stays behind to put up with everything that comes our way. I hope to be able to resist a bit longer! Increase incentives to effectively share knowledge and collaborate across institutional and geographical boundaries. Offer clear career paths to the young population between [NUMBER] and [NUMBER] years of age who is not eligible for the analyst program and has little chances to enter the YP program: most of these individuals are working in staff-similar positions as STCs, without the right compensation or benefits, and with a stressful sense of uncertainty regarding both contractual and visa matters. Budgetary processes also seem to provide the wrong incentives: with a push to spend [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] month before the end of the Fiscal Year without proper planning. The continuous change in priorities and goals also doesn't help in providing a clear picture of where the institution is heading, with an impact on staff, who is constantly asked to deliver on last minute priorities, dropping everything else, for the whim of a superior/manager afraid to become irrelevant. Sub Theme: Workload No. of Sub Theme Comments: 69 Things have gotten so bad in the past year that the only thing that comes to mind is to get rid of [NAME], but that's not a serious reply and at this point wouldn't fix what's wrong. It's too late to go back, so forge ahead. There are more layers of management and reviews, and more distrust, low morale, confusion, and "silos." Poorer, less effective, and less flexible use of resources. Our passion for development work, poverty alleviation, and the Bank's mission are being beaten out of us, and I see less connection with each day between my long hours of work and the reasons I came to and stayed at the Bank for so long. The benefits and pay are fine, but lack of rewarding work on a daily basis, bleak prospects for professional development or career advancement, and deliver-at-all-costs mentality to meet mgmt targets and bureaucratic demands (regardless of quality or staff well-being) make one wonder whether the Bank is the right place for someone with a true passion for the mission. Provide more support to the TTLs who are the face to the client and puts operations in place. ACS support and resources are each time shorter increasing the work load of the TTLs. Internal coordinations with Procurement, FM, Safeguards, with the clients, consultants, etc. Is a big load not always valued and each time resources for Project Preparation and Supervision reduced, plus ACS, JPA's and opportunities to hire good STC, STT or ETC's are limited or even to extend the work of good trained people. The Bank is loosing opportunities to keep good trained people. Working only based on STC with high rotation, is not efficient, there are low incentives for people as consultants to stay and it is a big burden to be able to deliver quality and on time products without the adequate teams. The WBG needs to be more attentive to the counterparts in terms of investment priorities, and should give more time to the preparation of projects in order to develop the best institutional arrangements. The monitoring of the implementation of projects should be improved by providing to the Task Teams appropriate and competent technical specialists. The salaries of locally recruited staff should be reviewed on a sub-regional or regional. For example you can not understand that at the same grade, a specialist in one country has twice the salary of the same specialist from another neighboring country (WAEMU region, for example) and where the living conditions are almost similar. This causes a lot of frustration. - 35 - Internal policies and procedures need a serious overhaul. Things are being improved around the margins, but the real need is to better distribute operational workload within the WBG, especially taking off part of the burden from the team leaders and transferring them to supporting functions - especially fiduciary, legal, FM. And of course - the practice of preferred candidates to "competitvely" advertised positions needs to be resolved once and for all, either direction - either (i) eliminating the practice altogether, or (ii) by not pretending that some positions are competitive then they are not and using managed reassignments/promotions in their case. Introduce a system of job assessment so that we are not being asked to work at [NUMBER]% or [NUMBER]%, and have management track and control more effectively what people are doing, so that they have a reasonable workload and thus produce quality work instead of the rushed, half-baked stuff we often end up doing if we want to go home at a reasonable hour and remember what our spouses and kids look like. Part of this is also to get rid of the ridiculous obsession with "delivering this FY" - development is a long term process, and has nothing at all to do with arbitrary FYs declared by the Bank. Better we produce quality than velocity. Going at a sensible pace will also allow us to hold a more effective dialogue with our clients. Enhance work life unbalance and give more time for staff skills improvement. promotions should be made more transparent, and feedback should be provided once you are not shortlist. T work goals should be realistic and decisions should be taken considering client's needs and not individual's interest.. Many [Duty City]'s staff lacks of practical experience, are too theoretical and lacks familiarity with the reality our clients face Intermediary staff levels between GG and GH should be set up. It is discouraging to see that GG levels include staff with [NUMBER] to [NUMBER] years of experience, and staff with longer years of experience and responsibility are not being rewarded. We should have more time to combine operational with policy work. And should not forget that operational work (project's investments implementation) is very relevant to help our clients improve their conditions of life. Global practices seems to have forgotten this important aspect of the Bank's role. Increase accountability and review/revisit the workload distribution among the staff. Fair assessment of performance and common standard for assessment. Fair distribution of workload and getting people do their job and deliver instead of wasting time in gossiping. Improve work life balance by setting in place systems (and requisite resources/staffing) to allow staff to have realistic work loads. If most staff are overworked/over committed, we are not able to deliver on our objectives as effectively. We need to cut the duplication in the review process. Way too many people involved in reviews and reviews of reviews. This is neither efficient nor effective. The value added of the checkers and checkers of checkers is very modest. Keep workload to a level where employees can actually practice work/life balance. I would like to be able to engage in learning activities that would allow me to remain at the cutting edge of knowledge in my field and allow me continuously to upgrade my professional skills. My current work program leaves very little time for learning activities, and the training budget for my unit has more or less disappeared. As a result, I have very few WBG-supported opportunities to learn, and I feel that my skills are depreciating. I would eliminate all unnecessary review meetings. Really. I cannot think of a single process less useful and more wasteful in the course of my work week/month/year than the endless time put into review meetings. I was a former academic--I know peer review is a cornerstone of quality assurance. But, even in academic, the reviews are written and shared remotely. There is simply no reason for the duplication and redundancies that now define our processes. The amount of staff time wasted in these meetings is simply ridiculous. All review processes should be virtual. Right now, reviewers read the documents, provided written comments, and sent them to the team with a summary. But, in addition to the hours already committed, we are then expected to sit through a meeting (no less than [NUMBER].[NUMBER]-[NUMBER] hours each time) where we just present what we sent in writing. Why? And, these meetings use the time of at least [NUMBER]+ people, every time. Hundreds of these, every week, across the Bank. Waste. - 36 - Introduce management structures that are supportive of individual employees and which incorporate better opportunities for mentoring. The work culture in WBG is very much one of overworking staff with insufficient resources at significant distances from one another. Four conversations a year with overworked Managers located on the other side of the world is not conducive to a productive and responsive working relationship which provides adequate mentoring for staff to grow, develop, and have an adequate understanding of strategic objectives. Such mentoring relationships should also provide opportunities for recognition of achievement of work tasks. Rotation of international staff with technical skills but minimal 'people skills' leaves local staff without recognition of achievement or forward promotion opportunity. As local staff become more, not less, excluded from decisionmaking or task responsibility, the WBG's identity as a meritocratic and participatory workplace is eroded. I think we would need more realism in terms of the current gap between the official, high-management Big Talk about our abilities and the practice in terms of what is humanly possible within the framework of our current work loads and the requirements set by our internal processes and procedures for taking different actions. For example, we talk about our being a global knowledge bank, yet at the same time we don't count with the minimum staff resources to effectively share and feed-in case by case relevant knowledge across regions and GPs/CCSAs. Better work-life balance. Staff work long hours and travel all the time without any meaningful compensation. Why was spouse point terminated ? Under the new WBG system, it has become IMPOSSIBLE for staff and team leaders, like myself, to put together a highly-skilled team that is sufficiently large to meet deliverable deadlines on time and with quality work. With caps on staff numbers in units/GPs, the continuing [NUMBER]-day limit on Short Term Consultant (STC) contracts during each Fiscal Year, and now the elimination of the Extended Term Contract (ETC), how in the world are we supposed to populate our teams and get our work done?? Individual Bank staff are overworked and overprogrammed as it is. If we cannot bring on sufficient numbers of new staff members to help fulfill our work requirements (in order to meet client demand and WBG corporate goals), PLEASE, HUMAN RESOURCES, PLEASE would you at least lift the STC limit and allow STCs to work full-time throughout the FY???? Or bring back ETCs and make them easier to hire (i.e., not count toward staff numbers, if they are to remain tightly capped). Or both. PLEASE!!!! Remove several duplication of tasks and introduce a very clear and transparent roles and responsibilities matrix. [NUMBER]. adjust the practice to local context. [NUMBER]. balance the work load within the staff. [NUMBER]. provide enough management support to TTL for dealing with tough situation I would introduce the comprehensive and constructive management of professional life including the work environment and professional development. On the former for example, I would introduce reasonable work program allocations so that staff are not overwhelmed with tasks--this would require hiring more staff and assigning staff strategically. One result of improved work program allocation would be that staff would be more productive, have more space to innovate, and more time to engage with ideas developed outside the institutions. Importantly it would mean that staff would have a better opportunity to strike a real work-life balance. On the latter, I would, for example, equip managers (and HR) to advise staff on career development, provide opportunities for staff to take time to take courses/sabbaticals/conferences/ etc. on a regular basis- which in addition to money and time would require improving the structure of contracts to allow staff to take time for professional development Compare FM workloads across country offices, analyze adequacy of resources and reallocate resources if appropriate. .--- workload on managers - including many bureaucratic processes (including last minute time sensitive demands) that do not utilize or allow them to utilize their talents fully. Greater support for them in management (e.g. advisor, better HR and RM services etc.) --- duplication and multiple layers of check in --- performance rewards system. -- career options across the board Hiring more staff to support operations (operations and technical). This would allow for less reliance on consultants just to get our jobs done and would allow for stronger teams to work on delivering high quality work for our clients. We do not have enough staff to manage work loads- this results in horrible work life balance, perpetual feeling of being behind, stressed and overworked and results in TTLs hiring consultants (sometimes not adequately qualified) to get work done. It would be so much better if we had a strong core of staff with space in their work programs to support each other, collaborate and work together to deliver for our clients. - 37 - Reduce the bureaucracy so that we can do our work more effectively and respond to our clients in a timely manner. As a technical staff, I spend an inordinate amount of time getting bureaucratic clearances for every step in project development or implementation. It leaves very little time to do any really innovative work. Our systems are simply inefficient (eConsult, intranet online searches, etc.) and crowd out time from work and thinking. Often TTLs and GF+ staff need to spend time to micro manage admin and procurement processes. There are too many layers and a great deal of inflexibility when navigating such systems. Another issue is lack of time for learning/training. Courses, which can take significant time are never budgeted in terms of staff time. We are assumed to do these in our 'free time', which hardly exists given the workload. Too much power and little quality for a great number of managers. Equal treatment, mutual respect and equal work load redistribution amongst people of diverse races. Allow people of African descent to get promotion the same way others do in the Bank Work-life balance is simply impossible in the current environment of the WBG. Senior management's decisions are adversely affecting staff health, family relationships, and even client's image of the institution. Staff are being stretched to the max with a workload that is unsustainable, and messages of reduction of staff are coming out together with new programs of hiring; the ambiguity in the messages relayed is extreme. Senior management should become more aware of the consequences of their actions rather than focusing on achieving an image of "doing" which in reality is "destroying" . less communication and fancy events, more delivery. Delivering real impacts demand a much more focused work in the operations - i.e. less projects per people, more people per projects, more time to learn, read... i.e. more budget in operations and less in "raising awareness" events. equating workloads and taking action on good/not-so-good performance The World Bank human resource policies are designed for a [NUMBER]s world with one working spouse and one spouse who is not working at all. This model is the basis for the notion that any employee can achieve any work-life balance in this environment. It is also the basis for all the benefits associated with relocation and overseas postings. Education benefits start at age [NUMBER] years for children; what am I to do with my children before then (the assumption is that I have a wife at home). I'm given money to assist with my relocation, but no time to find schools, houses, buy furniture, interview prospective nannies. I'm expected to deliver a full workload with a [NUMBER]. [NUMBER] month old child at home. To date, any balance I have achieved between my children and work has been through the quite discussion with my direct team and below the radar of the institution. Procedures operationalization, automation and efficiency has suffered significantly in the past [NUMBER] years and need to improve significantly, to allow less time on internal turf battle and bureaucracy and more time for quality delivery to the client [NUMBER]. Make managers responsible and accountable for many more organisational and operational tasks instead of putting all the controls on operational staff; the focus of WBG-wide controls should be one or two levels up. This means that many more decisions can be taken much more quickly and with less red tape: that's a double whammy in costs savings. Put the onus on management to justify and account for their actions/(dis)approvals rather than every individual. [NUMBER]. Make [NUMBER] review for managers part of their performance appraisal. All staff should be able to rate their direct manager or supervisor anonymously. This will objectively identify manager - staff relationship. [NUMBER]. Less focus on research for research sake. Much more focus on applying and disseminating the right research experiences to our client audience. [NUMBER]. Let managers truly manage and prioritize time, resources and interests fairly: stop imbalance of workloads of staff: project-hungry TTLs dumping work when it gets too much. Change ACS TOR to reflect different responsibilities for GB and GC levels. WB has to stop talking about career development for ACS since our workload does not allow us to progress. WB expects ACS to deliver both admin and Operational support. Such activities demand different time management and are not compatible. How does WB expect an assistant to revise the documents for a Concept Note/Decision Meeting and/or Negotiations and organize a workshop (or [NUMBER] or [NUMBER]), plus BBLs, VCs at the same time? Work-life balance does not exist for ACS. And the salaries we are paid do not allow us to pay for a higher degree and support a family. We have to choose. - 38 - .- Leaner internal processes that allow technical staff to focus on quality. - Clear rules for quality control to avoid lengthy clearance and duplication of offline / online processes. - Communication in times of change is key. But it needs to be relevant to staff. Staff needs to be informed, not necessarily concerned with management issues. - In this new environment, there's no room for micro-management. Empower staff to deliver technical solutions and ensure effective quality controls. - Clarify the skills / knowledge that the WBG is looking for to allow staff to adapt strategically, and create opportunity for change. .- Simplify simplify simplify procedures, reduce layers of bureaucracy, of approval, concurrence, clearance, etc. - Have more staff to directly work on operations to reduce the workload of TTLs, fiduciary and safeguards staff and lawyers, and to closely monitor project implementation and provide timely guidance to clients. - Put incentives so that non-operational staff and managers are more operation-, country- and client-oriented. And less [Duty City] centric and VP oriented. - Propose concrete solutions, more practical recommendations, more solution oriented analyses and studies to our clients. - Make DEC work for WB operations and not just for publication, stop theoretical research and analyses. Decrease our workload so we have more time to learn. Stop wasting our time. First step is to ensure we're not swamped by emails. This leads to an incredible loss of time and energy (even with "rules" and filters). All events should be centralized in one daily email. Units should not be allowed to abuse distribution lists. Staff should be held accountable for unnecessarily 'replying to all'. Trip claim expenses should be simplified: e.g., possibility to remove all breakfasts at once (like claim for per diem). AMEX should have to get back to use within [NUMBER] hours for lower fare option. Staff should not have to travel on weekends without additional rest or holiday days. It results in unfair treatment between staff who travel a lot for work and those who don't. Senior management should understand that most of us travel for operational reasons and would rather stay at home with our families if we had the choice. Treat us with the respect we deserve for the sacrifices we make. Improve the linkage with HR and the units/operations. Consider proportion of the work load/ sizes of portfolio and staffing. If the number of ACSs are limited, staff will cover the logistics, administrative, coordination work. If that is the way to go, can the management admit that that is part of our work? A realistic assessment of workload is necessary if the workplace is to improve. For example we do not have enough safeguards specialists, and yet we want to have effective implementation support on projects. It brings unbearable and undesirable pressure to bear on team leaders who are the accountable persons on the project, which is rather unfortunate and unfair. We are expected to do more with a lot less in finance and human resource terms. I am so very close to physically becoming ill due to overwork. My manager is aware of the situation but he told me that there can be nothing done and I need to continue work crazy hours. We need proper resource allocation in areas where demand is growing due to changes in presidential priorities. "Make a realistic assessment of work load on country staff and devise effective measures to maximize the spirit of Global Practice such that the staff gets opportunity to work across the globe, gain and share knowledge" - currently the spirit of GP is on paper with limited or no resources to roll out and secondly country office staff is stretched too much with limited or no opportunity for career progression in the global market. Reduce the demands on people's time. Everyone in my unit at my level or higher has more work than is physically possible to accomplish within a reasonable work day. For staff with families and small kids, whose time is even more squeezed, this is extremely stressful and unhealthy, often not leaving much time for personal obligations and proper rest. Related to this is that staff objectives and work plans formulated at the beginning of the year and sometimes revised during the year are rarely realistic. We are often expected to say on paper that a task will take an X number of days but realistically, it always takes longer. This puts great constraints on people's times, with often too many requests piling up and expected to be completed at once. This observation assumes that you are to deliver a certain acceptable quality of work. - 39 - Change to a results/impact culture rather than the lending culture in which everything, starting from the monthly ABCDQ meeting led by the MD/COO and the President's Delivery Unit is focused on lending no matter what the quality of what we are lending is and what the impact of "rushed" or "half cooked" projects is. There is also need for reduction in bias and duplication that the new model has created by not shifting some resources to the GPs. Even though the GPs now have the responsibility for delivering and implementing the operations, the Regional VPs have kept DE Units and dominate various governance structures (e.g., the OPCS council) while the GPs have limited resources (to help PMs ensure quality) and little say in decision-making related to operational matters. To equalize career, benefit, access to information and other opportunities between HQ and CO staff, since CO staff are at the frontier of WBG work and deal with client on daily basis, providing timely solutions. Many strategic discussions/decisions that take place in HQ do not take into consideration neither CO opinion nor client feedback. There is surely disconnect between WBG strategic goals and official claims and what happens on the ground - with more bureaucratic processes and approvals, heavier workload and dissolution of managerial responsibilities and accountability. Workloads - Workloads at least for those of us in my country office are very heavy. The number of staff does not align with the workloads so each person is overburdened and this affects the quality of service we provide to the clients. New centralized controls around hiring STCs, vendors, and transaction processing, while well-intentioned, are bringing the institution to a screeching halt. It's absolutely unacceptable to have to wait a month for response from the STC rate desk or [NUMBER] weeks for a vendor invoice to be paid. The staff behind these processes are responsive, but overwhelmed. Requiring VP intervention to pay qualified consultants fairly also seems to be a crazy addition to an already cumbersome process. User support for operational procurement is also lacking. Redundant processes, forms, and approvals in e-Consultant, then again in SAP have created a whole business out of simple procurement (and leaving less time for quality technical work) Finally, the daily barrage of "URGENT" requests from senior management is killing our practice managers' ability to manage proactively. Put back T&C and F&M GPs back together again and merge other GPs where duplication and overlap of work is taking place More time for learning .- Balancing the workload between colleagues, - Improve Managerial skills among PMs. Overall culture and mentality. While there are already many good aspects (eg. overall vision to reduce poverty, talented staff etc.), the culture of individualism and therefore almost a constant need to profile/prove oneself (starting with individuals, to units, and continued up the hierarchy) and on the flipside, personal insecurity, often costs precious time and resources that could be devoted to the "real work" for clients and do not encourage real collaboration, or results in turf fights or unnecessary duplication of work (eg. different GPs fighting to define what is within their product line and "[*@:!] projects"; sometimes teams were not even aware that similar things were already been done or projects could have been much better integrated). Improve joint planning of work load between Country Offices and GPs Continue to reduce un-necessary bureaucracy - bureaucratic processing takes up most of my time and leaves little time for providing quality technical advice. Workload needs to me more aligned with the capacity of staff. reduce workload levels Reform is taken to much time, bureaucracy and longer procedures are increasing job and frustration. For Example, my unit is a pilot for HR and this means more time to process contracts. There is not an strong link for collaboration link between operations and procurement. ACSs staff are slow and don't want to receive to much work. Also, there is a big gap between seniors levels (GG) and ETCs or STC (only few F level). This is big risk, considering the rotations of promotion of Seniors. The most important talent for the future of the WB (in my personal view) are the intermediate levels, they want to develop a carreer in the WB learning and innovating from seniors (they can take these positions in the future, if incentives are present), and we don't have this kind of staff in my unit, that becomes in a big risk. Regards - 40 - workload The Leadership needs to spend more time to understand operational difficulties, challenges and on the ground client feedback. Some very very important decisions seem to be taken by those who have not fully absorbed the details of the World Bank operations. A bit lesser taxing workload. Balance between staffing at HQ and country offices depending on workload. It is really difficult to understand why more than [NUMBER]% staff are HQ based since the country staff in our GP provides the most support to clients and other Task Teams. The criteria of strategic HR assessment were not clear to country level staff. Also the ambiguity regarding conversion from term to open ended staff is not yet clarified. As per earlier announcement, Term Staff will be considered for Open-ended staff at July [NUMBER], [NUMBER] who has successfully completed [NUMBER] years of services. However, there is no indication of such action. encourage more time for actual working vs many and long meetings and discussions that would not really add value Decision making: before the reorganization, the RVP, CD, and SD could decide on most issues within a reasonable time frame. Now, even simple decisions require endless consultation and many more people to "concur". Core business processes: the transaction costs have increased tremendously as a result of the dismantling of our core budget and HR processes. As a result, my current workload as a PM is at least [NUMBER]% higher than it was before the reorganization. Work-life balance: my current workload as PM is unsustainable. Provide more or redistribute available resources to ensure every staff has a meaningful workload to achieve better results. Transparency and fairness in personnel management. In particular, the use of of different contract types decreases morale and increases uncertainty for staff. Better distributing workloads and dealing with personnel that are not fit for the job, so that good performers are not overloaded, while poor performers do less work. Decrease the workload in some cases. This surveys does not account for actual power relationships inside units. Most of ETC, and also STCs, in country offices responds to local demands, specifically depends for the TTL of the project. Managers are too distant to acknowledge if there are issues to improve or if exists some tension between TTL and ETC staff, or if the work load is too big or if opportunities for improved or training reach the staff in local offices. Alos, ETCs does not have clear incentives to learn more about WB procedures or deepen involvement in the organization goals, since they are not confirmed beyond one year contract (it seems you are part of the staff, but you are not). Implement etiquette rules whereby staff must consider only copying the required recipients on e-mails in order to reduce e-mail traffic. Some people receive hundreds of e-mails every day and it leaves little time to do actual work. More fair distribution of the work load and support for career development at all levels Stop focusing on "Change" just for the sake of change. The biggest problem is the failure to exit underperforming staff (there is no incentive for a manager to do so and no institutional support for them to do so). Problem staff just get shuffled around to other units and often promoted in the process because no one wants to deal with them. This is a huge financial burden on the institution and leads to poor morale and overwork among the well performing staff. The change process does not address this. The other problem is too much bureaucracy and review processes and corporate requirements - change process has also not addressed this in any meaningful way (in many ways it is actually now worse). Senior management needs to have a better understanding of what TTLs in HQ and Country Offices do. The workload the past year or so has been overwhelming, and senior management doesn't seem to notice. This has been compounded by greater uncertainty about resources available to do our work, and often reduction in resources at the same time that demands are stepped up. It's not as if we were just sitting around before. Sub Theme: General Job Satisfaction No. of Sub Theme Comments: 3 move to open-ended positions for enhanced job security and job satisfaction for employees I would have more people doing the actual work on the ground and less people in higher management. there is a lot of interesting work to be done, but not enough people. We don't need so many layers of approval, but need more hands on the ground. Management gets very divorced from the actual work and this created a large bureaucracy, rather than an effective institution. - 41 - The reorganization seems to have had a peek, but since it looked like it was not going the right way it seems to have stalled but it is still stuck in an in between mode. There is still a lot of internal concern, the interaction between the global practices and regions is far from being efficient and effective and the procedures seems to have become more confusing and more layers added instead of less. We have lost and are still losing a lot of valuable time and resources by our internal inefficiencies that is affecting our clients. Our staff wants to to the work but it seems that the TTLs on the ground keep having to jump through hoops that are created by people in procedural units that are afraid fo losing their jobs or are bored, whatever the reasons it is not helping our efficiencies. We still need a thorough review of the IDA-IBRD and TF procedures and everything involved to become more efficient. Some improvements also happened: like the portal, outlook and cell phones! Theme: Sub Theme: Management No. of Comments: General Management 251 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 163 Please close the reform process opened almost [NUMBER] years ago. In order to move forward, we need to close cycles. It's totally incredible that the Bank took almost [NUMBER] months to complete the appointment of Practice Managers since the launching of GPs in July [NUMBER]. Ensure managers lead effectively and give more space for technical and operational staff to further development work. promotions to management positions should be based on good people leadership skills and staff who are really committed to helping the poor and have a sense of public service. We forget many times that we are here to serve the poor! Managers and Staff shall try the best to do the work, not pay attention to please leaders and bosses. Follow up institutional actions with clear actions and let staff know the real changes that are taking place. For example, there is a lot of talk about diversity and inclusion but I have not seen any concrete steps - besides setting up committees/hiring managers to talk a lot more - or heard from a staff member that has been impacted by all of the talk Managers show favoritism to selected staff - would strongly change such behavior. Make it less hierarchical Performance evaluation needs to be improved what is needed is not a new tools that the dialogue and exchanges with managers . We are moving in the right the direction with the focus put on mid -year conversation but for the moment this is seen more as a requirement not a tool to fulfill is intended purpose . Improvement of staff career management. Hire qualified and competent Senior Directors, Directors and Practice Managers and Global leads for their respective practices. Global practice calls for bring in the best in the world not the many jokers who currently occupy many such positions. put more attention on the skills of the managers. More effective managers. Those who know how to lead, recognize the abilities/competencies of staff assigned to them, and bat for their staff when necessary. Diversity is the biggest problem in my Global Practice. [NUMBER]% of managers in my Global Practice come from Part [NUMBER] countries. Diversity is not taken seriously. There are well qualified staff from Part [NUMBER] countries, with valuable professional and managerial experience gained in their home countries, but they are not considered for managerial roles in the GP due to the strong bias in favor of candidates of Part [NUMBER] countries. Indirect manager Reduction of Managers Sweeping powers of managers particularly in performance evaluations when they are not directly involved in/aware of depth of one's work More frank and clear relationships between Senior Directors, Directors and staff. Reviewing role of managers. Provide opportunities for carrier development for staff at G level. Some manager's behavior. - 42 - Employees being more conscious about poverty alleviation when making decisions or designing projects, instead of pleasing management or giving priority to ther career development Encourage Managers be strong supporters of helping ACS staff move from Grade D to Grade E and onwards Managers have a lot of power and use it for retaliation Clarify objectives and use metrics for evaluating staff performance transparently, and make both cascade from overall institutional-unit-management objectives management in place and unit specific goals clear. Change the leadership in the Bank. less layers of management, clearer reporting streams Decentralization - radically - to regional hubs effective performance evaluation. LInk performance with promotion. Reform Human Resources, in order to end the exploitative use of STCs, make hiring and promotions systematic and transparent, so that people's careers and lives are not subject to arbitrary decisions on the part of managers and TTLs. Follow the example of every other major organization in the world and have entry-level staff positions. Better managers! I have had some of the best and some of the not so great. Have a great one now, but think this is key! They also need to have technical knowledge overall, but particularly outstanding people's skills. Thanks Make managers more accountable for their actions and ensure transparency of decision making The performance rating curves should apply equally in all grades and job profiles. It is hard to believe that most managers deserve [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] for their performance while most of their staff deserve [NUMBER]. Managers do not deliver by themselves. From personal perspective, I would improve the possibilities for operation in various regions within a global practice. Currently, the manager of one unit has no reason to promote working in other units. As there is often a lot to do in one managers' field, there never seems to be time for work in other regions. For WBG to operate better as an organization, I think there is need to improve efficiency of operations. There needs to be a focus on high-quality expertise. This may also be more motivating for staff. Managers are completely cagey about the changes affecting staff - strategic staffing - how come people don't know what will happen? Its not acceptable. I would make sure managers treat local staff and international staff equally Open and transparent selection of Managers with People skills including promotions for staff who have stayed at one level for more than [NUMBER]- years Carefully select managers Improve the quality of relationship in term of confidence, honesty and the gratitude between country offices staff and [Duty City] Manager (TTL). Holding people accountable for unethical and non-collegial behavior Less internal procedures --> more and faster delivery of demand-driven actions To be honest, GPs don't make it easier at all for the CO staff to deliver actions based on real demands from clients and in many cases, it even makes the delivery process slower (more ppl/units need to be engaged/seek for inputs). In some cases, project teams are left in confusion since they may not belong to any new GPs. Thus, for some, it took months (around [NUMBER] months) to finally were informed of which GPs they belong to. Changes are good, but these GP changes are not well-thought let alone well-executed. While people in HQ love to introduce new changes, frankly, it's always a struggle to comply with these changes when at the same time have to deal and deliver best results to clients. I am just hoping these latest changes are not just 'flavor-of-the-month' kind a thing, meaning when a new leader comes, these all will also go away and replace with something exciting for [Duty City]! everybody has to be treated equally, more chances and opportunities has to be given to local staff. Management should listen more to local staff and not only relay on International staff reprisals by the senior leadership. Better managers. The Bank is not doing a strong job in focusing on management skills. Managers are not inspiring and do not focus on the larger goals and building strong teams. They are petty, competitive, and not focused on poverty reduction. We need managers with a vision to lead the Bank. - 43 - Please hire people how understand how to manage [NUMBER]) people; and [NUMBER]) projects/operations (i.e. OPCS). People with strong technical skills, while clearly valuable and essential to the Bank, do not necessarily have strong management skills. simplification of management layers and clarification of roles and responsibilities of different units management All Bank staff should be held accountable for their actions/inactions. stop giving preferential treatment to YPs especially in operations. my experiences with them is that they do have good analytical skills but poor management and people's skills and are often arrogant (elite feeling). Why is analytical work seemingly given higher premium in the Bank? Review promotions policy. Do something to equalize treatment of IRS and NRS. I think we have a strong leadership vacuum in the WBG at all levels. It would be good to see a stronger, more coherent leadership and messaging from the top that gives people the confidence that their careers and lives are being led by strong leaders. Change the leadership style at the top. Firing all those who differ with you has led to lots of previously unknown "slash and burn all those with a different point of view" behavior at mid management level. The organization is fast reaching its point of no return- a dishonest, uncaring attitude is now more prevalent. Improve leadership, one that would be inspirational and motivational. People should work according to titles formally offered. Leader should do the work of leader and manager should do the work of manager not a reverse. Poor managerial skills in manager: many managers have very poor managerial skills (though not in my unit), who frequently failed even the basics in time and work allocation, motivation and mentorship. I feel that politics and personal relationship plays a more important role in promotion for manager and I feel bad (as a junior staff) that those who are deserved do not get promoted and many of us will have to work with people who have poor managerial skills that often lead to low morale and poor results higher selectivity of tasks by management I would create less layers of management and send PMs to be based in the field. Managers are extremely unfair when it comes to promotion of staff which hampers many to give their best in performing their tasks. Change and improve the leadership team Get an inspiring leadership improve the quality of managers, including CD. CDs and managers are selected based on personal relationships with more senior ones. there is a need to clear demonstrate that patronage is not acceptable. Have less layers of management and enhance the ability to delegate to staff Hire managers who actually know how to manage people, and not hire those who are simply technically proficient. Value National/Country Office Staff for the enormous strengths and value they bring and not discriminate against them. Ensure that career opportunities are genuinely offered to National Staff to bring out their very best. Managers who do not exhibit collaborative behaviors should be made accountable for not having delivered on collaboration. Value analytical work for the impact it has on outcomes rather than just for the sake of it. Ensure that Lead Specialists and Global Solutions Group Leads deliver on what is expected of them and are held accountable to staff in terms of the value they add in their respective disciplines. Accountability of Lead Specialist and GSG Leads should be downward towards staff and not upward towards Directors and Senior Directors alone. Performance of Lead Specialists and GSG Leads should be evaluated based on the value they add and not on the basis of their ability to manage Directors and Senior Directors. - 44 - Promote some new managers who are not part of the old pension scheme, nor open-ended, nor US nationals........................ . Improve Governance of the Institution. improve management and put in place clear and fair rules about contracts, status, careers, conflict resolution, whistleblower protection To do real work and do not do a job for a sake of doing it and reporting "good results" to managements The Global Practices, as the group of best of class experts in one field, should be lead by either a top thinker on the subject, so we would respect her/his intellectual leadership, or by somebody that has raised from the trenches through long experience in development work, so we respect hers/his battle scars. My own GP is a good example of that, being led by an excellent politician, ideal for a higher VP position, but too generalist to lead a technical practice. The whole Senior Management Team. Hire managers and directors that possess people skills. Walk the talk for everyone and apply it not just to "regular staff, i.e. management should not be perceived as exempt especially in terms of cost-cutting measures The real poverty starts in one's within. To tackle the poverty effectively, the leaders' should alleviate the poverty within first. Like Mahatma Gandi, who renounced all of his belongings and gave it to government. Bad managers. People are selected to be managers without adequate screening of their managerial abilities, in particular, people skills. Despite very poor [NUMBER] feedbacks, my immediate manager has faced no fall-outs. My immediate manager continues to engage in practices of workplace bullying and retaliation despite complaints by some staff to ombudsman & HR. Since the reform has started we have seen more bias in staff selection and mis communication. Professionalism has gone down the drain. Managers need to be changed and proper qualified staff need to be brought in at top level. Look at the core value of the institutions. So many mandates and too much focus on the politics but nobody is defending the poor and marginalized. We can not trust corrupt regimes to help the poor while the same poor are used as a [*@:!] to get rich by their leaders. While Safeguards are very important, I believe that the Bank is overdoing it in some projects that have little or no impact on the environment. Too much time is wasted on writing reports that nobody reads. Sr. Management. Hiring managers with strong competence in people management; mandatory requirement to undertake and pass leadership "program" for managers. One thing won't do it -- at least a few are critical from my perspective: - Avoid change only for the sake of introducing change - all of the change over the past two years doesn't show that it has been worth the effort - the acid test being it has changed nothing about how one works at the ground level for the client; in fact it has at all levels become about feeding the internal beast, with each manager trying to simply show upward how much they are doing to change/improve things (more to show than to undertake actual improvements). All managers are for their own survival spending more time managing upwards, with little time devoted to real management support to task teams. - Managers have to be made more accountable - and their decisions more transparent and consultative; by the day they are getting autocratic. Disempowering task teams in many ways has become very common Streamline portfolio management and reporting meetings. Provide fair chance for everyone to apply for new openings, this is not happening, we often are told that specific positions are reserved to certain people, in other words there are positions that are designed for some Managers or Directors to place there people. I have seen a number of new Managers who have little or no experience in managing remotely located staff. I have a reservation on hiring managers for regional positions, and they stay in [Duty City], it defeats the purpose and significantly reduces effectiveness. Promote more professionalism and less "clique" politics inside the management. - 45 - Change the leadership of the Bank. Get rid of poor performing managers. We keep recycling these poor performing managers as Advisers, Country Managers, Global Leaders etc.. switching them from GP to GP, VPU to VPU with the same results. More needs to be done to improve the recruitment and promotion of SSA/CR staff. Expand the options for technical staff to grow and be recognized without becoming managers. Keep the WBG relevant to development, not a place to showcase fake achievements of a select group of incompetent managers. Eliminate conflicting and duplicating roles. These exist across the institutions, but are significant in the area of safeguards and are growing. Internal units that offer conflicting advice that leads to institutional churning include ESSAT (within [OPS]) and [LEG] (within legal). Now there is a new grievance redress service which does not seem to have any function other than adding an extra layer to managing problems. Performance evaluation to be done by an external firm: Non performing staff continue to stay with the Bank although it is obvious that they do not perform or cooperate with other colleagues but they take advantage of their status of being "open-ended". Managers can ask such staff to leave the Bank but in reality, they don't do -- I do not think they even get the performance rating of "[NUMBER]". This means that they get "[NUMBER]" like other "performing staff". Clearly the current performance system does not work, and we need to face the reality and fix this. Have management's words and actions go "hand in glove" It would be best if the president/management let the staff do their work, rather than constantly issuing advice/instructions/views, etc. Get rid of ineffective managers - not just sideline them to other divisions where they can continue to cause damage. Tie ACS performance to key performance indicators. Things have not changed, we are dealing with same managers that do not possess technical or managerial skills Think global at decision-making levels. Develop an effective Management Information System that would reduce the need for ad-hoc updates and briefings. Instill discipline into the project decision making by clearly defining the roles of the various actors. Hold managers to account The situation that some staff are open-ended and some are term staff are totally unfair, and make term staff vulnerable. Mangers on open-ended contracts are unlikely to understand the stress that term staff are going through. The WBG should abolish open-ended contract and make everyone equal. Alternatively, make term staff open-ended. I would provide more career opportunities for young people. Hopeful the new analyst program ply the revamped YP will help with that. Moreover, we need managers that are better at managing people. It is often the case that we end up with managers that are very good technically, but that lack the people skills. It a loss-loss for the Bank as these technical people are no longer doing technical work as they devote primarily to management tasks, that they are not necessarily good at. I would put more emphasis on people’s skills in the hiring of managers. Today managers that make the life of their staff miserable (this does not apply to my own manager) still keep their jobs and are even promoted. I would also improve career development opportunities and opportunities for professional growth, especially for younger staff, by institutionalize procedures for this to ensure that career opportunities not only depend on whether you have a good manager who is willing to help you. reduce uncertainties and fluid status in management teams, which seem to be too busy and risk aversive to take bold and timely actions. Better matching of my work program with the skill set and effective managerial support Make it easier to fire some poor performing managers. Do not allow non manager to write OPE for other staff if they are not trained as a manager. I am happy to change to current unit. I was told by many colleagues that if one happens to have a bad manager, your life will be ruined and staff should not expect to get anything out from conflict resolution process except for pasty and tortures. - 46 - The absolute power given to managers makes them feel they have better ideas even when they are wrong, the hide under the cover of providing managerial guidance I would reduce the levels of hierarchy, particularly at VP/Sr management level. I think there is this uncertainty among staff, where everyone thinks they don't belong there, where they think they can be dropped at any time. The management always says wait things are becoming clear, but in reality nothing has been done. And this has to change if staff motivation is to be achieved. Bring back flexibility During Mission travel And Allow staff To Stop At Their Own Expense In Between missions If They Wish To Do so. Also reduce further the small nit picky procedures that take a lot of time in operations, and make sure all managers are aware and don't start creating their own rules or misinterpreting simplified rules. To change and improve the GP structure is required, as it has created too many boundaries and too many mangers, with low efficiency. The WBG management' reputation is declining. Create small units that the managers can have time to handle effectively. Managers should be made more accountable and staff leaving the unit should be given the chance to evaluate the manager. Introduce effective and trustful leadership. The management Hire real managers and leaders, fire those that do not meet the requirements, instead of promoting people based on patronage and networks. Address the culture of fear. Management operates in an environment of impunity, particularly with respect to unacceptable behavior. Make directors of the global practices accountable to the regions and responsible for the actions of their managers. Break the silos that have been created in some Global Practices where directors are creating their own "work programs" that do not necessarily respond to clients most pressing needs. Take mid-term corrections decisively and timely!!! Do not wait until it is too late to fix!!! Finish school and get married. (Had to stop edu, when my atypical AWS was revoked by new manager. My job insecurity and the [NUMBER]K less in my pay vs. pay of my predecessor prevents marriage to ill SO.) Make best use of my talents, not just fill a niche cheaply. Management I am not sure ... the support from country office is minimum but I always do my best for the best sake of my government counterparts and for WBG Remove the incompetent Practice Managers that you did not remove during this last cycle due to JYK's perception that staff don't like change. We do want change. Add a layer of [NUMBER] to [NUMBER] junior technical staff (E-levels) to support the TTL population, to fill the gap between ACS work and task leadership. Measuring the decision making processes (timeliness and effectiveness) More resources for analytical work to support our operations work. We cannot depend just upon what the client demands if we truly seek to be knowledge leaders and solutions provider -- our ability to identify core problems and work towards solving them is our key value-add relative to other DPs -- with money for analytical work drying up, we're really going to be little more than loan officers. Ensure that transparency exist across all units and managers. Mangers, TTLs. PLs should be accountable for the decision they take particularly staff related decisions which is by far governed by personal relationship than merit. There is a thorough confusion between the responsibility of Practice Manager and Programme leader attached to CMU. Program leaders have no defined role and they are there over and above CMU advisers and other CMU staff. Everything is good in the recent global practice reform in WBG except the creation of programme leaders with CMU. This has created more confusion than the helping the staff. Improve accountability of managers and lead specialists. - 47 - Management to care more for staff's job sustainability regardless any organizational change as all of the termcontract staff concern about this. Effective Management Practice - Clear guidelines for performance and performance evaluation and very importantly dealing with "bad behavior effectively". Non-performers and "bad apples" are not dealt with effectively in this organization. The managers seem incapable/unempowered or at best not equipped to punish bad behaviors. Have less number of managers/bosses and aim for more people to do actual work. The Bank is top heavy, compared to the structure in the past. The Management Reduce the layers of management. High level staff should received leadership training to ensure exemplary leadership is practice. Especially in country office. Improve thrust between management and staff Improve unit / practice management. Technical qualifications in the area of expertise management is supposed to work in are essential. Make each manager identify no less than [NUMBER] procedures/steps within their unit and eliminate them. Better Management (starting from the Presidency) Change top leadership, no longer nominated by US and improved governance of Board. The world has changed and the Board needs to be reformed. Better managers Clear and timely decision making -- "Change" in the Bank has gone for years making staff impatient and tired. More direct and frequent communication with GP Manager. Clearer guidance on respective role of Practice Leader (CMU) and GP Manager. Strong country level managers are needed There should be a more rigorous evaluation of the managers. They are often excellent technically, but lack the skills to manage people and create an inducive work environment I would make sure that managers have managerial skills and not only technical skills. Improve management capabilities (e.g. allow talented staff to progress faster and hold existing managers accountable for their behaviour). Please finalize the restructuring process. Some decision processes are taking too long, and the timing is not being communicated appropriately (i.e. manager's selection). There is still a lot of uncertainly about human resources and budget, more than a year later after the change process started. Leadership delegate more responsibility to the CO staff and provide them with strong technical support from HQ Stop the discrimination between locally hired staff (LRS) and internationally hired staff (IRS) and treat them equally. In most of the cases, the LRS understand the national requirements than the IRS who seldom get the feel of ground reality. They only come for few days and bulldoze the LRS’ opinions. The CMU’s should also get some representations from LRS as now they are totally neglected due to the introduction of Practice Leaders who are all international. Get rid of managers who have poor managerial skills and are non-performers More leaders, fewer managers. Better and more competent management empower, incentivise and hold operational teams and managers accountable to serve their clients effectivelyproven results on the ground. People management skills should be the single most important criteria when selecting managers. Management Personal safety of staff; dealing with manager abuse - 48 - Introduce a merit system to appointment and/or promotion of President, MDs, VPs, Directors and Managers, and ensure that staff are relevantly competent to do the tasks assigned to them. Currently, many people in management are leading what they are less competent in, and some staff are also doing work that they are not really competent to do. This is a great disservice to the institution and the poor people we are supposed to be working to improve their lives. Restore the basic trust of staff in the institution. Introduce systems to guide, manage and develop careers, especially for younger staff. Stop the strategic staffing exercise until there are strategies to guide it. Hold managers accountable for poor performance in managing staff. Make the institution look outward again. Decentralize, including by sending more international staff to the field. Recognize that generalist staff have valuable roles to fulfill in this institution - in particular with regard to country relationships and strategic vision. Guide any future reforms by what our clients need and want from us not the management consultants' ideas on organizational effectiveness or how we think we can change the world. Give me an office with a window! The way management team functioning and provide support to their team. Greater levels of integrity and courage in decision making Staff, particularly the younger ones. career management should be set as an objective of respective Managers. Better managers Let managers manage without micro-management. The new GP structure is not functioning. Not getting better. Credibility of JYK leadership is at zero. Appoint managers with strong proven technical, operational and management skills, rather than those who are good interviewers. This would include: - Have a genuine [NUMBER] review, instead of hand picked respondents. - Review measurable outputs and accomplishments from applicants, rather than only subjective factors - Have serious technical questions in the interviews. Cease the micromanagement of decision-processes. reduce number of VPs and allow Sr. directors and directors to do their jobs without micro-management Settle the strategic disagreements within the Senior Management Team at the top of the institution. leadership Improve the People Management Skills of managers across the WBG. This can be done by separating the technical skills from the managerial skills. The best managers are usually not the ones who need to have strong technical skills. They are the ones who need to have the essential people management skills to motivate staff to make things happen. Managers who have strong technical skills often forget about the "management" part of their work. Unfortunately we still hear that "to be a manager you need to have the technical skills in a particular area". No one takes the people management skills, which are essential to make a difference in our institution, seriously. Hire good non-technical managers to motivate the technical people to do their best to make a difference in the lives of the poor. More bottom up decision making process Sub Theme: Senior Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 68 Senior Management Change the Top Leadership making sure Senior Management visit all projects on a rotational basis at least once in the project lifespan Better senior management Senior management should have substance and understand the technical work. Currently they do not. Have the right qualified subject matter managers and abolish all the so many or just too many managers, directors, programme leaders etc. Change the President and the CFO - it is not possible that they both don't have any sense of urgency after two years of reforming....they should have been out of this institution a long long time ago Cluster the Global Practices back into a more reasonable number and reinstate the function of Region facing sector Directors. Huge loss and makes PMs job loads near impossible. - 49 - Allow best possible global candidate to be selected as President of WBG (i.e. rather than have it restricted to US nationals only) President The SMT Senior Management should take seriously prioritization and its consequences. Involve seriously senior management in solving the problems of the current organization that cannot be managed and led to HUGE transaction costs, unaccountability and confusing roles Return us to a corporate culture of a decade ago when we took pride in being a part of the "Bank Family", beginning with a restoration of our pride .......stop the petty cost savings (breakfasts on mission) while HQ Director's Meetings (and up) are still catered. Senior management of Governance GP who does not provide any strategic guidance (zero communication) Align senior management incentives more with the needs of the poor in member countries and less with the first world NGO agenda. If you are going to make changes -- come in with ideas and implement them swiftly. make it a less top-heavy institution President Having clear higher management direction Have a new President Cut out the senior management BS. Reduction in the proliferation of multiple tiers of Management and quasi-Management A strong affirmation from Senior Management that Staff experience and skills are a vital part of this Institution Revisit how Country Directors engage with Global Practices and reduce the hostile and confrontational behaviors that are being bred and disseminated. Change the President of the WB to someone suitable for this job. There needs to be a serious revamp of the analyst program. Young staff has a massive turnover because there are no opportunities for them. Even being promoted from E level to F is basically impossible, so this is a top heavy institution perceived as not delivering since people do little field hands on work, and refuse to hire the young staff that is willing to do it. Career opportunities, promotions at ALL levels- C to D for example, not only assigned for Executive Assistants, performing indeed, an Administrative function, or the few ones monitoring Bank task records, but what about the operational C level staff- that is already performing a more complex work and keeping a close contact (contact point) with the external client, working directly in the Bank's products, the D level is not open for them, at least in LCR. Staff grade level-should match to what in reality the staff is performing. Provide an open ceiling at least for one grade level before being Analyst, is a way to see a carrer growth path. Change the President Change the President, he has no clues where the ship is sailing to. Replace most of the senior management. So far, whether or not a Global Practice practice manager or director is an actual expert in a specific field is purely random. Same old Bank -- people have been rotated or left in position according to random bureaucratic criteria, and not on the basis of expertise in the specific Global Practice area. This practice undermines the whole logic of Global Practices and should be addressed. President. The problems of the World Bank are at the top; the President should resign. Shortened the distance between reality in high level management HQ and CO. The Bank facing strong competition from regional infrastructure bank. - 50 - Change country managers/directors every three year no matter what so individual do not take precedence over the institution. When people are not rotated at that level it simply shows their is a dearth of fresh blood and innovation. In some countries, managers/directors are in place for many years and have created extremely personalised environment disregarding policies and ethics. Overcome the disconnect of senior level management from actual operational work Senior Management To have real managers at the top of the WB, not obsessed by their own carreer. Leaders should walk their talk. I would reduce wage inequality within the WB. Very frequently senior managers who make [NUMBER] times more than mid-level staff do not contribute [NUMBER] times more to the achievement of the twin goals. make senior management accountable for bad behavior, including the egregious amount of work placed on staff take action on non-performers and make senior managers more accountable for delivery, not just catering to managers who are more senior Management by walking around - it's not emails, but face-to-face meetings of senior management with small groups of staff that make change happen. To allow this there should be a travel ban for senior management (including highest levels) at time of change - they are needed at HQ (and selected country offices) for management work not lectures at universities and fancy conferences. In addition, I see travels of senior management that are a few days to oversee locations while staff is required to travel for at least [NUMBER] days when overseas. Leading by example would suggest that everybody travels the same way. Development is medium and long terms engagement. The way some operations are managed once approved by the Board through restructuring opportunities seems to be in contradiction with the requirement for reaching the development objectives of these operations. The World Bank has evolved into a place of fear and retaliation. Intellectual debate is no longer welcome. Management is inept and there is no captain in this ship. Senior management does not know its own organization.. only fear, fear, fear.. Replace [NAME] as Snr Director for Governance. He is clearly out of his depth and an embarrassment to his [NUMBER] staff. He is a clever person but I have never come across a worse manager during my [NUMBER] years professional life within and outside the Bank. We are still too top heavy and many of the (senior) management have been in the Bank for a long time and many, I believe, cannot effectively evolve their thinking and ways of doing business to allow us to be as effective and responsive as we need to be in [NUMBER]. Possibly one thing change that could have a possible impact would be to do away with the RVP positions. To make sure managers have appropriate skills to manage. This applies to all levels. Currently, personnel selections are made due to their technical competency rather than managerial skills. It is very important that VP/senior/unit management have sufficient management skills (and willingness to manage) so that he/she can lead the organization in the right direction. Hire executive managers that understand how to lead and how to get things done. Clear and timely communication from senior management. I would certainly change the way the reorganization is being implemented. We have spent more than [NUMBER] years to reform this institution and the result has been chaos, confusion, lack of managerial guidance and erratic decision taken by inappropriate managers. The mistakes from the past continue to be repeated and the high level management is unable to solve the issues that are crippling this institution. At the unit level and work program level- people seem content - its when you start to go to the levels above director/GP/VP levels that things get blurry and it doesn't seem as well connected or clear what is expected of us. Therefore the one thing I think I'd improve would be to make clear workflow plans at the unit level leading upwards. This means creating org charts with roles/responsibilities and people/work programs plugged in and then working your way up. This would help administratively, but also in terms of substance we would understand where our work feeds into the broader goals. - 51 - A lot of things, but if I have to chose only one: Senior Management, in bulk. The Change has been an unprecedented waste of time, energy, and loss of focus Appoint more leaders with integrity to senior positions. The organisation is full of leaders with questionable principles and nothing is done to remove them. Hold Management (GH and above) accountable for their overall performance and actions. There are numerous times when management conduct themselves unethically but they appear to be immune. With the culture of reprisal in this institution, lower-level staff fear to speak up against them. The WBG feels like it is led by a group of self-advancing politicians. We are (and should be) much better than that. Change presidents. Senior management (we need inspiring people and people who truly work for poverty reduction) the President Senior Management. There is a need for improving interaction between senior level and lower level staff. Staff in general tend to be very hang up on grades and don't take the time to get to know the people they work with unless the person is in within the same grade level. The importance of balancing top-down approaches to management at higher levels with bottom-up ones; right now the first ones seem to be prevailing. The President Rotate and put a term limit on middle managers. The newly appointed Practice Manager does not have the technical acumen to lead the team - not clear that senior management is aware of the impact of its arbitrary decision making Senior Management The President. Too many layers of senior management One WBG makes sense but can't work when IFC CEO actively promotes the opposite approach. Is the WBG SMT unified on this or not? Change the person if they are at odds with the objectives the Board sets. Stop changing structures and leaders with such frequency. The talk of diversity combined the extraordinary lack of diversity at the top is astounding. Sub Theme: Line Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 20 Reinstate the open ended contract for staff with good performance, in particular the younger staff, and release people with poor performance in country offices, Program Leaders should not be mapped to GPs or become TTLs of projects as they lose impartiality. Managers affect staff's life directly. Ensure that managers who do not have people management skills are removed from the position. There are poor performing managers who are still in place despite documented poor people management skills. Also Directors and Senior Directors as well as VPs should communicate more frequently to staff especially in the time of changes. I am surprised with the scarcity of the communication. They should not just rely on line managers. They should communicate with staff and in addition, ask line managers to communicate with staff. Clear focus on measuring results and making teams/managers/directors accountable to them. Please reduce the management team. There are about [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] Team Leaders and about [NUMBER] Management cadres (Deirectors, Managers, Advisers, Program Leaders). This ratio is outrageous. Better qualified managers (in terms of managing staff) - 52 - .- Define the role of Program Leaders. - Reduce the level of bureaucracy and points of control. While we understand this is a huge corporation that needs to ensure quality, sometimes there is a huge overlap and unnecessary measures. For example the implementation of the No Objection Electronic Sysmte is a sample of a new application that takes more and more time from teams and TTLs. - Regions and GPs are not working in a balanced way. There is a new culture of control and complains and not a constructive work to achieve common goals. In the past, Sector leaders used to play an affective role in ensuring the coordination and harmonization. I have been working with IFC/WB for [NUMBER] years, My performance rating is always [NUMBER]. My manager never told me how can I get to [NUMBER], what I can do more to get to [NUMBER] rating. Most feedback from supervisor are more general. Reduce the layers of management (especially the power of the CDs/CMUs) and empower the front line task team leaders. Poor performers should be informed and not placed in positions where there is risk to the image of the WB Group. Example: sector managers who did not deliver should not be labelled Global Leads. Global Leads should be those that embody the best the WB Group has to offer. A person in whom we, the staff, all have pride to say that "Ms/Mr XYZ" is our Global lead on this topic. The President! More seriously, create a more enabling environment .....meaning don't cut budgets unless you reduce deliverables, allow for the hiring of first rate consultants without going through hopes, don't create additional layers that add very little value, and most cost (such as program leaders).... [NUMBER]. The assumption that staff in [Duty City] are more knowledgeable about work in the country offices just because they sit in [Duty City] and can be condescending. [NUMBER]. Country office staff meant to facilitate (e.g. with visas, security clearances) put more obstacles in the path than facilitate. The negativity is a huge obstruction to getting work done. They behave like petty clerks in government offices--except that the petty clerks in government offices don't behave like this anymore! [NUMBER]. Lack of collegiality and lack of a sense of being a team. For example, TTLs do not know how to build a team; the general atmosphere in the office is Hobbsian where everyone is on his/her own. The TTL's main aim is to be a leader (without a team). [NUMBER]. Little mentoring or guidance. Too many acronyms and abbreviations that new staff are expected to know. [NUMBER]. Too much bureaucratic red-tape. One is expected to draft response letters for other colleagues! I find this unprofessional. Totally agree that the World Bank has to have a "global perspective", but with the new structure we are trying to create the "global teams", but we totally lost the regional and country office perspectives. When we had the Departments team from various sectors would meet and engage, now we don't see that anymore - we have, definitely, created silos! In a big CO, where we still maintain the old-SD group so we can meet and discuss issues that are relevant to various sectors, it is not the worse, but even here the genuine sense of group and collaboration has disappeared. We feel to far from each other, we feel we don't really belong anywhere. If we really want to make this change work the Program Leaders' roles is one of the most important ones, and needs to be empowered as they still hold the "old department/sectors" and may promote the collaboration. The bureaucracy, including the multiple operating and reporting systems and the distant line of management between managers and staff. Don't complicate process for getting things done anymore. Current changes to GP and Program Leaders role have added new layers of bureaucracy to get anything approved. And the prolonged "strategic staffing" has damaged morale. We are losing good colleagues and these make it very difficult to deliver to clients. granting more authorization to regional office to be semi independent . this will help in conducting more communication with the clients as the time of the region is the same or [NUMBER] hour different only. In the current condition most of the TTLs ,sector managers and Directors are based in [Duty City] so far from field. working closer to the client have a strong impact on the client and WB performance. Separate goals and sharing responsibilities. Controlling the relation between staff and supervisor. Provide a stable contract for ETC to allow them to fully get involve in the WBG. Getting some staffs more accountable for their daily action and give them more responsible. Daily supervising the staff achievement and attendance. - 53 - Reduce the number of supervisors/advisors/managers/directors/VPs/Senior Directors and INCREASE the number of technical staff, who are, actually, doing the work. Currently, as technical staff (senior specialist), I have a reverse triangle: High number of people to report to/get clearances from and almost nobody, in my team, to help me get the work done. This is VERY worrrisome... I would reduce the number of people reporting to a manager to [NUMBER] to [NUMBER]. My current manager is responsible for [NUMBER] to [NUMBER] staff. Since this is too much to manage effectively, by necessity a portion of my work program is managed by senior colleagues. But this naturally creates stress, since senior colleagues don't see the full picture and therefore can't balance competing priorities. Find some one with the right skills to manager my team. Theme: Sub Theme: Staffing and Resources No. of Comments: Resources 247 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 193 You cannot expect Senior Directors to cooperate when playing a zero sum game with a diminishing budget - conflicts are much worse. So accept this and enhance transparency from bottom to the top. Be realistic about employment needs and also about where real budget cuts need to be made. The mantra of the day at the Bank is that we have less budget so staff has to work in this limited budget environment. The management needs to carefully review its Penny wise-Pound foolish policy to get best out of its staff. There must be resource allocation for staff's skill development. I would put an end to what seems to be a never-ending "change process." I am being told that last year's budget process is not next year's budget process. These endless changes are starting to become a distraction from our core objectives. completely reverse the reorganization. It has crippled us. We have lost a very effective director and are left with one PM (who is great but not a miracle worker); we have lost field presence and are represented now by Program Leaders with little interest in our work, which has hurt our ability to respond to client and engage with CMU; collaboration with other GPs is actually more difficult now despite measure (it's the incentives, stupid); budget is a disaster; I could go on . . . I'm more appreciative of the old model than ever. Put action and resources behind the supposed intend to improve the services to our clients. Reverse the past [NUMBER] years constant reduction in resources applied at the front lines. If you want the best and the brightest to deliver world class services in the front lines, you need to provide work incentives, both in terms of remuneration and work conditions, that attracts and retains the best and the brightest. And when they are here, don't fill up [NUMBER] percent of their work program with tasks that has little to do with the quality of the service we deliver, and a lot to do with procedures and requirements designed to make Directors and VPs avoid noise from the Board. The one thing I would change is management of expectations of senior management. It's obvious to everyone in my unit that we do not have the staff (including consultants), budget and time to adequately deliver on what has been promised. As a result, the quality of our work has dimished and will continue to do so in this present environment. Managers must start being realistic and pragmatic in developing work programs, and be conscious of the impact of the inevitable and sudden decisions to take on additional unplanned tasks. .- Have practice managers re-apply for their jobs every year with people management and staff reviews as the most important input into their reappointment. - Have an innovation fund in every unit to support new ways of doing business The institution must take care of its main asset: the staff. We are competitive if the staff remains motivated, recognized, encouraged, well paid, taken care-off. Staff feel neglected. This is a highly intellectual group of professionals. Words are not enough. Real actions backed-up by real, tangible outputs (benefits, budget to do their work, less meetings, less reviews, more flexibility, fair HR practices--objective performance evaluations, system in place to recognize staff who have stepped up during transition period such as long term acting assignments, safety net for staff who were moved to newly created units and these units are no longer needed or deemed needed, system to acknowledge where we went wrong as an institution. This change has been all about structure but not about people. - 54 - Make it easier to be a TTL. -Resources need to be deployed to the front lines. (I see no appreciable change in this since the last survey, despite promises.) There are still a huge cadre of managers and few TTLs (and E-F levels supporting TTL teams.) -Rationalization of safeguards requirements. It seems to be getting harder (not easier) to implement projects and fiduciary and safeguards requirements (combined with the need of legal counsel to cover every possible risk, however, illogical) provide incentives to provide support to richer beneficiaries for larger amount of money who have the patience to deal with World Bank requirements. The silo mentality between Lending Operations and Trust Funds Provide clearer objectives for practices and how to reach these objectives (budget and staffing). Change the focus from penny pinching to delivering high quality work. So much negativity at the moment re cost cutting. One major challenge is unrealistically low (and decreasing) STC rates. I would think there are more targeted ways to cut out specific abuses rather than overburdening the system with approvals at every level (if the range is correct, then by definition many people will be earning above the midpoint!). This can end up increasing staff costs due to increased admin and excessive approvals. (Full disclosure: this affects me now in hiring good STC's but is likely to also impact me in the future as I consider shifting to STC after a botched HR process) limited budget funds for staff trainings. Incentivise and motivate country local staff to deliver to the Clients with conviction. We are impoverished but all our cries have not received any practical remedy. Day in day out we become poorer and paid lesser and lesser than those we supervise, direct, advise, review build their capacities. Sometimes they (Clients) look at me and say in my face " am I normal to live this way- what do I take home to prove all these hard work"? I am bold enough to tell them I am doing it and sacrificing for the development and poverty reduction of the masses and humanity; but how long can I show this braveness, even as I continue to move towards the poverty myself when I am supposed to help reduce it in others. It is pathetic and heart breaking. The WBG needs to listen to us at the Country Offices because we are the foot soldiers at the fore front of Bank delivery to the Clients. We need to be resourced properly because we have been suffering and are still suffering. Hear our cries oh WBG. Treat all staff as people and not [*@:!], especially in the process of strategic staffing. Managers need to be better trained and equipped to manage the "software" side of business and not just whether the delivers are on time and budget is fine. By software, I mean the actual staff - human resource - to carry out the important work that the World Bank aims to do. How you communicate to staff and how you make them feel at the end of the day will inspire or not inspire them to do more and better work. And frankly, I do not see this happening much because of the uncertainty behind the change process. Institute more effective knowledge and institutional learning. This means making contribution to knowledge a daily part of staff (particularly TTLs) obligations-- and rewarding them for good performance on it. Successful organizations like [NAME] build this into their staff requirements, where on completion of an engagement the manager is expected to contribute to a central knowledge base on lessons learned. By contrast in the WB: -- There is no central repository for basic resources like PPTs from BBLs (which could be searchable by keyword); -- The internal search engine is still problematic; -- The knowledge website for GPs has not become utilized. Trust. Trust up, down and across the organization and with our partner organizations. The "new business model" fuels distrust, uncertainty and noncollaborative behavior---even when people want to work together. In addition, the "new model" does not enable increased trust by our clients or those we are here to help. WBG hubris, internal focus for months and months and cuts (of staff, budgets, benefits) combined with lack of trust is a sad state of affairs. This is not longer "the place" to work. Provide a timely and clear budget. Budget and provision for working across countries Change the job description of Managers to actually manage people and resources. Hire well trained managers who have the capability to manage, rather than just administer. - 55 - Restrict abuse of group e-mails; Make the web portal a more interesting resource for generic information and exchange of best practices Encourage creation of regional networks Fix the budget process so that we can all work together effectively. More emphasis on technical skills and knowledge excellence Less focus on narrow development objectives (e.g. poverty) inspired by few NGO and make the WB truly globally relevant, like the Fund, including with sector areas of excellence relevant to many countries, including BRICS and OECD. Don't make management top heavy, at the cost of cutting down on resources (e.g., BB budget, staffing, consultants (ETCs, STCs etc)). Staff on front line lack sufficient resources to deliver their job the best. provide them with the best resources, as they are the breadwinners for the WBG family. Though we talk high of cutting edge knowledge exchange, in practice it is not happening. There are a number of hurdles still to get access to global knowledge - we don't know who the right person is, or the designated person does not respond, nor the persons who are knowledgeable 'show off', without any substantive contribution. With this new institutional model, there are a number of reviews by management, which is causing strain on frontline staff. Disbursement focus is once again back, at the cost of service improvement. How decisions are taken on staff retrenchment or retention or new recruitment, is not transparent / fair. stop cut budgets Just [NUMBER] thing? [NUMBER]. Reverse the fragmentation of sectors into multiple GPs, in particular PREM - we have simply created more warring tribes fighting for the same pots of money. "Governance" is actually about [NUMBER] different tribes even now. In a few years this re-consolidation will take place anyway. [NUMBER]. FCS - there are weak corporate incentives to take FCS seriously... but if that changes a new instrument appropriate for doing business in FCS is required (unfortunately one of the few people capable of doing this properly was just publicly humiliated, replaced by someone not fit for the job, and has left for academic) [NUMBER]. Clarify budgetary uncertainty. Put someone who knows about budgeting in charge of the budget. [NUMBER]. Clarify managerial uncertainty - practice manager level assignments still remain unresolved in some cases. [NUMBER]. Global public goods - what are we really doing of global impact? The CGD are right, this is the agenda JYK should have seized, not years of disruptive fragmentation. .- Bring back more flexibility on travel policies, eliminate top-down, one-size fit all, baroque travel policies (heavy limitations on leave time that can be attached to mission, location of rest stop, breakfast policy, etc.) and use active monitoring of local management to ensure that no misuse of policies is carried out. - Bring back cross-support and eliminate distinction between variable and fixed costs. The cross-support was an exceptionally well functioning market based mechanism rewarding good work. If some aspects were not working, fix them, but bring back a market based mechanism as a guiding principle to allocate resources rather than the current top-down, one-size fit all, corporate policies. Efficient use of resources. There are a lot of TTLs who spent their time to travel every time rather than work. Truly strategic resource allocation (including staffing) - strategic staffing review seems not to have been strategic at all, but once reached GP level resulted in managers simply trying to minimize redundancies, ducking hard choices and not actually realigning resources behind priorities; at same time budgeting is still a superficial exercise and not truly strategic (is done last minute and tends to devolve to small amounts to all, which minimizes impact). Management needs stronger signalling in terms of getting out of some areas and really scaling up where see real opportunities. Also need to allow some room for innovative engagements that go beyond lending - see real gap between senior management rhetoric in terms of what our WB is meant to be and incentives/internal signals all point to need to big lending. Being "transformational" needs more elements than that. - 56 - Give the Bank back to operational staff, taking it away from the Finance (MD, VP, BPS, etc.) and HR (VP on down) units, which have come to dominate the Bank over the past [NUMBER] years. Expenditure review and strategic staffing, while perhaps necessary, have pushed other initiatives - e.g. staff learning, and anything actually focused on clients - to the back burner. Case in point is the shifting baseline in the strategic staffing process, which left Practice Managers and GP Management with an impossible task of cutting from an unknown starting point. We need to get beyond the black clouds of budget and staff cuts and start going out doing our work. FY[NUMBER] has been a "lost year" in this respect but if the pain was truly necessary, at least we need to finish the budget cuts, simplify allocations, and close out the strategic staffing process. Allow teams to deliver with whatever budget they are given, and to hire staff with whatever ceiling they have. Take the shackles off please Better work life balance. I realize this is not an easy goal for an institution under tremendous pressure to stay relevant, cut budgets and deliver high quality work. However, in the effort to do this, good performers get more responsibility put on them, processes are changing very slowly and processing times remain cumbersome, and many of us are working [NUMBER]/[NUMBER]. This is not sustainable. Instruments for funding development projects in Africa should be made more flexible and adaptable to the needs of client country. So far the CPIA is used to predetermine the funding envelope for each IDA country. However depending of special circumstances, such as natural disasters or the viability of a mega project, the Bank should be able to vary the amount of funding, the composition of grant versus credit and the mix of IDA/IBRD. To have a real budget for our unit to do our work, and to not have to spend so much time begging other offices or donors for money. Introduce incentives for rewarding quality of performance, instead of quantity or number of projects a person works on. This is impossible for example if resources are concentrated in project preparation rather than supervision. I would improve delegation at the professional level. Decisions are too centralised and there are too many oversight functions at the expense of resources doing the operational and knowledge work. Reduce management and managers. There is about [NUMBER] manager for each TTL. Each TTL handles major amounts of resources and should be trusted to do it properly. The excessive amounts of oversight, which usually consists of pushing buttons or perfunctory clearances is ineffective, costly and time consuming. Give TTLs management rank, and eliminate the middle managers. Review and simplify operational business processes and foster internal division of labor (e.g. more separation of administrative and functional tasks). Re-align resources to the front line. DON'T take away benefits had when hired - especially spousal travel points. If were going to get rid of, then phase out where those who had the benefit keep it, while new hires do not. It's OUTRAGEOUS how penny pinching that now have to discount breakfast per diem. Per diem was already tight as it was... Loosing incentive to want to travel as often as my work needed in the past. For several years have been performing at [NUMBER] to [NUMBER] grades higher than I am currently mapped at, yet I have no indication that my grade will be upgraded to the level of my performance and responsibilities. A few questions later there is a question about nationality - that is one of the biggest problems with the World Bank, they care more about the passport a person holds rather than their performance. It's time the WB stops choosing who they hire based on passport. Make swifter decisions at the senior management level, and eliminate cross-GP collaboration disincentives stemming from one to one mapping of WPA budgets and unit staffing compacts. We need a new leadership team. No more pointless restructuring and demoralizing budget cuts. Ensuring transparent and merit-based promotions and staff appointments. The WB job market place continues imperfect, subject to political interferences, managerial preferences, and 'hourse-trading'. Reduce top-management which adds very little to the real business of the Bank, making Sr. Management remuneration comparable to Sr. Management remuneration in Government, removing bonus or any additional benefit that it is not offered to staff in general Modernize administrative procedures in order to cut transaction costs, and unleash more resources (time and money) to add value to the money the Bank lends - 57 - For over a decade the only talk from upper management is about cutting costs, and at no point does there seem to be an effort to improve the working resources to allow the Bank to perform the top quality work it is capable of. There is so much nick picking that it has really corroded staff morale. People were also unable to attend technical seminars due to lack of training funding, as the only budget available would have to be taken from supervising or preparing of projects. WBG should stop forcing staff to do more with less resources. If we are resource constrained, we should be more selective on what we do. Thus institutional structures/incentives must not encourage each unit/GP to generate their own business no matter what. Make the job positions really open. Allow for moving from one practice to other Eliminate silos and improve collaboration across GPs and CCTs ADM project does not allow two TTLs to have responsibility Budget system simpler and work on the definitions Dedicate more time and resource to our clients vs the admin and internal process. I will suggest at the GP level to structure the relation ship client management following the IFC investment team's structure ( one relation ship manager by client ) Realignment in managerial positions. Top-level management is demonstrating a striking lack of understanding of the way we do business. Lower-level management is pressed by contrasting demands and spending more time managing the process of change than strategically focusing on business and clients. More importantly, what about streamlining managerial positions? We hear so much about efficiently managing staff resources (aka downsizing… which btw I agree with) and yet we see managerial positions blooming everywhere….. a) stop focus on internal reform; focus and debate needs to be on development issues b) don't drag on with the reform process; delegate secondary reforms on staffing, budget, etc to VP/director level b) stop simplification rhetoric and efforts; at the ends these changes only create more shadow approval processes and more work Need to prioritize budgets to frontline work. Allow appropriate budgets so that the policies on travel come back to what they were before [NUMBER]. The data resources that HQ use should also be conveniently and easily available for us, [Duty City] office as well. Volume of work and resources to match the volume The reorganization has been a never-ending mess. We are in a worse situation now than we were prior to the GP/CCSA structure, pre-July [NUMBER] [NUMBER]. First, the budgeting and HR processes no longer work and admin is taking double the time it used to. Second,Practice Managers are not held accountable and were not reviewed properly last year. There are many incompetent managers still remaining in their positions who do nothing and bully staff. Third, Regions are more entrenched now than before and turf battles continue. The only reason there is crosscollaboration now is because staff costs are free. Wait until next FY. We are still not acting like global practices. We are still in our regional and sector silos, even more so under this [NUMBER]x[NUMBER] new structure. Country offices are more disorganized now than before because of [Duty City] centralization. I don't see how we are servicing our clients any better. Pres [NAME] should be held accountable for this disaster of a reorganization and be asked to resign. I think it is quite clear what our overall goal is: reducing poverty. However, I do not think it is always clear how we will do that. At times there is too much focus on diagnostics without concrete plans for implementation. And when we do commit to implementation, there is too much focus on achieving fast and big results, which is not usually possible when doing real development work/when trying to achieve a real impact on peoples' lives. I think we should change our goal to increasing prosperity for all. Its much more positive Regarding advisory services, at least in IFC, I think some funding from the organization needs to be available for business development. When we go to donors with funding proposals before we have done a proper assessment it is difficult to detail exactly what we will do and how much it will cost. And we end up making estimates which could change drastically once we have the funding to do a deeper diagnostic. This puts us in awkward situations with the donors Create a culture of transparency. Ensure that operational teams can work efficiently and effectively (e.g. reduce transaction costs, provide resources to serve clients better rather than just talk about doing so). - 58 - Eliminate the uncertainty and lack of direction associated with so many contract workers. I am an ETC and I know many others also on contract (STCs etc) who dedicate a significant amount of time and energy to figuring out what they're supposed to do, how, with what resources, for whom etc. Expectations are unclear, performance management does not exist and we are treated like work horses who are not supposed to be concerned about our future. We are treated like temporary resources but expected to have permanent commitment. It is unfair, unrealistic and the least effective way to get the best out of people. The creation of [NUMBER] GP + [NUMBER] CCSA has made this place unmanageable. Imagine clients having to face missions from [NUMBER] different teams. This is insane. What used to be natural cross-sectoral collaboration at least in some areas, now need negotiating at each step. And practice managers are an active obstacle to this collaboration most often. I feel this is really hurting our clients. we need fewer much larger GPs, fewer managers, more staff. Also the WB HR policy has deprived us of much needed help from junior staff, now even from ETCs. It took [NUMBER] years to our HR VP to come up with an alternative program o hire help for the teams, and he has done this slowly and an in a totally centralized communist era manpower planning style. The opposite of what we would tell our clients to do. Budgets are restricted on hiring people that would make staff in professional positions so much more effective, productive, concentrated where they can add value. our HR VP does not understand our business. Pls examine role and skills of communications advisers and officers. Their numbers tripled in last decade. Many are personal promoters of managers, more like stylists for movie stars, than communications experts who support the substance of WBG work. Most have little grasp of WBG work and mission. Some are "airheads" who act as arrogant gate keepers, exercising their power derived from being "in" management teams by at best confusing and blocking internal communications. Reducing their numbers would boost WBG efficiency and effectiveness. Or pls ensure they all know substance of the program they are supposed to support, have some operational experience, and clear substance. They should support WBG mission, not engage in PR for select managers or their favorites. Also, we can cut costs of unbecoming PR. circus-like side-events at Spring and Annual Meetings, such recent rock concerts and countless sessions with self-appointed NGOs. They do not reduce poverty. What's the impact? stop the incentives of different sectors and GPs to fight to have projects and TTLs mapped to them. This is the single factor that gets in the way of getting people to really focus on technical skills and building technical teams relevant to the project at hand. Also too much resources on strategies and task forces and plans. Just focus on supporting the technical senior GG staff who are the ones actually doing the work that affects poor peoples lives. Evaluate your worth to the WB by seeing how much of the stuff you do will really make someone less poor. End employment controls and allow us to hire staff on short and long term durations -- if there is funding and a rationale Have more resources available for TTLs to do their work: technical experts who have availability to support tasks, and analyst-level staff to support operational work. (Also, reduce the focus on gender and diversity. It's keeping the institution from putting the best-qualified people in some positions. We're quite diverse already.) Remove/substantially reduce the constraining commitment to reduce the operational budget and ensure adequate resources is available to deliver quality work. The focus on reducing operating cost has tremendous effect on the extent of engagement with the client. Managers are obliged to make decision that are humanly impossible to attend to. The strategic staffing exercise and approach is one example where managers are either not taking timely decision OR if they do the focus is on cost reduction that assigning reasonable task to staff to get much with less. This has ultimate impact on the delivery of quality product and the well being of staff due to overload. stop the instability and permanent changes - with last minute demands (and self creation of sense of urgency), with particular attention to fixing the budget allocation and not have budget cuts on variable of [NUMBER] % More resources for language training to improve our interactions with clients After recruiting staff that presumably belongs to the very best in their disciplines, do endow them with adequate resources esp for the knowledge and advisory work that our clients turn to the WBG for. I would suggest that management listens more to clients on the ground, including feedback on the performance of Bank's operational staff. More resources in terms of staff and technical assistance would then need to be granted for front-line operational teams. - 59 - Get rid of the GP structure and go back to the regional structure. The GP structure is not working and has led to widespread confusion and stress. While I believe our GP's Senior Director is doing a great job and is doing his best to listen to and engage with staff in the new GP structure, there is so much confusion even over the basics - such as processes & procedures. Never have I worked so hard for the WB for so little reward. It is painful to be practically killing yourself for your job and at the end of OPE season, be "rewarded" with a [NUMBER] percent pay increase. Please remember that your staff are your best and most important resource and at least make them feel appreciated. There are many of us whose health has been very negatively impacted due to the stressors at the office - which spill over to our home lives, to a huge degree. Please stop making constant changes which are not actually leading to genuine improvement. Budget related decisions are made in a more sensible manner, not only form a cast saving standpoint but rather with a view to improving allocative efficiency and motivation/performance. The combination of continued headcount controls and fixed budget envelope is a killer for the GPs, especially for trust funded activities. We have been saying this for a long time, and the institution is very slow to adjust. It is insane that we have to beg [NAME] to open new term positions just to allow us to put the donor's money to work. And the same will happen for safeguards starting in FY[NUMBER]. CMUs and RVPs are very concerned that we don't have the man power to deliver. [NUMBER]. Flexible work arrangements to be encouraged and taken onboard by the management. For a TTL traveling a lot I would appreciate opportunity to work more from home so save on time for traveling to office and rather spend time with family. [NUMBER]. having extra time (and budget code to charge time to) to do learning, read recent studies and reports, work on professional development. More opportunities for staff for exposure visits to learn cutting-edge approaches and practices, also to participate in each other missions on innovative projects. While the budget process has improved, and the shift to a three year budget cycle is an improvement, we still have not resolved how to improve on selectivity, and how to shift resources between practices and regions for a more meaningful impact. When considering the outcome of this year's budget with the last two years, we are essentially still funding most sectors in every country. Reduce hierarchy in decision making process and involve more people on the ground who have a much better understanding of the realities on the ground as to what should be done, what is doable, within what time-frame and what resources would be needed. The institutional ethos are not against it, but we need more proactive measures to make it happen. Hierarchy is sometimes intimidating, not opening up space for those on the ground depriving the institution of the best outcomes, sometimes. [NUMBER]) Supervision budgets are too small, and do not the give the ability to properly accompany operations with the necessary advisory services which could help tackle the underlying constraints, which are often underpinning the reasons why operations eventually fail. [NUMBER]) GPs are new silos that have so little budget and so high constraints to de operational work in country that the new structure has basically killed the market for innovation at the World Bank Group, since there is no more resources and willingness to invest in global public goods, or in knowledge and innovation. GPs are all reverting to cookie cutter operations that have a high chance of disbursing, as Regional VPs are under pressure to clean their portfolio and get rid of "problematic projects", the very ones that have difficulty dispersing because of the very reason that they are a bit innovative and different. Killing this internal market for innovation at the Bank was bad timing, with BRICS and [Duty Country] Bank coming up. Cut down on internal bureaucracy to allow spending more time and resources on dealing with the real problems on the ground the only thing that may improve the WBG as a place to work is provide enough pay, and provide enough funds for staff training, namely for face to face ones. More accountability of Country Directors vs Technical Managers; Clear decision making process on behalf of Country Directors on projects, country engagements, budget Provide (significant) funds for analytical work that can be spent on staff time. That would allow staff to really work on analytical pieces, instead of just writing TORs for consultants and reviewing final products. When staff actually do work on analytical pieces, knowledge is created in the institution and stays in the institution. At the same time, this would allow us to respond more quickly to clients requests and more substantively. Lastly, the knowledge created would flow easier across regions and practices, because TTLs would be able to bring on board staff from other regions and practices. - 60 - Restore a transparent and professional budget design and management process based on actual costs of activities and products Undertake a serious reform to simplified administrative processes Eliminate bureaucracy by reducing layers in the decision making process and making controls simpler and cheaper More resources to front line staff to do our work, less bureaucratic oversight/management. As the change happens, please pay attention to the fact that silos between GPs are being created. With this, turf battles are emerging. One way we can halt this downward trend away from the ideals of the reform is to change the budget structure to allow code sharing between GPs for projects/AAAs. This way, Environment could work on a joint project with Urban, in the case of a water and sanitation project that may include an environment related component. Each GP would then claim that task under their WPA or in a formalized way. Then staff can move more fluidly between GPs, at least in a structured way. There could even be co-TTLs across GPs. Reduce the increased management layers and release resources for those unnecessary managers to the task teams. For me, as my area is highly technical, it would be not having to take holiday time to attend conferences that keep up my technical knowledge and that build my technical network but having support to use work time and even resources to attend such conferences within reason. * Hire people according to their skills and better place people according to their expertise * There is no resource/budget for policy dialogue with the region ; we cannot compete with others organizations in this area, and so we are loosing presence * Managers need to be highly qualified staff with proven experience in managing teams, leading international dialogue and engagements, and having excellent communication and managerial skills, with a sufficient level of knowledge of the policy topic and the region * TAs with less than a certain amount should not be subject to the whole process of review; with a [NUMBER] [NUMBER] or even [NUMBER] [NUMBER] USD assistance there is no way to have results in the near term... * RAS should also have a minimum level of amount; a [NUMBER]K RAs might be not necessarily a revenue generating activity; the costs of preparation and managements are higher than the g .- Reduce fear: environment of fear is increasing hostility, rivalry and impeding the free knowledge flow. there is more knowledge retention as everybody is afraid to lose his piece of the pie. This impacts the quality of our services to clients and knowledge. - Improve budget systems: i.e.GE budget system is not conducive for innovation and better knowledge flow."fear to loose a piece of the pie".this could impact severely the quality of our knowledge services. - Equitable system to recognize and reward talent and good performers: current system is conducive to rewarding only those outspoken. Staff with academic credential from emerging countries are no less skillful than those coming from prestigious ones. - Diversity and Inclusion: quality and merit should prevail even while implementing D&I–we cannot have wrong people in positions, just to meet the D&I targets. Also, some minority groups that are not outspoken do not seem to be part of the D&I targets and are still left behind. Budget process and delegating more responsibilities to managers and TTLs less travel via business class Have senior management listen to and act on (or at the very least, respond to) the voices from staff expressing frustration at how the budget cuts are taking place, how changes being implemented are not following even the guidance of the highly paid management consultants hired to do the job, how senior management is not walking the talk (e.g. by taking hefty salary increases and benefits while frontline expenditures are being cut). Empower the front line staff to innovate and invest from a solid base of work that has been entrusted to them -with agreed monitoring -- instead of leaving them as floating resources for managers to "deploy" at their whim or convenience. No one can innovate or invest when managers toss them around at will, and no one can commit to collaborate with colleagues when manager requests automatically trump all commitments to colleagues. Cut the management travel budget in half and give it to front line staff so they don't have to spend so much time raising money for their own missions. Pursue/move ahead with simplification of procedures for Investments Loans and TA projects Allocate more resources to front line staff in operations (both for preparation and supervision) Review travel policy for operational staff to allow travel in more comfortable conditions, especially those in the fields - 61 - The penny pinching that has arisen due to the change process inhibits work performance, particularly because it is directed towards removing items or process that increase intrinsic employee motivation. The TRS system is largely outdated and should be removed. There has to be a better a way to measure the strategic staffing, importance or value of an employees work without relying on a system that does not directly measure the skills of the employee. Just because someone charged hours to a project does not mean they that is the strategic value or the best use of their skills. Nor is it a measure of skills. Lastly, it is a chronic annoyance that reminds one of lawyers keeping track of billing. It is also poorly executed because it is not tied to the deliverables. TTLs and team members may charge to a particular budget code because they have exhausted the hours or billing on another project that was clearly under budgeted and it continuing though there is no money. Staffing and budget in my unit is not keeping up with the demands for our services from external clients. Clear and predictable budgeting ahead of end of FY Set up ONE single honest, clear and attainable motto, with which everyone could commit, for instance: "Before the WB dismantling in [NUMBER]XX, X, Y and Z objectives must be achieved" Ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity while building capacity to develop regional and national development banks does not correlate with keeping the institution alive. As stated in the utmost cornerstone of WB knowledge, the FBO course: "Local people know much more about what is likely to be successful than anyone coming from the outside" (Unit [NUMBER]). Being coherent with what its own FBO-doctrine reveals, obsolescence is the most reasonable, coherent, clear, honorable, transparent and attainable solution. Of course, diminishing resources (staff, funds, etc.) along the road. Taking the risk of nobody wanting to stand up and work for that cause would be also honest. All the rest, is just plain hypocrisy. I have been with the WB Group for [NUMBER] years and lately it seems we have lost the capability of delivering as per our client's expectations. As G level staff I spend more time on process than on substance. The last FY was a disaster in terms of budget allocation having a direct impact on our ability to provide the highest level of technical assistance. The change process has taken a toll on staff. Morale is low and if we remain committed it is because of personal ethics and passion for the work we do. The Bank needs to invest in staff’s knowledge and give us the tools to deliver our work. Get serious about performance evaluation, ensure exit of poor performers and offer both rewards and accelerated career progression to strong performers. Treat staff with respect: it is no use the President sending internal emails stating that staff are the biggest asset to the institution and then telling the press that "staff are grumbling about breakfast and parking". Most of the actions of the "change process" and the "expenditure review" have implicitly sent the message that in the eyes of the President and senior management WBG staff are a bunch of overpaid, entitled and lazy brats whose bloated privileges need to be taken away. As far as I can see the only real change is that now we face more restrictions, have less budget and less flexibility to do our work. Not surprisingly, the quality of our work and the intellectual leadership the WBG used to have are steadily eroding. When young people approach me about working here, I now tell them not to bother and look elsewhere. decentralize more decision making (budgets, get rid of program leaders who have no value added for TTLs or practice managers, they just add additional layers and cost); acknowledge good performance in project supervision rather than only only board delivery; provide incentives for multi-sector collaboration (re-org did exactly the opposite); focus on simplifying processes for clients and TTLs rather than shifting organizational boxes; Allocation of variable costs for implementation and supervision to be more realistic. Create better incentives for working across Global Practices that are in danger of becoming [NUMBER] silos, including the availability of budgets for such collaborative work. This FY cross-GP work was still more feasible because staff costs were taken out from the top, but with a return to the old system next FY, it is unclear to me how it is possible to show the initial value-add to a project led by another GP, since other-GP staff costs will be added to variable costs at a time of declining Project/Team budgets. TTLs will choose people from within their own GPs, rather than attempt to build teams with multiple skills. - 62 - Have CMU not to be too close to the incumbent government, but to be close to the future generation of each country. To eliminate current poverty is important, but the incumbent government is eager to engage the matter. To eliminate future poverty and to keep resources for the future generation is over sighted, and the world wide international organization like the World Bank should be strongly engaged in such difficult subject. WBG is loosing its cutting edge. Adequate funding for applied research is critical to keep this institution relevant. One of the unintended consequences of the recent reorganization is the drastic reduction in funding for applied research and the excessive bureaucratization decision making processes. I am certainly still proud to work at the World Bank. However, more and more the pride comes from the support and appreciation that I receive from the Governments and institutions I have the privilege to work with. Hopefully at some point the reorganization will be completed, and the result will indeed be the horizontal structure that the institution set out to achieve. We are too burdened with layers of management and this is at the root of our extremely slow and unimpressive decision making and our slim budget available to deliver results to our clients. The primary thing we need is to reduce the excessive layers of management and speed up decision making. We need a new president. Although our president has been reform minded, our working lives have deteriorated due to the excessive bureaucracy that they have created and the uncertainty on what "usual practice" is supposed to be now. I personally feel disempowered, that the Senior Management does not trust me to do my job and to correctly manage my budget. For example as a TTL I am no longer able to clear a $[NUMBER] translation request in [Duty Country] - this has to go to my manager in [Duty City]. Increase budgets to get our work done. Must wrap up the change process, expenditure review, and get budgets at least predictable-- absent that there is little incentive to take risk, be truly collaborative, and innovate to make progress on the tough development challenges we face! I would change the way that credit for work is assigned across this institution so that collaboration was effectively incentivised. Now, if you contribute to the work of another unit, you unit gets no credit and this is coming out in budget discussions. Staff have raised the incentive problem for years, and NOTHING has been done on this. We're seeing this again this year. All this change and you haven't managed to fix one of the core perverse incentives that has been undermining our work. It doesn't inspire. Another thing is to recognize the role of teams. Bank staff are expected to be TTLs, not team members. You get no credit if you're not a TTL. This is leading to a proliferation of products being "led" by staff, with an army of consultants to actually deliver. It eats up variable budget, it's inefficient. This is a business incentive and career development issue. The two year ETC engagement need to change as each time an ETC is engaged and released the bank losses resources (finance, knowledge, etc.) invested in him/her. [NUMBER]. Consolidate the [NUMBER] siloses into larger groups. Ruthless competition amongst the groups, partially driven by staff cuts and budget cuts, is undermining our ability to do good work for our clients. [NUMBER]. Reestablish / strengthen the role of the country economists, and link them to the chief economist offices, giving them the role for strategic thinking and policy integration at the country level, and within a regional strategy context provided by CEs office. [NUMBER]. Change the President! Bring someone who understands that achieving development results is mostly about an integrated policy agenda and structural reforms. The terribly long, resource-consuming, not sufficiently meritocratic and completely dysfunctional selection/recruitment processes for pretty much every position - technical or managerial - in the Bank. Cutting budgets at the time of a major reorganization is textbook for what not to do. Give the organization reasonable budgets. Let performing staff get open-ended contracts. Make RVPs and Country Directors accountable and behave properly, rationalize the regional structures even further. Right now, as long as they deliver their lending volumes (regardless of quality) they are unaccountable monarchs who behave appallingly. It is honestly hard to understand what they do and why they are there with so many supporting staff, "front offices" etc. that substitute for them having to do any work. This month will see an avalanche of CDs and their supporting staff spend close to a month changing around in [Duty City], ostensibly for the Spring Meetings. The new structure has made this worse. with the regions basically passing the buck on everything to the GPs. It is also hard to understand what the RVPs do. One solution may be to drastically reduce the number of Regions, CDs and CMUs and increase resources for technical work. - 63 - Stop the nickel and dimming on the budget. Base the budget on needs, not arbitrary targets. The cost-cutting measures have probably gone over-board in some areas, e.g., official travels. For example, per diem rate in some place is really low. I once went to a place on official mission. The daily rate is USD [NUMBER]. Some breakfast money also deducted from this tiny amount. The remaining money is not sufficient for one meal in the hotel. It is possible to go out to eat, but with added time and health/security risks in developing countries. Stop the endless process of tying to get more impact with less resources, and focus on what really will have longterm impact (programs, not projects) and invest in them. Reward staff for spending time with clients rather than internal churning. (i) Transparency and less bureaucracy (ii) better resources for TTLs to do their job The budget process is still not aligned with the concept and underlining principles of the Global Practice approach. The budget process is till ad hoc and pretty much as the same old system (pre-GP). Time bound project development and implementation does make sense. At the same time though adequate attention should be paid to the capacity of the recipient to make good on all the commitments taken at project design. Where to start? Reorg has been squandered. More layers of bureaucracy than before (GPVPs worst example). GP incentives to fight each other; border skirmishes & a scramble for senior management attention & budget. Initial reform agenda beyond GPs seemingly abandoned. We cannot hire good people. We cannot pay good consultants their rates. All the dead wood is still in the organization, no senior staff cut despite the restructuring. Staff morale all-time low... & budget/staff cuts not even really biting yet. So-called strategic staffing exercise is not remotely strategic, with all units cutting the same. Senior management needs to go back to the drawing board and reinitiate more ambitious reform: more differentiated pay, firing underperforming staff, streamlining back office, cutting ACS, reducing number of regions, spreading the global footprint into regional hub offices, raising consultant pay, and changing GP incentives to avoid in-fighting. I am proud of the Bank but we are suffering. the tedious procedural hurdles for project development and the budget management/allocation align the WB rhetoric about knowledge bank with the practice of making the bank a knowledge institution, that passes through proper and predictable budget allocations, incentives to manager to also focus on knowledge and multisectoral issues (and not only lending), a more systematic learning strategy for staff, creating proper metrics to monitor progress towards better knowledge and learning, take risks, invest on data, motivate young professionals, integrate more young brilliant professional to refresh the institution, etc Finally finish the endless "change process." Stop adding layers of management while cutting operational budget. Remember our mission and who our clients are, stop operational budget cuts and staff freezes, and revitalize frontline work on country analytical work and operations. The level of junior staff support (JPA/JPO, specialists, etc.) is diminishing, with no sense of replacement possibilities. I'm thus a fairly senior person (H level) who will essentially be on my own to deliver my entire work program. This is an incredibly wasteful use of resources/talent, as it constrains what I can deliver programmatically. Bottom line is too much senior staff, and not enough worker bees. Improve efficiency of decision-making and processes. From the survey questions one gets the impression that the only thing that matters is diversity and inclusion, on the basis of which some hiring decision are made that do not necessarily improve effectiveness of the institutions. Still lots to do on the simplification agenda while mgmt is still very busy with the restructuring/change process, trying to figure out how to do more with less. Our core business as a Bank is lending and we should put our money to support operations, not reducing operational budgets. The World Bank is filled with brilliant Staff; however we severely lack adequate resources to deliver quality work. This is what I would change. Value more our resources on the field, especially give more visibility to TTLs and celebrate their achievements as we do for [Duty City]-based staff. Remove headcount restrictions for co-terminous employment, allow managers to make a decision to hire people so long as the relevant budget permits. The leadership need to start treating staff with respect by actually saying what they mean, and doing what they say. The constant stream of disingenuous pronouncements, announcements and statements that are made is ridiculous. Clear, honest and concise communication is required. For all the resources spent on communications how much is actually credible, honest and accepted by the staff? - 64 - Review all administrative, operational, and bureaucratic processes and restructure them in a way that they are userdesgined not rule/regulation designed. By that I mean, all tools, resources, and rules are offered in a way to empower the operational staff to deliver to client demands the right product, in timely fashion, with highest quality. This requires seriously rethinking all ways in which WBG corporate interacts and serves and empowers the TTLs who are the primary interlocutors with clients. Simplification of processes and more resources (both technical and financial) oriented towards real operational implementation rather than HQ-centric activities that look and sound good on the WB intranet but are primarily internal in their focus and are not very visible or useful to our lending operations and clients. More HR resources available for ensuring timely response to clients and quality of work. At the moment we are too few for the work at hand. Match accountability with resources More resources to the front-line, with more structured teams working around clear objectives. Remove the arbitrary/unofficial hiring freeze (and manage staff numbers through smarter means that includes separation with staff that are no longer able to deliver) and give senior TTLs more input on junior staff hiring so that they can effectively resource their teams to deliver for the client. Reduce HR-related stress and uncertainty: finalize as soon as possible the strategic Staffing exercise, reform HR and provide merit-based access to open-ended contracts, enforce a real performance-based system where non performers would not be able to continue in the institution and high performers would be adequately rewarded. Prioritize clients and ensure TTLs have adequate resources (staff and budget) to deliver to the client. Management, starting by the President. The team that was going to seek "the best talent in the world", and could only manage to keep most of the team in place as the outcome of their effort so far; it must think that more talent is only needed in the lower ranks. The team that has been trying to re-structure the Bank and changing the culture and the way we do things for two years -mostly by making the lives of actual "doers" miserable- and hasn't been able to accomplish it yet. The first team ever to be unable to put a budgeting system together after two years of trying. This is not the institution for which I longed to work for, and the one that I joined and whose goals I adhered to years back. I have nothing against change, if it is positive and well carried out. This is not the case of the current process. Increase the variable budget. WBG has started selecting Practice Managers who have no competence in the area they are going to manage. Case in point is the selection of a Manager for Africa Region to handle both Public Service and Performance and Public Resource Mobilization and Management (PRMM) and yet the manager has no technical skills or experience to lead Financial Management staff under PRMM. This is a risk to the institution and its stakeholders and not the fault of the manager that has been appointed but the Senior Management staff that made the decision to go this route. Staff will be looking for technical guidance from a Practice Manager who has none which is a recipe for disaster. This can be corrected by ensuring that Practice Managers with the right technical and managerial competencies are appointed. Honest dialogue and a real vision: policies, resources, managers keep changing and delays on things like the budgets and the inability to monitor resources efficiently waste a lot of time. Mission travel combinations to save budget are getting really heavy, but we are hearing that there are lots of "unused" resources and we can afford to build kitchens in some buildings? Is the personnel, and its health, really a high priority? Improve the IT systems and institutions: our corporate tools (econsult, SAP, etc.) do not function well and are unreliable. There should be greater accountability for their dysfunctionalities. Have an operational budget again -- no budget this year remains a major shortcoming (GP managers and TTLs deeply averse to hire and quality of the work has suffered too much ) There is no work life balance. I spend far too many hours working (nights and weekends), only to deliver part of my work program. There are not enough resources to have teams to help with the work -- frontline delivery to clients. I feel like i cannot have children and maintain my current job. - 65 - There are more than one thing to change but there is one which promotion of ACS needs to be seriously taken into consideration. There are no clear ways on how to be promoted, most of the budget constraints fall on them when they need it the most. Some have been with this institution for more than [NUMBER] years and I have not seen a change and have been given empty promises. Resources are still spread unevenly across the Bank and the front lines (operations) are suffering from it. The overall institution goal is somewhat unclear especially in MICs where we have limited resources for lending and / or knowledge sharing. Finally, many colleagues are leaving to other institutions offering better packages and competitive salaries. Really focus on what we do best and stop trying to be everything to everyone - way too much dead weight in this institution, so that the practices that could really benefit from more resources and lending authority go without. The WBG's mission statement "end extreme poverty and boost shared prosperity" is clever but not wise. The topline statement needs to explicitly include sustainability, particularly environmental sustainability, e.g. "boost sustainable and shared prosperity". Also, the top levels of senior management need to understand the importance of sustainable natural resource management, including biodiversity conservation, for development to succeed. I would provide more resources and flexibility to front-line teams interfacing with clients. Would provide increased resources to sectors to recruit staff to deal with the administrative functions and would ensure that technical specialists focus on their areas of expertise. This would provide for more time to build knowledge, develop stronger networks of excellence within units and across the institution as well as with other entities and across regions. In my opinion, this would provide for a stronger Knowledge Bank. Be serious about helping client countries to solve their problem instead of having internal conversation to make each other happy. Be serious about putting more resources to the teams who actually delivers and provides solutions to the client, and reduce too many unnecessary reviews and layers who have no valued added to the teams. Senior management (The President & Senior VPs) should explicitly value and incentivise CROSS GP collaboration. Make all managers accountable for budget allocations for CROSS GP collaborative actions/programs. Clarity in budget against activities Reasonable operational budgets. President promised savings to be deployed to operations, instead operational budgets for FY[NUMBER] have been cut. Unkept promises do not inspire trust or respect or confidence in top management. Stop wasting time and resources doing unnecessary changes. Are international staff and CO-based staff who are both based in the same CO being paid from the same pool of funds? If so, even if salary percentage increases are the same say [NUMBER]% for a given year, the larger share of funding will go to international staff given that their salaries are much higher. Is there a more equitable way? End hypocritical talk about a "knowledge bank" when the reality is that the WB puts none of its own money into research/impact evaluation/knowledge generation. We are overloaded with junior staff doing ex ante/ex post reviews with low or negative value-added, and no VC funding for policy and program research to generate evidence that could truly contribute to our countries' development. As [NAME] said this week, "anyone really interested in understanding how the world works -- in order to make it work better -- has to be humble and learn from experiments, because very often (as with microfinance) our intuitions are wrong." The WB has a critical mass of people with the skills, mindset and credibility with clients to lead such work. But there is no money for it... It is a scandal that almost all of our research is funded by donor trust funds. How can we claim that knowledge is our core business if we don't fund it from our core budget? Bank is trying to development work with a private sector mindset, but private sector mentality is not only doing more with less, it also needs to ensure fairness in the performance evaluation system, less bureaucracy, clearer objectives, more incentives for taking risk. Otherwise, the Bank still has the risk of doing less with inefficient resources. Many. Loosen HR policies to be able to more easily hire and fire people. Too much complacency amongst staff. Put staff resources disproportionately in the field to serve client, not as is currently with us being HQ heavy. Transparency, transparency and transparency. If staff know and understand why "things" happen the way they do, the level of unhappiness will fall dramatically. "Things" includes appointments, promotions, budgets, budget cuts, everything. - 66 - A clear specification of reform objectives and indicators of success. I fear that the way the organization has implemented this "reform" will very likely lead to irreversible damage to the institution. Whereas the institution should have focused attention on "relevance" in a changing global environment, current inward looking directionless reform is likely to set the WBG back and weaken its position in the development world (witness the emergence of the Asian Infrastructure Bank). I could have understood cost cutting as a goal but to mix this up with fuzzy and poorly defined (and measured) ideas of improving knowledge flows and creating a truly global institution has been far from helpful. In fact, where the Bank should have united internally, the tight budgets and fear of job losses has created incentives where different practices are competing with each other! Would be nice to see a results framework for the Bank's reforms similar to those we create for our projects! End the change process and get back to a normal working routine with less churning and bureaucratic requests such as budget, HR constraints, front offices briefing notes, internal BBLs, meetings, etc. Voice reforms to bring more competition in selection process of the WBG presidency selection process and ensure that we remain relevant, especially as other development banks are being created. Aligning budget allocation with work program and effectiveness and an objective approach to evaluating staff with clear consequences for non-performance. Reduce uncertainties: there have been uncertainties about staffing, budget, career, benefits, structure, etc. at the WBG for many years, and they are still persistent. In order for the WBG to continue to be a good workplace, such uncertainties should be reduced. More budget for learning opportunities More interaction between D.C. and Regional offices More investment in data resources Less bureaucracy in decision making Simplify procedures, encourage taking more risks, focus more on business development and implementation quality with budget support. A new president who would focus on delivery to clients, i.e. operational work and ensure necessary budget available. More resources should be provided to operational teams for both analytical and operational (lending) work. Demand for our knowledge products and operational work has been increasing in most regions (if not all), but resources (BB) have been declining when TFs have also been declining. The WBG cannot become a leading development institution in the long run, when we spend less on analytical and operational work. ( in terms of design and implementation support). This will also affect the quality of lending operations and future pipeline... Get us closer to the client. Cost-cutting led to pulling staff from the country offices. Staff needs to be based incountry to be more effective. Bring us closer to the clients. Get back to the main objective of making this an effective multi-disciplinary institution to support development that is broad-based, sustainable, and draws from global professional expertise. This requires: (i) ALL our "global experts" to have had educational and/or work experience in the subject they are dealing with (unfortunately not the case today for most of the "specialist" managers or staff! (ii) Ensure managers are appointed on a theme across the Bank group and not by region as current - now, despite good intentions, v difficult to get a global perspective. (iii) Find a better way to work across the newly emerging GP/CCSA silos to provide clients with integrated solutions especially for related work (e.g. environment, natural resources, water resources, disaster risk, and climate change). (iv) Find ways to encourage innovation relevant for operations (setting up a VPU for it is a good way to kill it!). Make the new Open Learning Campus truly owned by the entire Bank I would put into one system the reports on fund status including allocation and expenditure for every type of activities (investment, advisory services, etc.). Increase the funding for and employ truly technically capable individuals, with proven career and track records, from the outside to increase the depth of talent in the institution. When I joined the Bank many years ago, we had a "bank" of solid, proven, skilled individuals that were called upon continuously to support and deliver, with the regions, extremely valuable advice in the financial field. One by one these individuals left the Bank and very few, if any, were replaced (with the same level of skills and experience). Now the Bank is faced with outsourcing much of its technical need. However consultant rates have never increased and, in fact, have decreased. Management has had the bravado to even ask staff to ask the consultants to willingly take rate cuts. The Bank is gradually suffocating itself by placing dimished value on deep technical talent (in-house) and discouraging (and therefore, cutting) available external resources. - 67 - Although we are still to wait and see the real impact of the recent reorganization until everything settles down, it feels as though every time there is a change the organization becomes top-heavier. There are multiple layers of managers, directors, senior directors and the senior management team, and in addition other control/compliance units (in the regions, GPs and OPCS, etc). A lot of times, it feels like there is one team that really does the work, with ever decreasing resources, while dozen others review, comment and control quality of the team's work (with very high fixed costs). Please look at whether all these fixed costs are justified and make real/practical efforts to make the organization less top-heavy and the resources flow to the ground where they are much needed. I'm a TTL in the field, balancing personal pressures, donors, an extraordinary [NUMBER] layers of management approvals for anything while under INTENSE pressure from a reform-minded government to achieve results quickly, for which I consistently lag behind due to overwhelming and burdensome procedures for procurements, produce draft laws and so on. The integration between IFC and the Bank is causing enormous difficulty - there is a lot of pressure to pretend that IFC staff (often inexperienced in comparison to Bank staff and promoted very quickly to high positions) are "world experts" in a diverse number of areas, whereas they are often too junior to present to Government. In terms of funding, there is a risk that IFC capture funds by free-riding on successful Bank programs in country. The IFC concept of investing in private businesses and then incubating those businesses using donor funds risks the accusation of being a Ponzi scheme. Antitrust legislation in most countries would disallow it. Make the Intranet immensely more user-friendly so that it becomes a valuable resource to all staff. It's no secret that we find our own World Bank documents more easily via an internet search engine (e.g. Google) than we do on the Intranet. That's just plain embarrassing and a waste of valuable knowledge and resources that our institution has - probably hidden somewhere on the Intranet but cannot be found due to an awful interface and search algorithm. There is a constant barrage of too many unknowns in the change process. If all the actions that will take places (from staff cuts to how budgets will be handled etc) are communicated rather than a "we'll tell you as we go along" basis, then we can all accept them / act accordingly and move on to focus on our work. Increase effective support staff and resources and reduce redundant management positions [NUMBER]) Have a competitive selection of the WB President and all Senior Directors. And if I could have two more: [NUMBER]) Get back to transparent budget procedures and budget and portfolio monitoring. It is not acceptable that we manage our projects without having access to the information we need. [NUMBER]) Get rid of the GP silos and organize work in a cross-sectoral manner as was the case before the restructuring. Access to resources relevant to work done. e-library, relevant bulletin membership etc. requirements need to match with resources available Adequate resources to fund work programs to ensure the task team has the required manpower and skill sets to do the work. With the declining budgets and growing work programs, work-life balance is completely missing. If there is a resource constraint, selectivity should be employed to develop a leaner work program across and within units. Streamline and simplify internal decision making process (e.g. on hiring) and provide adequate budget for operational work based on needs. Reform of the GP model is needed. Transaction/coordination costs are extremely hard and coordination/collaboration across GPs is much more costly than it was to work within and across sectors in the past. GP clustering could be a solution. Task budgeting was also preferable to the system used this year, which did not allow managers or teams to monitor the budget adequately. Provide staff with adequate resources to do quality work. Simplify and streamline processes, particularly those associated with project review, project management, and budgeting. Stop handcuffing staff to deliver their work by cutting budgets and creating this aura of job uncertainty that has been ongoing for the past [NUMBER] years. The management information systems are broken from top to bottom. Take your pick: budget system and ops portal, econsult, SAP, TRS. LARS, travel management, all are in different portals, none read from each other, nothing is transparent and intuitive and there is therefore little real "control" system. It is like each system was built individually, with an RM bureaucracy around it designed to frustrate, not to help super-busy TTLs who must do everything for themselves. It's complete madness. - 68 - strengthen operational teams doing work, reduce all of those who look over the shoulder and ensure.....sustainability of only one thing - their own jobs. We are canceling loans because there is no supervision budget, meanwhile we have army of [NUMBER]s looking after milestones. Operational procedures became more confusing and cumbersome, in additional no one including SOS teams knows them. Suggest really simplifying. Greater use of multi-year budgeting for analytical work. The need to start and finish many AAA products within the span of [NUMBER] FY leads to compressed schedules and can be detrimental to quality. The accountability of people needs to change- there needs to be a real focus on their area of work and not a loose reporting line or that no concrete work program is drawn up. There are "projects" in the work plans that are nothing more than a lift conversation with a potential client. There are many loose ends after meetings with clients that no one followed up. People especially GH level and above with budgets are travelling across regions with no real work objectives and are mainly using the chance to enjoy [NUMBER] star hotels and business class travel. They set up meetings with no real deliverables to the client counterparts and repeat this cycle, banking on the reputation of the WBG. Management(setting agendas and allocation of human/financial resources) from seniors officers to achieve the unit's goals. Strong work ethic from staffs Revert the changes since the Wolfenson administration. Revert the mission creep and refocus the institution. Do fewer things and do them better. Transfer staff which are not in core development areas to UN agencies. Improve compensation packages and align them more with the IMF's. Restore the career development path that existed before. Raise educational standards, restoring the share of better educated PhD holders. Stop destructive budget reduction exercises as they are destroying the institution. There is a big disconnect between what the WBG wants to become and the reality on the ground --multiple reforms at the same time not well articulated and not properly supported by the resources needed to achieve their goals. Ensure greater consistency, alignment and sequencing of reforms and messages coming from the budget, HR, strategy and business sides. strengthen the incentives for knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst GPs to provide integrated solutions. Don't let the budget drive the way we operate! Fix the budget processes once and for all! Change the leadership team & the president; or at least hold them accountable for the current situation, where botched, ill-conceived "reforms" have resulted in climate of mistrust, several additional layer of useless management, and where getting work done is increasingly difficult. Retaliatory actions, mere reshuffling for the managerial positions even though external audits identified them as the layer which performed the worst, constant wheeling and dealing among the lower rank staff, to hold on to their jobs, spending their energy on keeping the managers happy instead of being able to do the work for actual benefit of our clients = the new normal? Have a vision for what the Bank should be as an institution in a changing climate which does not consist of pushing money out the door, cutting budget for the sake of cutting budget & making top level's CVs look good for the next job. Vision for this institution, promotions based on merit & true accountability are sorely lacking here now equal treatment in terms of benefits - if others have educational benefits, home leave, viable pension plan, etc., this should be applicable to all especially those who are in the lower ranks who have less resources to pay for education, home leave expenses and other post-retirement needs. Efficient use of resources. Sub Theme: Retention and Recruitment No. of Sub Theme Comments: 34 Give a staff position (or something more stable than STC) to someone who performs at a very high level. When a consultant does an excellent job for one or two years, and managers and TTLs agree that this person adds significant value to the unit/WB, why is it so complicated to recruit this person? Better talent management, especially for those country-office recruited people. - 69 - Consider that the same people that made the WBG less effective, which required a change, are the same ones that are still making the decisions and acting the same way they had done before under a different structure, including who they hire and promote and how much they really or not serve the institution versus focusing solely on their personal stake. It should not take more than [NUMBER] months to hire somebody. Review of remuneration packages between locally and internationally recruited staff needs to be looked into Revert to permanent staff positions coupled with strong performance management, including "up or out" removal of poor performers, and transparent promotions, alongside a coherent career value-proposition to motivate and retain high-performing consultants. The current mix of staff and contract types is a disaster. Managing it drains incredible amounts of line staff time. Staff, even if they are delivering, fret about job security. High-performing consultants see no compelling career track and leave. The incoherence and the inefficiencies of the current system are far and away the number one impediment to making the bank a more effective institution, to attracting, keeping and motivating a world-class group of development professionals and to making a real difference. Please...focus on and fix this! Most everything else will follow. Improve the quality and experience of hired staff. Differentiation between international and locally recruited staff. If at all possible, it may be useful to attempt to improve the WBG's recruitment and retention strategy, especially in situations where junior staff are qualified and motivated to build long term careers at the WBG. It is difficult for a young professional to do long term career planning when all that s/he is offered are short term contracts. This is even more difficult for individuals with families. The issues of salary and benefits between Local Recruited Staff and International Recruited Staff should be addressed. In addition to that, for positions advertised, criteria used to make the final decision should be based note only on the results of the interview, but also include the overall performance of the staff a the last [NUMBER] to [NUMBER] years preceding the interview. Get rid of mediocre and poorly performing Practice Managers and walk the talk of [NAME]. In an open town hall, [NAME] said that Practice Managers were going to be subjected to the same rigorous scrutiny as Sr. Directors and Directors. Clearly this was not the case. My PM is still making the same rookie mistakes, mishandling HR actions, not responding in a timely fashion to institutional reporting requirements, and still only looking out for and rewarding certain men in the unit. Women are definitely marginalized, not to mention disempowered and at times browbeaten over here. Several other PMs within the GP have mediocre reputations. We need to have higher standards for recruitment of front line managers. There must be a better pool of candidates out there. The WBG should stop promoting from within if these people are not up to standard and recruit from outside those people who value and support their front line staff and are genuinely interested in their career development. The separation between Internationally-recruited staff and Locally-recruited staff. Have a benefit package attractive enough to recruit and retain talented mid career professionals to restore WB human capital as its best assets and appoint managers who are technically competent. To treat all staff whether locally recruited or internationally recruited as one staff. Abolish the distinction between local and international staff, and instead use the distinction between local and international jobs. Some "locally hired" staff are working across countries and regions, while some "international" staff rarely leaves [Duty City]. The term "local staff" is stigmatizing, and often just inadequate. The distinction is divisive, and as such against the principle of inclusion. Difference in treatment between a Locally recruited staff and the international staff of the same level The promotions are still not transparent and fair. Not sure it based on merit. When a job/vacancy is posted, it is already for someone. Unfortunately you cannot report by fear of retaliation. Differential treatment to locally recruited and international staff. Not strict to minimum academic requirement for GE to GF level, but be flexible to employ an experienced professional with lower academic background. Remove the basic difference between internationally recruited and locally recruited staff. Many local staff have significant management skills which is under-utilized. - 70 - Bring in the change gradually, not all at once. Also (I know it's two things), eliminate the STC/ETC system and simply hire people normally. Get rid off cost reduction. Open more doors to recruit young and mid-career external talents. regards staff according to their work contribution without differences in the lines of national and international recruited staff. In [Duty Country] country office, if the pay is competitive enough with the leading private sector pay, that will be of great retaining attraction for the staff. To move the "One bank one staff"statement from slogan to reality. Benefit for locally recruited staff need to be enhanced including children education support Competitive recruitment of senior management. Only one thing? There are many: - eliminate the expenditure review - ensure that the best and not the cheapest consultants can be hired - make sure that safeguard staff is responsive to operational teams - replace procys by something that really works - etc. etc. Not limit recruitment to Ivy League Schools --- the best candidates are not always found there. Hire more PhDs than MBAs The disparity and inequality between locally recruited and internally recruited staff Here are [NUMBER] things: - Create a large cadre of junior staff to act as analysts -- we spend far too much time in rotating through STCs to fill this role, as JPAs have always been too scarce. Plus the STC system is often exploitative. Perhaps the new analyst recruitment program will help, but it needs to be large enough. - Legitimately tie compensation to performance. How many people have been told by their managers that they had outstanding performance but couldn't get a top rating this year because they got one last year, and the manager has many excellent performers so has to alternate who gets rewarded over time? Not only is this demoralizing, it is absurd and creates perverse incentives. - Actually move forward on changing the term contract situation introduce genuinely uniform and transparent HR system assuring that there are no differences between locally and HQ recruited/based staff Equal treatment of locally and internationally recruited staff. Provide the same opportunities and comparable benefits to locally recruited and internationally recruited staff. Sub Theme: Staffing Levels No. of Sub Theme Comments: 20 One of the key roles of managers should be to help staff develop their technical and operational skills to enhance their career internally. In the Bank, many staff feel that they are on their own and usually get very little support and guidance from their managers to build their career and move forward. end the uncertainties surrounding staffing Continuous staff development and ensure most staff are on Open Ended appoinments... Decentralize more staff More incentives to collaborate between staff levels and less reliance on hierarchy to determine leadership roles. Give equal benefits and opportunities to ALL levels of staff. Have more staff at GF and GG levels (particularly in operational front line units) and fewer Managers, Coordinators, Advisors, Program Leaders and all the other new names and titles that we have invented for people (often without clear terms of reference). Add more staff to support the demands of the job Less people in HQ and more people working in the field/regions. Less people to review and comment and more people at the front line of operations. - 71 - Simplify! This was supposed to be one objective of the reorganization - but so far it appears that we have created even more departments, more procedural layers, more management positions. The overall impression of many staff seem to be that "it's still a mess and management should just get on with it". It is almost as if the WB is having an identity crisis. Too many mandates, too few staff doing real work. Too little support and too many high-level positions. If savings are needed, why not cut some H-level or higher positions rather than e.g. creating dubious roles for so-called "advisors" ?! Reduce the number of staff currently on short-term contracts The World Bank has too many "leads" (non-managerial GH level staff) who take on quasi managerial responsibilities and do not do much. The bulk of the work is done by GF+GG levels and by consultants. There is to streamline this level of staff as they do not add much value and also a need for clearer responsibilities for all existing. It would be part of the integrity of the organization to ensure staff who have committed their time and life at the Bank remain on as per their contract, if open ended they have planned a future based on that employment and the staffing could ensure that these staff are kept within the organisation. Even though honesty is an important issue at the Bank, in some complicated matters with some colleagues, I have seen certain reluctance to say things straight forward, and give opportunities and time to re-address problems. Another example of certain lack of honesty at the Bank is the case of reducing personnel, and not saying it as it is in the present case of the new 'Global Practices' policies. Employ adequate cross-cutting staff at CO more front line staff, fewer back office processes and administrative monsters, fewer systems that duplicate each other, more focus on our CLIENTS! Reduce STC/ETC contracts for consultants working full-time, and encourage more staff hiring More people on the field rather than HQ Having more technical staff in Country Offices. Theme: Learning and Career Development Sub Theme: No. of Comments: Career Development 243 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 166 Inclusion and the Evaluation Performance. Better define the career path for consultants. Improve possibilities for technical career advancement -- still excessively limited options. To provide to staff in CO an opportunity to work across the globe and get knowledge and experience. Currently I do not understand how I can get to this and who the person to contact and get feasible solution is. I noted that career Hire managers who understand management rather than technocrats concerned only without their own advancement and pleasing up. I think the WBG should give more opportunities to its Extended Term Consultants to be staffed, in accordance with a good performance while consultant. Diversity and fair representation remains a matter of significance, especially at Senior Management level and in some Regions. Within Regions, we should look at specific countries representation. Also, as the Bank continues to outsource its services, there is a need to ensure they are equitably shared amongst client countries. With technological advancement across the world, there is little justification to continue looking to [Duty Country] alone as the preferred location of outsourced services. Many other countries have, with our support, developed capability that we could use effectively - promoting equal employment opportunity. Make the career advancement more predictable, structured in line with performance, education and length of service Promote the current ACS career development intervention. Assess the current skills and talents to fit and contribute to the overall goals of the WBG. Appoint and promote staff who have strong academic qualifications and/or real-life experience in the respective Global Practice (not just the staff who speak eloquently or socialize cleverly). - 72 - Create greater equity between managers and staff in terms of accountability. Management decisions often appear to be self-interested and at times as "working the system". Staff are too busy getting on with the "real" work to invest the time in promoting their career advancement within the institution. Managers seem to advance quickly, while staff languish. Improve career development opportunities for staff -- get rid of [NUMBER]-[NUMBER]-[NUMBER] -- operate more like a private sector -- reduce barriers to entry / exit Fair and tough performance assessment and deal effectively with low performance. Hiring practices and promotions based on merit and technical substance will fix the majority of the issues. It does not take much intelligence to see that people promote their buddies! Better career development for staff either on the field or at the HQ. more opportunities for getting a permanent job with the WBG (such as opened ended contract) Promote people as Managers who have high academic qualifications as well as outstanding people's skill. Creating objective career developments and facilitating career aspirations of staff I would like to establish a system for a new secondment arrangement. Too many GPs and CCSAs - the structure should be simple for collaborative work. KISS - keep it simple.... Second, we have kept bad managers and promoted bad managers in this change. If you had good managers now, you would not be languishing taking 'strategic staffing' decisions despite spending months on this issue! How many VPs and Senior Directors do you need to get the job done? It is top-heavy and still there is no accountability at the top! Third, there is usually one or two junior staff writing a document and [NUMBER]+ senior managers sitting around commenting till the cows come home. Where were these managers when the junior staff was writing the document - why didn't they guide him then? Why have Review Meetings if managers had done their job instead of pontificating at a last stage of finalization of the document. clear and equitable hiring and career progression structures A specific development career plan for each staff. Work assignments, hiring and promotions should all be more transparent and based on objective criteria. The cronyism has become worse in a situation of uncertainty. I would invest , truly, in talent management. Increasingly, the WBG group is not seen as a place that invests in young talent and is not seen as a competitive place to work in terms of career development. Open career opportunities for seasoned ACS staff in operations. Clear career paths... Encourage young staff to learn. Avoid turf battles between gps (have escalated since new structure in place). I would ensure more avenues for young talent to be recognized and promoted, in order to infuse the institution with innovative thinking. clear career ladder, example: what to do to move to GF from GE. I have been in GE for [NUMBER] years. another friend is on GE for more than [NUMBER] years ?!?!? Promote meritocracy, not mediocrity. There is an urgent need to create a sound performance based career growth structure for operational staff which will significantly improve quality of output, motivate staff to continuously upgrade their knowledge and skills while ushering in healthy competitive environment through self induced professionalism, and will instill confidence in our Borrowers that our institution is best endowed globally to deliver high quality products. - 73 - [NAME] (GP[NUMBER]) should not advise staff at a retreat that coming to the WB each day makes her sick. She has ben promoted to lead and she should implement change rather than just be a critic behind closed doors. So much nepotism now in the Bank - anyone with dignity would not want to be professionally stained by seeking promotion in this climate of cronyism. Lousy miserable place to work where many at senior levels kowtow to the highest levels of management abut then openly express disdain when in personal circles. [NAME] has completely lost the plot. Surrounded himself by ambitious, self-serving incompetents. [NAME] has more experience in US and globally with failed changed management than any other firm. What a sad organization WB now is led by narcissism and egos. Enhancement of TTLs people management skills and promotion of an environment that encourages staff to give in their best contribution without being stifled. provide more advice and opportunities for career advancement. I would give more opportunities to program assistants and prepare them more for future positions instead of giving opportunities to new comers. Reduce nepotism and protection Meritocracy. Make sure the best - and not the most connected - get the best positions within the institution. Balancing teams. It seems that many teams at the Bank are only the TTL and one other person usually a STC, and ETC or a JPA that have to deal with all the job. There are probably more TTLs than teams to support them. With this inverted pyramid it is very hard to operate and produce expected results. Put in place real career management to enable the institution to help place people according to their skills and merit. The current competitive system enables Management absolve themselves of responsibility for outcomes in terms of staff growth and mentoring. It also lends itself to manipulation as more senior assignments are often won through informal lobbying, rather than rigorous assessments of timing of moves, skills, career fit, and above all, merit. Increase opportunities for rotation of CO staff Promotion of communication channel among GPs as well as the WBG Provide fair opportunities and working conditions for STC staff who are critical in delivering our results. We can't use them but provide nothing in return Greater career development and salary opportunities. Transparency on recruitments and systematic way of providing career development guidance and helping to identify career path not only focusing on GF+ staff but also to junior staff, ACS etc. Including career development plan for ACS - beyond ACS network Better career path for promising staff - the current system favours the old (regardless of their performance), high performers don't get promoted (they just get more work) and [NUMBER] year olds are considered too junior to be promoted when their peers run the corporate world. Have a career track based on my merits. Staff placement and promotions being carried out in a nebulous fashion. The sooner this method is demolished and replaced with a robust, transparent system based on objective track record of skills, competencies and actual results achieved, the better it would be for the staff morale and the sustainability of the Bank and its superiority among the peers engaged in the challenging task of alleviating poverty, at a global level. Promotion from GG to GH. Managers should be hired based on their proven ability to manage people and not as a measure for career advancement for technical staff. We were told there would be a culture change, but [NUMBER]% of managers were retained, so what change in culture can be expected? Eradicate nepotism and favoritism. Appoint managers/leaders who possess people management skills more opportunities for carrier development - 74 - Require managers to actively support their staff with career development and evaluate this explicitly carreer adjustment: comparison between folks based on year of entry, ope rating and current level with others. Move from Term to open Contract after [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] years Offer more opportunities for WBG staff collaboration across regions; e.g.: become global staff for development . If promotions and SRI were based on performance, as opposed to networking ability and reversing the salary band changes that only benefits H+ plus staff. The message is loud and clear--reform for the benefit of the well connected and few. Very demotivating. Evaluate the person based on how she performs and delivers her responsibilities rather than using other ---streamline career advancement Improve career opportunities for junior professionals. The distinction between HQ staff and CO staff remains bold. More development opportunities should be available for CO staff. Create more equality in staff job conditions. It is not possible that a large percent of the staff works under term contracts, even though many of them have spent years at the Bank already. It creates a type of "second class citizens" in the Bank who work as hard as everybody else without enjoying the same benefits. They are also vulnerable and less likely to report issues for fear of not getting their contract renew. They life may depend on that term contract: visas, family and career plans, livelihoods, etc. I am proud of my work at the Bank but I am not proud of the bureaucratic institution that creates these inequalities. I believe in our work of helping the poorest of the poor worldwide but it is demoralizing that what we preach outside is not practice at home. I did not evaluate the Senior managers because as a ET, I am not even in the VP e-mail list. So I don't know them enough or have criteria to evaluate them. Ask for evaluation from the beneficiaries on the ground. I noticed most of the time the main goal of the WB is reduce the poverty , but the poverty is increased more and more in spite we disburse a huge money. Give opportunity of growth to ACS colleagues with education. the way people are promoted Improve career development opportunities particularly for young staff--particularly in the current context of institutional change, insufficient consideration has been given for growth and development of junior staff (particularly those in ETC positions). clearer career development Please provide a proper career ladder that allows everyone to progress and grow! Currently, it feels like there are very few options. Talent management needs to be improved much more: Being able to get rid of clearly bad performers, and placing the good ones in positions where they can really fully deploy their skills, is something still missing. The policy of having staff of first class and second class (ETCs or staff without benefits) is not good. Using STCs during in the long term for doing staff tasks is regrettable. For a more efficient organization management should spend more time and do a better job on talent management. Secure staff career, promote continuous capacity building nepotism and cronyism incentives for career path More career development opportunities for country office staff. I would establish a reasonable career development and management system which would be based on performance, fairness, transparency and strategic vision. Make HR decisions transparent and unified across the whole WBG. I think that there is a generalized sense that career advancement, hiring decision, etc strongly depend on a particular manager's preferences and that not everybody is treated consistently across the WBG. This often affects morale, commitment, etc. There's an imperative need to re-evaluate the career development approaches. Promotion and progressions should be based on meritocracy basis and not on the employees' networking skills. Career progression from Job grade GE to GF has its challenges which needs to be addressed. Open up clearer avenues for lower level positions, not just professional ones. - 75 - I would change middle managers (such as Program Leaders in country offices) adverse influence on annual performance evaluations (OPEs). OPEs should be left to practice managers. When these mid-level managers create conflicts with local staffs, it is easy for them to retaliate through their strong cloud they have on staff OPEs. I would also examine and institute zero tolerance policy for religious favoritism and predisposition when promoting staff and providing advice to governments by the part of these program leaders at country offices. Also, program leaders are like deputy country directors and they should take cautions when communicating and interacting with local people at mosques or at any places for that matter. Select managers who also are good leaders. When managers are drained in protecting their jobs and feeding their career development, it creates a very vulnerable and non-conducive environment for the staff. RVPs, country directors and practice managers should not be hired in regions or countries of their origin. Streamline and reduce internal reviews. Make career and promotions objective and transparent. Career development should be more closely linked to the impact of our work on the ground. To ensure diversity and inclusion and fair and transparent way of career advancement and talent management. The WBG is increasingly becoming like developing countries where "upward mobility" is based on "whom you know" and not what you know or do! Career progression and open contracts Career development through country cross support engagement. Improvement in terms of equity of opportunity for all especially the country office staff ( there should be no IRS and LRS bot one staff). Career visibility To secure employees' professional career development Lack of fairness and integrity from some of our managers. There is too much cronyism. Career development and mentorship - these do not exist right now Career growth opportunity for ACS staff. You have put in place a bunch of dishonest managers who practice nepotism, are power-hungry, arrogant and really do not give a [*@:!] about the poor, but their own pockets, prestige and salary of being at the Bank. .- make it easier for staff to take risks and do innovative work - introduce provisions for career growth in technical streams Invest into skill set to allow better career opportunities and allow movement. Better opportunities for career advancement in technical areas. Highly qualified and experienced technical experts should not have to give up a technical career path and become a program coordinator, sector leader, portfolio reviewer, etc., to be promoted, especially from G to H level. Reduce the number of non-perfoming GH level staff and promote younger staff faster. Introduce mandatory annual evaluation of all institutional reforms followed by full disclosure of results achieved (following same criteria as for WB projects), lessons learnt, results achieved, $$ amounts wasted on bad design/implementation, staff/TTLs responsible for those results, and follow-up actions (including personnel actions). Change the YP dominated culture and management structure, and provide mid-career staff with more career advancement opportunities and fairly Promote and develop personal commitment. Clearer career development Move away from the broad-banding of level GG, to split it into two levels (like the old Senior and Principal). I'm GH, but I do not think the current system serves the institution well, because there is too little opportunity for meaningful progression for many GG staff. Splitting GG would have some cost, but there would also be offsetting cost reductions, because it would reduce the need for promotions to GH. Transparent career progression. Make a clear career progression path from grade GE to GF that is applicable to all, not only to staff who are good friends with the manager. Provide more attractive career advancement opportunities, particularly ones that do not involve becoming internal bureaucracy managers as one move up beyond the TTL role. professional opportunities for GP staff in country offices similar to peers in headquarter - 76 - develop clear paths for career growth More opportunities in term of promotions for G-C level The broad banded staff structure. A GG once, a GG forever-- takes away motivation and drive. Merit promotions should be applied at all grades. Use of more balanced use ot academic and on the job experience criteria for promotions and qualifications for promotions. I would encourage taking risks and to perform and discourage underperformance. If necessary underperforming staff should have the opportunity to leave. Career development for ACS staff who got higher degrees, good experience. More chances for ACS Career development Fair performance assessment Opportunities for those who have worked in difficult field stations and on challenging projects/ tasks to work in HQ. There are hardly any openings coming in HQs and most of those appear to be pre-decided. Many staff in HQs continue to stay there for years and get promotions without really having experienced the tough end of the Bank's work. This is very demotivating for others who also would like to have an opportunity to work in HQs or better stations. professional opportunities for young people Better system to realize staff career aspirations Break down the culture of academic superiority and replace it with an open meritocracy. Often international officers have their own agenda to advance heir career, they corporate with field staff just for the sake of their advantage, in the end, it is field staff and international staff are really in different caste Effectively support career development for staff More space for personal improvement. Move back to open ended contracts to be really attractive and competitive Have greater support and development opportunities for young professional staff. I will have a ladder for promotion for staffs regardless of their level not on a business needs. Thoughtful and purposeful career development through the work program where there is potential. In reality, it is a fend for yourself environment if you want develop professionally, diversify regional experience or deepen knowledge. Increase open ended contracts. A better career path for young people Institutionalize staff rotation and career development. Fairness in career opportunities ensure people with career prospects. in other work, reduce the uncertainty of career prospects Better defined career paths, with more objective criteria for promotion/recruitment requirements. Fair opportunity to staff who are capable. Currently with all of the reform efforts that have dragged on and the level of uncertainty created, the WB feels a bit like a sinking ship. I would quickly implement the remaining actions and try to get things back to a normal pace as quickly as possible so people are motivated and have clarity on where the WB is headed and what it means in terms of jobs and opportunities. Show the same respect and opportunities for career development to all categories of staff; Do not come with externally-fabricated solutions and apply them blindly at the World Bank OPE and promotion should be fairly considered with work performance. This would encourage staff performing better and better. Better opportunity to select the topics you can work on. A lot of this is frustrated by personal conflicts or sometimes luck Equal opportunity career development. ONE World Bank and NO second class staff. Improve career perspectives for employees, because lack of perspectives undermines motivation - 77 - To provide more staff opportunities for F level people. Regularly looking at the Jobs portal, I believe there are limited amounts of job openings for F level staff, relative to the very huge need and the fact that traditional forms of employing people at this level (ETCs, high-performing JPAs) are being phased out all together. Even relying on STCs does not seem to be an option given the new changes in G[NUMBER] visa restrictions and the new Analyst Program will hire a limited amount of individuals who will be rotated on a year-by-year basis. I sometimes wonder how units will be able to deliver if more people in the young professional age bracket are not able to be hired. I think the institution spends a lot of time investing in its young people. Having invested in them, it would be great if more options could exist for those who want to stay -- especially when there is a strong business case for them to remain. We should have clearer career development goals for young people (not just for the YPs). Staff should be made more accountable for his/her outputs and those who do not produce outputs should be laid off. It is extremely demotivating to see very poor performing staff are not penalized, or even get promoted. WBG should maximize its institutional memory and provide better avenues for career progress not only to staff but also to consultants. I've been working with the bank for [NUMBER] years as part of a small team that has been able to establish a solid product. Yet, it has been almost impossible to get stability through a staff position and I have to deal with the uncertainty of not knowing if I will be able to get in a career path that would allow me the proper advancement. facilitate an environment where difficult cases are dealt with - where underperforming staff is not promoted or moved across regions/sectors/sent on telecommuting arrangements. Hopefully staff have good opportunity for career development. I have a great motivation and passion to work in the development institution, but managers only think their position and never think about staff career development. I do not think managers' behavior have changed. However, comparing to the previous era, the behavior of managers are slightly changed. I can tell around [NUMBER]% to [NUMBER]%. But please keep in mind that it is not completely changed. Staff get promotion if there is a support from top management regardless to their skills, knowledge. Without support from management, although staff have the skills, knowledges, they have difficulty to move to the next level. They are still subjective review on staff performance. Who do you know is important than what your skills and knowledges are? I am still optimistic to work under a good manager. I am continuing working hard to deliver the best result in my current job and for the WB's goal, ending poverty. God bless Performance evaluation and staff motivation. There should be more opportunities to advance career based on merit less based on political appointments of some sort. And there should be more opportunities for advancement for staff with technical skills working on knowledge generation and dissemination as opposed to pure lending activities Merit-based hiring and promotion A fair OPE system that provides career advancement STC appointments are exploitative. Start treating STCs with dignity! The WBG should walk the line when it comes to labor practices. STCs deserve a career path, just like other appointment types. Put more emphasis on walking the walk rather than talking the talk in evaluations. Fair treatment of all individuals and promotions and career advancement based on merit and performance A clear career growth path for its professional staff opportunity for all regardless of grades more career advancement opportunities for all levels The management should consider internal talented staff promotion on the operational work (especially from ACS staff). Management positions and promotions assigned based on merit. Reduction of Management layers and bureaucracy The senior leadership team - we don't need overambitious career types who see the WBG as means for personal advancement, but solid, dedicated development professionals with a track record in management and administration. I wish we could get someone in the SMT who really sees her / his job as public servant, and who serves with humility, respect for the Bank's human capital, and real understanding of both the complexities of development work, and the Bank as an institution. It's nice to have Bono talk in teh Atrium, but leadership really needs to go beyond smooth talking and glitzy events. This is my personal message to JYK and the GP VPs ;) Lobbying as an effective way to get promoted. That practice shouldn't exist but is farly common in this institution. - 78 - .- Very short contracts are big issue for staff who want to do good career in WBG Introduce a true meritocracy system so that staff who are not competent to do their work to be elimiated--leaving them to take advantage of the system failure demotivated other staff who work hard and bring the results. Better opportunity for career growth. Usually one has to already be qualified to advance, they cannot build qualifications at the WB. Career development fair and equal opportunities for all - including for those from developing countries who have disadvantages vis-a-vis those from western europe, north america, and [Duty Country] promotions must be merit and performance based - as opposed to being nice to managers Carrier opportunities. People without a PhD cannot growth in the WBG. Due to certain types of contracts and their limitations, the Bank is not retaining talents and good people are leaving to other work places very upset. The Bank should be able to provide young people with real professional opportunities to achieve their career goals. Improve opportunities for younger staff to allow them to grow within the organization I would offer more long term years of service...., the one, two or three is good but not good enough for self development Provide consultants, who do the same level of work as staff in many instances, the same benefits and opportunities. Define clear career path for technical staffs Provide more opportunities for staff to try new things at work WBG needs to start paying attention to better treating and nurturing its young staff or, more often, consultants. The most passionate, able international development young professionals I know never enter, or soon leave, WBG. Why? [NUMBER]. Foundations, NGOs, start-ups offer much more innovative, substantive, and impactful work for those who actually care about making impact for the poor individual. [NUMBER]. Young consultants are treated like slaves. STCs literally work for free after [NUMBER] days, and fear being kicked out of the country under the new visa enforcements. Even ETCs face no clear career progression options. Funny enough, young consultants actually do the real work at WBG. Unless WBG acts, it will have no good people to lead it in the years to come. Though there is some progress, but I would like to see more of hiring at the entry level and with strong career development/management, staff at all levels could upgrade their skills and grow in the institutions. Sub Theme: Training No. of Sub Theme Comments: 77 More stability in contracts for young professionals. Better career opportunities for STCs who do the same work as staff and do not get compensated equally. A built-in learning plan for all employees. Improve my skills so that I can be more effective to FM GP and the whole team. Most staff are on term-contracts, and many more are on consultant contracts but consider the WBG their career. Without commitment from the employer, it is hard for individuals to plan for their long term career. The recent reform has reshuffled the structure of the WBG (and procedures and many others), without commenting further on the reform which has already caused other concerns and business disruption, no clear progress has been made on the issue that really touch upon stuff's personal development. Strong on-boarding program for new staff (also out of HQ) Increase opportunities for language training for ETCs a more formalized mentorship program for young staff Seeing Managers either trained to improve their personal management skills or being removed from management career path (or moved to technical path) Develop for each staff a learning plan to increase his/her skills and develop career .- I am delighted if I can get additional learning opportunities to enhance skills and to perform better by applying all the knowledge gained in these training courses and learning. - Salary is not competitive in comparison with UN, other development partners and donors. - It should be eliminated reduction strategy staff plan due to inefficient staffs and it is needed to hire outsources. Cross-learning and effective use of available knowledge within the organization - 79 - Training programs and BBLs are organized thinking in [Duty City]'s staff and the CO staff has less opportunity to participate it. More opportunities for field office staff in terms of training. It is important to give opportunity to WBG staff to have an external training The WBG should assist develop more on the capacity of staff to enhance better performance. Put much more emphasis on leadership skills and people managerial skills before people/staff are appointed in leadership positions. Offer personal growth training similar to the ones IFC offers on leadership, etc to help speed up the behavioral transition to a more collaborative and sharing environment. provide staff the same chances in the unit in regard to equal learning and career progression opportunities, and be innovative through staff exchange programs to allow staff gain experience of working in other regions have more training options and have time to get these training, conferences and workshops on topics related to my activity Transparency, accountability, and better opportunities for learning and advancement for younger staff/employees More training in other languages than English only. ([NUMBER]) Inclusive and transparent selection process for Practice Mangers by providing opportunities for "new" professionals from outside, not only moving the existing managers from one region to another. ([NUMBER]) inclusive strategic staffing based on professional and thematic areas of experience; ([NUMBER]) opportunities for global cross support; not only in one region, at the minimum two regions; ([NUMBER]) systematic carrer development and training opportunities. Finally, clear definition of roles and responsibilities specifically on safeguards by avoiding conflict of interest. Those in country offices should have more access to some of the training programs which staff at the Headquarters have access to. Change culture of celebrating taking projects to board (and MOUs based on projects) and too many reviewers, to programmatic skills of development practitioners , that require decentralized staff and decision making create real/hard incentives for collaboration across GPs/regions and cross-support (both side); provide better safety measures when in the field; provide orientation on country/culture for first time mission; encourage culture of mentorship and effective information sharing (across GPs too); provide better learning opportunities for staff to keep their business and academic skills at the top of the game (classes with reputable schools and academic summer camps, money for training/seminar/conference participation); revise language training so it actually is a tailored program that responds to the reality of staff travel; review the contract with AMEX or maybe the number of AMEX staff responsible since being on hold between [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] minutes each time becomes expensive when calling from outside of the country (and expensive in terms of time wasted too) provide more learning and promotion opportunities for country office staff. Treating CO staff and HQ staff equally in terms of : work programs, carreer development, training, salaries, benefits, compensation packages etc. Identify, grow and invest in genuinely better managers, who: [NUMBER]. Have less ego – the world will not and should not stop spinning if they’re gone! It shouldn’t be about A or B person, as we’re all here to serve a greater purpose. [NUMBER]. Employ fairer and more respectful approach towards everybody, in particular when it comes to professional development—offer a transparent and structured process/resources for each and every one based on merits. [NUMBER]. Enjoy key managerial skills to manage people and processes – walk the talk! [NUMBER]. Embrace humbleness, empathy, and true leadership qualities. Empower staff in the field offices, provide more career and personal development opportunities for the field staff I would maintain rigorously in the training of the different internal systems shortly after recruiting. My training was poorly organised when I was in [Duty City] and then it has been costly when I am in the field. Everything is at manager's discretion, even the basic training that an employee is entitled to receive has to be approved by the manager, and he/she may accept or deny. Professional development training should be handled by the HR, and everyone should be allowed to attend the basic training, and it should not be at the manager's discretion to approve/reject the request Improve transparency of decision making; genuine consultation with staff; hire managers with people skills; improve recognition for great work - 80 - carreer path for results professionals clarify link between knowledge and learning and operations equalize term and open ended staff Increase focus on staff learning and career advancement More investment in staff technical skills and career development to maximize staff potential to achieve the WBG goals. I think the Bank needs to come up with a better way of providing training programs to the CO staff. It seems like the CO staff are treated as a "second choice" when it comes to a training programs delivery. mandatory inter-cultural learning I would promote personal and professional development that is increasingly based on technical-know-how rather than technical-know-who and related to this issue, I would strongly review management performance towards ensuring that there is acceptable levels of diversity and inclusion with regard to race and ethnic where there are staff that are capable and have proven so. Thank you. More learning/knowledge opportunities. Better career development for young staff (i.e. trainings, mentorship, rotations, moving away from STC as entry point, etc.) Stronger and clearer career pathways. Better trained management Changes are done with the management that got us into this situation. A new management is needed. Training for managers to understand what it is to "manage' staff is needed. Ensure all staff to work across country, regions, sectors, Ensure [NUMBER]% mandatory time off for learning Ensure Bank projects deliver integrated poverty impact on a region rather than mono-sector based one Ensure stronger quality quality enhancement review of projects to ensure that Bank's core objectives are being addressed optimally, innovative, collaboratively rather than in the old, sector focused. HR should act as a strategic coach to staff. Us staff in front line operations, see HR as completely useless and show up at interviews to ask stupid questions like, "if you were an animal, what animal would you be". I wish we had a real HR unit when if tough decisions have to be made, make them. Right now, I talk with colleagues to try and get a sense of what kind of experience it's good to have (e.g., should I do an ICR, or should I work in a different region, what is better for career development). HR should be helping with some of these types of things. Instead, I'm my own HR officer and I speak with more senior and experienced colleagues to get a sense of what how to get involved in a P[NUMBER]R operation outside of my "home" region, what role to play in regional AAAs, etc. Also, did we really have to do away with the old pension, can't we get rid of superfluous people and services and keep the old pension plan. improved access of the CO staff in learning events/activities Practice Managers should be based in the region and have more frequent interaction with field level staff which will give him/her better understanding of team dynamics. More practical steps to improve team work and intersectoral dynamics such as engaging professional coaches for mentoring and assessing performance on these parameters. Parity among internationally and locally-recruited staff with respect to professional development, compensation, and basic respect. Create fairer conditions for HQ STCs and ETCs - both are treated as full staff members when it comes to doing work but not when it comes to benefits, learning/personal development, and especially not when it comes to job security. Good managers with strong technical and personal skills Better align learning and networking support to country offices Professional development is really lacking here. There seems to be reverse ageism against younger employees. I am leaving the Bank because I think I would be [NUMBER] before I was in a leadership position. One example, JPAs (I am not a JPA) cannot complete the last step in the training to become a TTL. If this is truly a professional development track position, this is absurd. - 81 - [NUMBER]. Provide young STCs and ETCs who are using this position to develop a career at the WB with a formal career plan, learning opportunities, and some direction and actual (as opposed to just soft skills) opportunities to become staff and move upwards. [NUMBER]. Please hire better local staff in the [Duty Country] office - too many individuals whoa re here through referrals and are more about assuaging egos than actual work competence and intelligence. Better career stream, support, and training for younger professionals. Staff have a clear sense of his/her career development opportunity and management support to develop skills and acquire work experience to advance his/her career. Managers are often promoted up from technical levels, but management is an entirely different skill set. Too often, managers are picked on the basis of their accomplishments as technical staff. Managers need to be evaluated on how effectively they can manage people and lead teams, and receive ample training in these areas if they are weak. Introduce a special experience sharing program for local country office staff or let them to join implementation support missions of similar projects in other countries. Organize every year at least one F[NUMBER]F training or capacity building event for GP staff. I would increase the learning opportunities available to staff at GF levels and below, and increase the training opportunities at these levels to focus on skills development. Increase accountability, together with support system (mentoring, training, coaching, feedback, etc). Improve management skills for managers and provide incentives for managers to collaborate. Behaviour such as managers back-talking other managers to staff must be dealt with in an effective manner. Involvement of staff in management conflicts is unethical and unprofessional. Improve motivation, rewards and career planning. Allow for promotion in place. SRIs are not linked to the qualitative assessments in the OPEs and managers are quick to tell you why you can't be promoted from GG to GH unless you apply for a job that makes little or no use of your specialized skills, training and experience. .- the creation of a podcasting tool to download and see off line events , workshop, training courses while on travel. - a percentage of compensation based on individual & unit performance to fuel the overall clients orientation More professional development and hands-on practice. More and better learning opportunities for CO-based staff Improved learning and staff professional and career development, enhanced mobility for locally recruited, country office staff. Will allocate mandatory time for professional training and improve the LMS learning platform with updated courses . Top rated courses should be available on line as well as face to face modalities. Provide business class air ticket when travel time is longer than [NUMBER] hours regardless of the purpose (operation or training/conference) in order for the staff to be physically healthy for the activities they are going to take. The New Global Practice Model is still not encouraging or providing clear path for staff to work really globally as the vast majority of staff in our Practice remain completely tied with regional work programs and managers do not seem incentivised to actively seek out truly global opportunities which would both provide better service to clients (though cross regional learning and experience sharing) and career development and enriching experiences for staff. Value more country office Staff contributions and provide more support or focus on their career goals(especially Bank operation and procedures) and training for the country office staff in order to increase their confidence technically and professionally. They are the frontline for the clients and they are the face of the World Bank staff in each country. Improving their technical skills will help WB investment in the country. Eventually, contribute to reducing poverty in the World. World Bank in the best position and has power to change and make individual country a better workplace wherever there is World bank presence. [NUMBER]. Open ended contracts as opposed to fixed term contracts that are subject to somewhat arbitrary and short-sighted renewal/termination decisions. [NUMBER]. Better systems to develop technical skills and clearer incentives to follow technical stream as opposed to managerial stream. [NUMBER]. More freedom and incentives to collaborate across GPs and regions. - 82 - Create opportunities for more junior staff to grow within the organization by leaving space for them to grow (vs. top heavy pyramid) and creating adequate on the job training I would make career development, learning and knowledge exchange a more integral part of working at the World Bank. This means mandatory classes and certifications in one's technical field that are concretely supported by management and incentivised through real means such as [NUMBER]% of work dedicated towards these classes and budget allocations. This is especially important for entry-level professionals who come to the Bank hoping not just to perform well in their post, but to also learn and enrich their academic training with real-life experience. The learning process also needs to ensure that individuals are at the highest of their markets and do not just become good at being World Bank employees. I would make the remuneration equitable between country offices and [Duty City] for the roles that perform the same function. Provide training on courtesy and respect -- highlighting what is acceptable in interactions with colleagues and the client. I would ensure that career development includes all grade levels. For example, operations assistants working in operations should have more opportunities for career advancement. There should be an operations scheme for this group of staff that allows career advancement by receiving on-the-job-training to further improve specialized operations skills gained while working in operations. Senior Management should be trained and systems should be put in place to motivate staff. This aspect is completely broken right now. The GPs need to start paying attention to learning. After the dismantling of the thematic units of WBI many GPs are not taking up the responsibility to keep client learning alive. This is a huge reputational risk for the WB and should be addressed asap. We are at direct risk of losing all investment we made in our learning programs before FY [NUMBER] if there is no money to continue them beyond FY[NUMBER]. The WB could make an enormous impact if the GPVP mandated all GPs to keep and expand client learning. So far I have not seen any commitment from my management to do this. Inculcate a multi-disciplinary team-based culture, where standards of program design and analytical work are ever higher, where policy advice is expected to be based on evidence, learning, and careful (logical) thought, and where debate is truly welcome. This requires rewarding people for standing up and not merely for being popular or smooth in meetings. I would provide the TTLs with hands on training in the fiduciary aspects of supervising projects. That's our bread and butter. Further transparency is needed among managers in terms of how work programs are assigned, how select staff are brought into mtgs and into privileged situations with greater visibility & exposure to senior mgmt, and generally how staff can develop professionally when not in a program such as YPs or access to many exciting, interesting opportunities in the WBG that unfortunately require connections to Sr managers that many of us may not have. Daily motivation at work in an environment of insufficient transparency and managers without well-developed people mgmt skills becomes challenging at times. That said, the WBG remains an amazing place to work with an incredible mission and mandate. Stop the change process. The whole approach to the change has been ineffective, lots of unintended consequences, and there is no ownership. This is a case study of how not to do change. A disaster Theme: Sub Theme: Recognition and Reward No. of Comments: Reward 221 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 103 more incentive for performance Better management training and incentive structure for staff (tying pay and promotion speed to performance, not seniority). Schizophrenia between banking (lending) and actually helping lives. We talk about the former, but all the incentives are aligned around disbursement. This causes huge confusion. Change incentive system for rising inside the Bank (which is now structured around business volume brought in) (i) Limit number of staff managed by one Manager to < [NUMBER] WBG employees (staff/ETCs/STCs/JPAs/JPOs...) or put in place ''sub-managers'' responsible for managing employees for the Manager. (ii) Increase accountability of Management for staff development, including for the creation of pathways for younger staff. (iii) Systematically provide new WBG employees with a mentor in their unit for support at the outset. - 83 - Job stability - switch term to open-ended positions. More opportunity for promotions/incentives for non-lending work. Be more people focused internally and externally. Invest in people who give their time and talent to the Bank. Start by giving them security of tenure, also rewarding their sacrifices and good work. Reduce the span of control Develop and apply a graduated risk framework across the business to guide a differentiated application of ADM in the management hierarchy Delegate an appropriate level of authority down to TTLs Improve the incentives for knowledge related work Incentivise learning and knowledge exchange as part of employee performance - not just internally (about Bank systems and projects) but externally (sector wide development) as well. On a broader scale, even after the reforms, I believe we still focus too much on financial contributions (sum invested, sum disbursed etc.) in our projects rather than contributing to learning and knowledge development. TTLs and Management should be encouraged to incorporate learning objectives into projects and rewarded for promoting that knowledge internally and externally (conferences, papers, blogs etc). Whatever happened to becoming a Knowledge Bank? Oh... and the hiring practices from STCs to Management are completely non-transparent. Provide more incentives to ACS (especially those in the Country Offices) who does all the dirty work for the teams. Be fair to competent people. Reward good behavior. Change the culture to be such. revise the practices of quotas for performance ratings and reward the real performance as opposed to distributing the ratings available in the pool. We should have less generic "specialists" or useless "economists"; Reward actual doers not the talkie guys. Create incentives for GP-collaboration. Effective dual mapping of projects, etc... Reward performance much more, make tasks more results-oriented and make career path more flexible and dependent upon merit. More rewards for good performance, and sticks to poor performance. Rewarding staff based on merit and NOT ON AFFILIATION AND FRIENDSHIPS Develop a better system for explicitly rewarding the CMUs for achieving a balanced pursuit of corporate priorities and country needs. In parallel, the CMUs should be monitored against doing too much of the former at the expense of the latter and vice versa. Establish the central unit for management of the portfolio-related issues – at the moment the responsibilities for portfolio issues are fragmented and duplicated at the same time. more collaboration and create incentives for sharing within teams working in the same sector/issue. Improve incentives at various levels: (i) collaboration (the reform by breaking into more unit has done the opposite and the only good aspect - eliminating concerns about fixed costs for staff is being reverted), (ii) empower TTL (the reform has increased centralization), (iii) simplify structure and reduce number of layers (the reform has increased the number of layers). Avoid working in silos at the Global Practices, align incentives for multilateral work with career promotions .- revise contract structure: remove term contracts because they unnecessarily create constant uncertainty in an employee's personal life which detracts from their ability to perform and focus [NUMBER]% on their work. Normal institutions understand the value of retaining their employees and retaining institutional knowledge rather than constantly depleting their workforce of good people through term contracts and retaining poor ones through a flawed performance mgmt system because managers don't know how to make tough decisions and manage their people. - revise incentive structures at all levels (salary compensation, bonuses, rewards/acknowledegments, training opportunities locally and abroad, opportunities to cross-train and for secondment, performance management system, etc.) Remove the notion of "performance curve" (quota on the number of people who can get high performance ranking). If many people perform great, they all need to be rewarded, otherwise it is becoming "hand picking". - 84 - *Reduce favoritism that some managers have towards some STCs, TTLs and ACSs. *Provide tuition reimbursement and more academic opportunities for employees interested in furthering their professional backgrounds to align them with the Bank's goals and areas of expertise. *Demote/Fire personnel whose performance is consistently low or when business needs are not met. *Allow staff in lower grades (ABC) to access positions in higher grades (D,E,F) if they demonstrate they have the required experienced and skills to meet the position's criteria. *Create more layers (positions) within each grade (analysts, officers, coordinators, etc) *Reward staff when they excel and go beyond their call of duty (not only with awards of recognition but also monetarily) as a way of motivation and encouragement. *Allow staff with high performance to continue working in the Bank with an open-ended position instead of ending their contracts and forcing them to look for a job outside the Bank. Reward deserving staff Make it a true merit based organization Improving the link between performance and reward, and introducing real accountability All the layers of managerial staff that have proliferated since the "change", managers that do not have the professional credentials and worse have tunnel vision only to further their own careers. It is pretty shocking to see a Manager form OPCS (which should set the standards of good behavior) for whom complains from female colleagues were lodged (some left the Bank) and instead of being reprimanded, is rewarded with another managerial position in another region. Improve the ethics and fairness among managers, and make managers accountable and not authoritarian. This will automatically lead to a staff who is more happy, productive, and collegiate. The top levels of the organization create the environment and behavior that staff follows. Our incentive systems need to be re-assessed. Improvement of effective effort and deliveries based rewarding and promotion. Reward risk taking and innovation, select managers who symbolize these things. Rewarding the best performers, regardless. The WBG needs to do more to ensure the quality of their recruitment. There is a need to have better recruitment, probation process and continuity on the job. This idea of the curve for the OPE does not seem to go in the direction of building teams (coming from somebody who does fairly well!). Clarifications: #[NUMBER]: I'm motivated, but this is because I have "butterflies in my belly" and not because the institution push me to do so. On the contrary, the institution only pushes me to do the contrary! #[NUMBER]: One proof on whether the offers are competitive is to compare WBG salary increases since [NUMBER] with those of the market (in my case with the academic). The average wage for a job market candidate with PhD in Economics has grown up much more than my wage at the WBG in the last [NUMBER] years. In other words, the WBG should make a revolution with the HR policies that are not working! #[NUMBER]&[NUMBER]: my previous WBG experience is not reward, and I'm being penalized by switching GPs, & not related to my skill communication, better financial support and better incentives to share across teams Promote and reward solely on the basis of merit. World Bank providing salary to staff that commensurate with country context, real (unreported) inflation, and hardship factors. While we feel proud to be associated with WB our salaries and incentives are far below what is being offered in the region. Otherwise, we are very happy to be working through the WB in alleviating poverty and shared prosperity. Really ensure that collaboration across sectors is rewarded. Attach much greater importance to and align incentives with project implementation and results, than to project design and preparation Career advancement opportunities for country office staff Better accountability, OPE/reward system, more opportunities for young staff. - 85 - More empowerment of regular staff (eg, TTLs) and less need for managerial approvals at every step of the way, particularly senior managerial approvals; also, a better, more credible performance-based compensation system that rewards good performance (and does the opposite with poor performance), for example on the basis of better communicated, more objective, better understood criteria. I need operational management and leadership in my unit which is currently missing. I need to feel properly rewarded for the effort that I am doing and projects that I am handling. Rewarding supervisors, leads and TTLs for effectively leading teams and developing their staff. More incentives for employees, clear objectives for the practices and teams and better implementation of ethics guidelines (especially in SA region) Better incentives for performance. Problem children are moved around instead of let go which demotivateds the rest of us who don't feel that it matters whether we perform, play well with others or contribute. The bell curve used for merit pay is a total joke. Bring back a system of performance incentives for all staff; not only for A-D. The Bnak needs behavioral changes more than structural changes. The performance evaluation system, appointments and promotions are all seriously flawed and do not reward good performance. Removing these decisions from management to a more open and transparent process of HR team may be helpful Build objective incentives for career development. Build clear criteria for promotion in GPs, not just arbitrary criteria at the discretion of the manager. Incentives are very much discretionary at IBRD. Incentive structures (for promotion, etc) lack clarity and objectivity. Development at IBRD depends too much on who you know. I would improve the performance management system to minimize the current strong incentive to create visibility around one's own work as a way to get promoted. Performance incentives should be based on measurable results and, as much as possible, team work. The Bank needs to discontinue with the numerous silos and layers of hierarchy created by the GP structure. There is no need to have every decision at the GP level to be approved by the GP VPs. What happened to making GP Senior Directors and Directors accountable? With regard to commitment to do our personal best, I think many staff do it out of true professionalism and desire to make a difference and not because of any incentives or encouragement by Bank management. reward good performance return the merit increase for good performance. Change the incentives. Stop using the volume of lending as a metric of the WBG's development impact. It is distorting behavior and rewards unscrupulous development practices and those who look for shortcuts that undermine governance and sustainable development impact. Promoting people on the basis of their lending volume and holding VPs to account for their "delivery" of a pipeline of projects creates the same incentives that caused risky and unscrupulous mortgage lending and the subsequent global financial crisis. TTLs push projects and move on after having collected their promotion, not staying to implement the project and therefore not accountable for the impact. It is a pity that after three years of hellish reorganization we have the same if not stronger incentive framework which rewards bad behavior. As a staff member this is deeply demoralizing, knowing that much of our lending will not improve development prospects. YP career track. YP program creates dysfunctional biased against many talented young professionals (not YP, but young and professional), and provides too much wrong incentive to a selected few who often times do not merit the position or confidence of others. If YP program is to provide a fast track to become a manager, such program will better serve the purpose if open to experienced Bank staff who possess leadership skills combined with technical expertise. There have to be more opportunities for growth and a better performance evaluation process. There are insufficient incentives to those who work well and those who perform poorly face no repercussions. In addition, it is very hard to move up in the career wheel, particularly for ACS who have no way of moving out of administrative positions into more analytical work. Better and clear incentives to Managers to promote synergies amongst different units' and GPs' staff. Strengthen the incentive framework that promotes inter-unit collaboration, which makes working as WBG an assumed institutional approach rather than one that is based on individuals. Improve incentives for cross-unit collaboration at all levels i.e. move from competition to collaboration and being one-stop-shop for the counterparts - 86 - staff are rewarded and promoted on the basis of merit and for their performance and not for who they know and their networks Give more incentives to enhance cross-cutting work across sectors Have clearer career advancement systems and incentives for good performance. THE GP model is NOT working. We have effectively become [NUMBER] Silos and some CCSAs are becoming Silos and sectors in themselves (e.g. Jobs CCSA). PLs are not effective at solving that problem. They are loyal to their home practice and behave in silos. This is NOT working. In the WPA discussions, we were [NUMBER] practices competing for BB and activities. NO incentive to do joint work. Senior management country visits are VERY counterproductive. You have [NUMBER] senior directors and their directors competing to do country visits. this system is NOT WORKING AT ALL. It is not too late to revert that part of it (drop PLs, go back to CSCs, cluster GPs into [NUMBER] networks with regional directors covering each of the [NUMBER] networks. Please ! I would cut down on the number of deliverables and make sure that staff have the time they need to deliver a reduced number of very high quality products. The multiplicity of deliverables makes it difficult to produce analytic quality. It is also not very rewarding to work on so many medium to low quality pieces. Take effective action rather than talking and celebrating dozens of town halls. Be stronger with effective quality and performance control but reward especially the support staff for their tireless work under very poor conditions of remuneration and facing often poor social competency of superiors. In principle [NUMBER] characters are not sufficient so better leaving it at this level Kill the cumbersome bureaucracy Moloch that impedes to deliver, and that has increased exponentially in the past [NUMBER] months. This takes a toll on deliverables and attention to clients Give tools to become competitive in the multilateral/development arena Make processes/ procedures slimmer, simpler Build internal capacity about the real field problems Engage more people in the field and less in admin Bring in a culture of risk-taking, reward results .- Stop given promotions to those who do not deserve it just to protect the quota of certain countries for having officials working at the WB. -Many officials do not deserve promotion or awards and they get it. -T&C WBG should have better experts working in the field. Stop hiring friends of the friends. More incentives for achieving relevant results through collaboration, which would trump current incentives to compete for lending volume. It would be great to see more simplified and faster paced project development. The turn around time for projects still feels extremely long. Also, I believe that while the Bank has introduced the GPs, staff appear wedded to their sectors. Missions should be comprised of multidisciplinary staff and incentives to work across sectors and GPS should be rewarded. Reward collaboration That people should be rewarded for the work the do. Create clusters of practices to enhance cross-practice collaboration; currently, there are no such incentives in place, and in fact, since the change, there are explicit disincentives Incentives system for good performance. managers should be truly fair, objective, transparent in promotion/salary increase, and have clear incentive regulation, to encourage staff performance, experience sharing. Improve incentives to award and recognize high performance, risk taking and passion for work. - 87 - Start holding people accountable. Stop incentivising the "don't upset the status quo" behaviour. Poor performance should be punished not rewarded with promotions or lead positions. Appoint managers that manage. Rewards for staff based on results, not on visibility and/or personal relationship Recognize/reward staff who do and deliver well, rather than talk well. Find better ways of rewarding people and measuring their contribution. Increase the incentives to motivate the local staffs particularly to whom that are working at field, regularly confronting with the government and private sector for the change, there are a lots of risks for these staffs to have a challenge with the change. Better incentives to perform. Managers that are mentors and leaders not bureaucrats pushing buttons. The WB should give more growth career opportunities to ACSs. All ACS are held in C level, regardless of more responsibilities we have taken, we are stuck for years and years with a C level. It is so hard to jump to a D level. I hope this gets quickly resolved. I know many ACSs that have been for years and years C level. This is very unfair, they even retire with a C level. In terms of salary increase, the increases are so low. IMF has better salaries for everyone. the worst is that we are stuck with a C level and salaries are [NUMBER]% or [NUMBER] %. This is ridiculous, there is no incentive at all. Regardless of all the responsibilities we have and we do. I think Management team should pay more attention to our whole ACS network and give us the opportunity to advance in our career and support us. The WB has wonderful options for flex work, I am really happy with this. I l really like my job, my team but I wish the WB should recognize our work and help us grow as an ACS. Thanks Bonus/variable pay scheme to regularly, objectively and effectively reward good performance and penalize poor performance. Increase motivations for the staff Provide clear incentives to foster cross GP collaboration and stem the silo mentality that is emerging. Move forward in splitting the grades to provide greater career advancement. Find ways to reward people who do not work in silos. Encourage and reward the break of silos. Deal with poor performance. Provide open ended contracts with improved objective setting, performance measurement, and incentives, including termination of contracts for non-performance. I think that poor managers should be better held accountable. There is a culture of reward for (senior) management-level staff despite the fact that some of them are not good managers/supervisors of staff. My work place and environment doesn't allow people to gather and think a bit differently, or out-of-the-box. Mostly Bank staff has no time or incentive to really think about their project. It often ends up by making projects that only aim at pleasing the managers, and/or the institution. It results in a lot a phrasing and few thinking. I feel that mostly when a WB staff face a situation he/she prefers to hire a consultant instead of gathering and think collectively about it. Promotions should be based on MERIT, not gender or nationality. I am a white American man with a PhD and MBA from a top-rated university; I am a consistently high performer (performance levels of [NUMBER] and [NUMBER] the last two years, and [NUMBER]s and [NUMBER].[NUMBER]s all previous years); but I have repeatedly been passed over for promotions in favor of less qualified, poorer performing women and Part [NUMBER] men. This is demoralizing and demotivating. I now find myself reporting to a woman who is [NUMBER] years younger than me and largely incompetent. I never go to her for advice because she has nothing to teach me. Yet she micromanages me and makes my life miserable. I am now seeking employment outside the World Bank. I would change the incentive structure and place less power in the hands of the Managers many of whom blatantly abuse it in every possible way and no action gets taken against them even when the abuse of power (which most often means abuse of staff) is blatant and known. Provide real incentives and support for doing things in innovative and results oriented manner. improve the incentives structure - in particular incentives to work in the field and difficult environments (such as FCS) - promote team work More diversity at the higher level of the Bank; Incentives for cross-sectoral work - 88 - Evaluations are not objective nor based in staff's performance. Conversations happen behind closed doors and it's impossible to know who is in the room deciding SRIs or what are the criteria that managers follow to decide promotions. There is a political negotiation on SRIs that has little to do with staff's performance. This results into little incentive for staff to perform well, as you just need to 'wait our turn'. In this regard, the HR function at the WBG is completely useless and adds a lot of procedural steps to the internal procedures instead of being useful and supportive. Focus on what is going on at the implementation level in operations and ensure managers incentives are aligned to produce results instead of the focus on appeasing/catering to senior management. Incentives drives the business, and unfortunately, we still have issues with incentives ... Lift the employee moral by offering more incentive, career advancement and better benefits. Give real incentives for people to do the right thing. I would like to inculcate fairness in rewarding performance. Currently, there are several extraneous considerations rather than merit or performance which are taken into consideration by Managers in recruitments, salary increases and promotion of individuals. The culture of favoring those with Godfathers needs to change urgently. Also, the bias against those who express honest opinions needs to change. And the clear bias in favor of nationals of certain countries who are sure to get recruited even with little experience needs to change. While the President's intentions in trying to bring about change in culture are clearly great and I understand how much the change he wants is needed, he will not be able to make a change unless Managers change and behave more fairly, which we do not really see happening especially in units where managers who have clear "pasts" with even allegations of racism/ passive aggressive behaviors etc. are being continuously rewarded. Reward/pomotion/job access based on performance versus relying on contacts/visibility. Change the incentive system Create credible incentives to work across boundaries and reward performance. The WBG should have managers that care about their staff rather than just to appear in front of their respective managers. There is no top-down culture of respect and care. There is only culture of top-top communication and performance. There is also not transparency in the recruitment process. All positions that are advertised have indeed a NAME attached to them. If at the end hiring is discretional to the managers, why to advertise a position to involve false illusions and expectations of other people, if there is a chosen candidate. No managers select the option of that there is an identified candidate, but then because of not doing that, they embark themselves and other innocent people in a complete fake process. I have been a good performer, hard worker, client oriented, showing great results to our government clients in the CO I have worked. But now that I want to move to work in another region (after [NUMBER] years) I have not been able to find a job. No rewards to good work! Management staff relationships are at an all time low. Staff feel abused with all the cuts without reasonable thinking yet one is expected to perform. Incentives are a key factor to motivate staff as can be seen with large companies such as Microsoft, etc. LIttle things make a difference. Taking away the [NUMBER] day rest stop (Bank should have kept it), deducting [NUMBER]% if breakfast provided is so miniscule but makes a difference to incentivise staff. Little things make the difference. Sub Theme: Value No. of Sub Theme Comments: 54 Increase the value put on the technical quality of the work Make all types of staff, including short term ones, feel valued and included. WBG needs to value the loyalty of the worker with better contract arrangement otherwise it will continue losing its best people. I am frustrated that my attempts to work across units (with skills that I have which are valued by the other units) are not supported by my managers. If I could change one thing at the Bank, I would focus more on what people can contribute and the career path to enable them to do that and less on competition within units. We should be all on the same big team, with the same two goals, and so we should be able to celebrate the success of any individual or unit as our own success (and likewise the failure). There is still too much compartmentalisation and internal competition. - 89 - WB needs to focus on external clients. Frontline staff driving the business need more resources. Procedures need to be genuinely streamlined and simplified. Team need resources to deliver quality work. Endless layers of quality control do not help, because in the end, it is always the TTL that needs to do the actual work, largely alone because we do not have staff to help within the team. ACS, at all levels and units, should be proficient with procedures, formatting, portal processing. Too often the comments provided by the "professional" reviewers are a collection of copy paste, not much customized. Some of the procedures are becoming Kafkian, especially for TFs and hr. Hr is not supporting staff effectively and it is too complicated. More must be done to promote real diversity, including better family policies and equality in salary. Mothers and fathers should have the real possibility to plan and take unpaid time off work with a reentry guarantee. Some issues that should be a managerial responsibility are regulated in a rigid manner, which is inefficient and causes unnecessary irritation. Empower the managers! Value of technical skills and contribution of consultants empower staff and TTLs to do their jobs and provide clarity on strategic staffing as early as possible. value rank and file staff as THE WBG asset STAFF EMPOWERMENT ON LEADERSHIP actually see through the vision of making senior technical people feel valued (and the main focus), and have managers enabling them, rather than controlling them. only then can WBG transition from being a lending institution to being a solutions provider. am not seeing this vision realized in practice, the old culture of having to be a "m"anager cadre to be valued is still firmly in place. Take care of STCs, promoting people who can really work and not those who have many coffees. Empower program managers. Value Country Office's staff contribution Incentives for working across GPs are very low Premium for technical skills is important, but need to value also coordination, integration skills Need for more presence in-country Reduce the disparity in benefits between country office staff and international staff who do the same job. Why should a local staff working across their region (covering countries outside of their home country) be tied to local package when an international staff working on the same region and possibly doing similar work receives a package three and sometimes fourfold. As WBG I think at times we underestimate the value of local and regional talent, which without doubt, impairs our ability to attain outcomes which are highly satisfactory. Improve the relationship between managers and staff. Most people only "manage up" in this place (in my experience). Would transform the Bank if true leadership including responsibility extending to subordinates were not only valued but actively encouraged and sought. Would involve recruiting, training and promoting only good leaders and creating a culture that values leadership. This could change the current atmosphere of distrust between staff and even their immediate managers. But the reality is promotion to manager often goes to insiders, friends of senior execs, etc. And performance and morale really suffer as a result. The World Bank should take leadership and management seriously as skills to be sought and perfected, but it doesn't seem to. Local staffs are the greatest assets for the Bank since they play important and significant role connecting the Bank with the Government. Without them, no matter how good the program offered by the Bank, it cannot run properly without the support from local staffs. Local staffs will still be here when the expatriates are gone back to [Duty City] or assigned in other countries. Who clean up the mess and maintain the relationship? Local staffs. WBG seems to treat local staffs like second class citizen in their own country. WBG needs to increase the remuneration of local staffs. Re-allocate funds to frontline operational work and empower TTLs to deliver. The World Bank is an institution that has settled deep into a kind of systemic inertia. It seems though that it wants to see itself as this dynamic, nimble institution. I'm not sure real change is possible, because it would require changing the very identity of the institution. What is the point of replacing the pipes if you're still pumping the same dirty water? If pressed, I would change middle management. There seems to be an extra layer. I would value operations more because technical know-how is not enough to make a project successful. - 90 - spell out how the broad vision is translated into concrete action value staff -- staff is currently not valued, has no security of tenure, etc create a more vibrant intellectual debate that is more closely linked to operational issues and challenges Bringing back the previous institutional culture of the Bank which valued staff and staff contributions instead of assuming that we are all "fat, overpaid and lazy cats" Value impact over disbursements I think the WBG is an excellent organisation to work for. It allows the flexibility and is a willing listener. It values its staff as building blocks to be more appropriate and responsive to its clients. The decision making process is too [Duty City] centric. Country teams should be trusted and empowered to do make decisions quickly. The compensation and benefits package for country based teams should be improved. At the moment it is far below the benefits that apply to IRS - while we do practically the same job. I would start appreciating more the value of the ACS and the young people at the Bank that are trying to gain more knowledge and grow. Growing in the Bank is becoming harder and harder. greater empowerment and more structured career development. All contracts should be open ended. empower managers and make them more accountable (ie. not feared of their management) Value more the experience gained outside the Bank (before joining the Bank) that can add fresh(er) perspective to our business, and does not seem to be enough taken into account for people like me who joined the Bank "recently" (<[NUMBER] years), give all their energy and commitment for the Bank, but are not considered at their true value because they are not "junior" anymore but are also not as seasoned at some other colleagues whose views and experience lack the sense of the outside world Managers to take care of staff equally and fairly no matter what their level is. Direct manager to help staff in their career advancement equally and fairly. Value the staff - the staff seem to have been left behind in this "wave of change" Promote job exchanges with private sector to increase technical capacity and sector knowledge; empower young staff and improve internship programs; be more strict on non-performing staff Change managers. Select less managers, only those who have integrity, and can set good role models. Let staff select them, since staff know them the best. Not many managers care about staff, they are all into their own promotion, and don't have moral standards. I would try to ensure that there is real client demand for the all the work we do, including operations and analytical work. At the moment, it is not clear if all the work brings real value for clients. Revisit the current management structure whereby the first real line of management - sector managers - have [NUMBER]+ direct reports. (I can think of not other professional organisations that have such high ratios of staff to management.) As a result of this structure sector managers have no time for management OR technical leadership. Why arent Lead level staff empowered to exercise some level of middle MGMT??? Staff are the best asset of the WBG, so Management should take care of them. We have more senior staff (H level and above), more leaders without operational experience, more bottlenecks and it seems that the GF and GG level staff are being asked to do all the work without having any job security or given credit for their work. Its a very demotivating environment. The so called 'dead wood' who were supposed to have left due to the changes are still there and the well performing staff are leaving the bank. Working in high risk environments such as FCV is becoming more difficult as there is little scope to grow or take risks. Management are micro-managing to a point where VPs and Directors are the only people empowered to make a decision - but they are working on over [NUMBER] countries - so you can imagine the quality of the decisions being made. Practice Managers who are close to the work are not able to make a decision without seeking a directors approval. Anyone who isn't well connected with management is struggling!! Value more the work of consultants. Often consultants are doing the work of economists, but with less benefits, underpaid and with no career prospects whatsoever within the institution. The Bank should either make it clear that consultants are only temporary contractors hired for specific tasks or give us some ownership over the work we do. Several times consultants are the only ones who have practical ownership over projects, and once they leave the Bank or they unit they are in, they keep being called upon to provide further information on what they have done. This is not fair nor efficient for the institution. Empower country office staff. - 91 - More efforts are needed to accommodate local staff in country offices as I believe that they are often the live wire of a successful operation or a knowledge product. I feel that the day to day work we do is not seen or appreciated. I also think that the remuneration package of IRS and LRS should be reviewed as I believe that the local staff role gets consistently under valued in most countries. It is important to note that the tasks carried out by a combination of IRS and LRS are needed for a successful operation. The new reforms also give me a sense that the LRS positions will get filled by IRS as the existing LRS staff retire or resign. SELF ACCOUNTABILITY MATRIX: Make a self-accountability matrix where the staff will record his own assessment against a set of specific questions about his/her tasks every week...................... there is no substitute to selfaccountability and this value need to be cultured within the institution! The Global Practices are of central importance for our work. The Global Practices need to be more empowered than at present. have more focus on merit of staff, which at the moment is not valued at all in career development I would like for ASCs and STCs/STTs and ETCs/ETTs to be treated as valued and equal contributing members of the Bank. We are neglected and undervalued. As an ETT ACS I have always felt like the outsider looking in at the Bank. This divisive culture is found at every level, GP, VPU, Unit in this institution. Having worked at many corporate companies in the [Duty City] area, the Bank has by far the most glaring exclusionary culture I've experienced. Better conditions for young professionals at WB (not YP). Better interaction between knowledge producing areas and operational areas. Autocratic, centralized, top-down management. Decison-making should be delegated to the lowest level were a specific decision can be effectively made. This does not happen, all decisions, even the most menial are only made in the [Duty City] office. This creates inefficient management and ridiculous time-delays. Trust your teams in the field offices by empowering them, not just paying lip-service to the notion. Swiftly create an environment where staff feel empowered to identify and weed out without fear of retaliation: (a) poor-performers, (b) sycophants, (c) incompetent fellow staff and managers that are good at managing up than across and below with zero technical competence, (d) hoarders of knowledge, (e) those that exclusively rely on consultants' work and masquerade as subject matter specialists and above all (f) time-wasters who do not any value at all. We should be less "[Duty City] centered", and that starts in staff's mind. This is not only about centralization in decision making, that is something that is changing, but about increasing the understanding of the value of how CO teams contribute to WB mission. That would make us a more "balanced" institution. More transparency in decision-making at senior levels and empower TTLs to do their daily work and concentrate on what really matter, which in my view is giving informed opinions to decision-makers on how they can improve the welfare of their fellow citizens. Sometimes carrying out tramits and paperwork at WB makes impossible to focus on these tasks steadily. Management to actually care about staff. More empowerment of managers in hiring staff Stronger empowerment and support of junior staff (less than [NUMBER] years experience in the Bank); abolishing the practice of hiring back WB retirees (being paid hefty daily rates) and creation of junior staff positions instead. Take more concrete steps to ensure that our most valuable asset -- our staff -- are able to work, live and develop careers as fully as possible. I would like to draw attention to the (hidden) cost of internal change and of having a large work force on short term contracts. The WBG has many staff on contract types (STCs, ETCs, STTs, ETTs, some term positions) that are up for renewal every year (or even shorter intervals). The various institutional changes over the past [NUMBER] years (employment controls, strategic staffing, specific RVPs directives - such as "no GF in the field" ) have created so much uncertainty that a substantial amount of staff time (and energy) can be absorbed by just seeking clarity on once contract status and work place location. Most of us would much rather spent the time supporting our clients, but even the most motivated staff member gets distracted if his/her contract ends next month and s/he does not yet know what comes next, esp. if s/he moved for the WBG to a foreign country. I think more predictability and more consistency would go along way in empowering staff to deliver on their work programs. - 92 - Sub Theme: Recognition No. of Sub Theme Comments: 36 Staff should be promoted or move from one grade to another at least every [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years instead of keeping staff in one grade for [NUMBER] or more years by giving outstanding performance evaluation report. There is no uniformity. The Promotion process differs from Region to Region and even in the same Region, it differs from Sector to Sector. No recognition of seniority and experience. I would improve the culture of the organization to address two issues: [NUMBER]) the them and us of HQ v's country office staff -- a greater recognition of the challenge of working in this model and an investment in the IT infrastructure needed to make it work (managers should try booking a VC slot from a field office, or running a webinar at midnight); and [NUMBER]) a more humble, modest and nurturing environment - where it is not about who is the brightest and the best, but who is trying hard and who is learning from mistakes and trying things differently as a result; not show casing the current great ideas, but learning more from the great ideas from [NUMBER] years ago and what happened next - both success and failure. E.g. perhaps giving VPU awards to the best ICRs submitted to the Board, not the best PAD, would shift incentives. More respect and recognition with the operational staff in the COs. [Duty City] ignores those that do the job daily closely with the Clients. How many times the SMT went to the field and talked with the WB operational team? There is no consistency in the theory and actions. The SMT keeps us under constant threat related to salary, contract type, and career development. I'd change the process of promotion and recognition awareness. One should be recognized and promoted based on their own personal ability and effort to achieve their goal rather than being compared to the accomplishments of their colleagues. Full recognition on the part of senior management that a culture of cronyism and lack of genuine commitment for diversity by most middle managers is undermining the effectiveness of the Bank as the premier development institution on the global stage that it still is. To achieve the twin goals, The WBG has to be more careful in the implementation of projects in fragile states ( high risk of corruption). For example, the disbursement is not the main think to appreciate the project. better appreciation and recognition of work efforts and results achieved During the course of major reforms being put in place managers and staff are behaving in a risk averse manner, fearing the unknown. Despite the tumultuous times, the Bank is doing good work and forging ahead. The President and Senior Management are doing a commendable job on all fronts. One thing that could be changed to improve the WBG as a place to work: HR related--(i) gender neutral decisions on salaries to permit females and males earning equally for jobs. In practice, this is NOT happening. Importantly, salary reviews and adjustments take years to be equalized where "equal pay for equal work" is concerned; and (ii) it has become near impossible to get to Lead level especially for staff who have met the performance bars and particularly for those who have exceeded it. No legitimate reasons are provided. The Bank's workforce is greater than YPs. Individual and collective talents need to be rewarded. It is not just money but also professional recognition and dignity! Established trust and solid relationship with counterparts and partners and strong teamwork spirit within the team. No competition within the team, no territorial behavior, open to share information and knowledge, no backbiting, management's fair acknowledgement based on contribution, management's proper intervention to staff who committed misconduct, no tension between local and international staff, respect among team members, senior staff to guide/mentor junior staff. Enable open ended contracts to give staff a sense of stability and appreciation. improving fairness in performance evaluation and appreciating/recognizing the work; Recruitment and hire of staff in most cases depends on the candidates familiarity with the hiring GP, especially of existing WBG staff, the so called networking, and this disadvantages best people within and outside the organization. In terms of supervision, I would suggest staff to be supervised by Managers that interact and review their work on a regular basis. For example, the output of most staff doing safeguards work is never understood or appreciated by their managers since most of their work is reviewed by OPSOS and not their line GPs. recognition to individuals is needed. the bank should logically make an assessment of all the issues that arise around project delivery. and then try to tackle on a case by case basis. behavioural problems among the staff are many, arrogance of any sort should be unacceptable. and if these small things are bothering the client, this should be suitably addressed. - 93 - Opportunities for operational training to build and share technical knowledge across the group. Opportunities for technical training are few and far between. Promotion and recognition are driven by metric and curves (statistical analysis) and not 'actual performance'. HR policies are implemented with caveats effectively eroding their impact. For example mobility policies while not explicitly stated, do not apply to E level staff. This could be interpreted as a lack of interest by the organization in providing developmental opportunities for staff at this level, who are often required and perform effectively at the F level. Compensation policies have undergone some change to improve equity however there are still concerns with transparency especially as it relates to setting country office salary ranges. The current inequity in contracts and promotions needs to be urgently fixed!!! I am a women and an international staff in a country office with a localization plus appointment. When I was hired, I was told that IRS contracts are no longer given out to F-level international staff. This turned out to be blatantly false. There are four [Duty City] colleagues in my country office with F-level IRS contracts. I have received [NUMBER] on my OPEs and I am repeatedly praised as a top performer. The localization plus contract is not acceptable for an international staff (I can't get medical care in my home country, for example) and my [Duty City] colleagues are paid significantly more for doing less and performing at a much lower level. I would invest ob staff that deliver results Strengthen the focus on performance management. Have managers oversee smaller teams of staff, increase their focus on managing staff performance and giving feedback, and allow for easier recognition/promotion for quality work and for dismissal of staff when poor performance is not improved by feedback and capacity support. Recognition of work needs to be acknowledged more. For instance in cases like where the teams are involved in coal based projects, nobody wants to put those projects forth for recognition of efforts made by the team to effectively implement the project. Sometimes teams feel that they are stuck with such projects which were once approved by the same management but with changes in the objectives of the WBG, all of a sudden such projects are treated as step children. Also it's important to recognize efforts at supervision. As of now projects that are going to board, ie, lending is recognized by the management. But it's seldom recognized that supervision is much tough. the teams feel discouraged with this attitude of the Bank. there should be adequate recognition mechanisms for projects under supervision apart from disbursements as a criteria. The issue of recognition to merit is complicated to handle effectively since only TTLs are recognized at the end. However this is producing a non-collaboration situation. Talented people beyond TTLs are keeping for themselves the good ideas. As a suggestion, managers should be more accountable about the attribution of merits among teams and within teams’ members. There is too much grape-vine gossip at managerial level with some that stigmatize and discourage some people, especially the calm and quiet type that does not indulge loud and empty talk recklessly. This is despite their continued good and above average performance. The level of hypocrisy and dishonesty, cover up for ‘friends’ in some managers and their bosses discourages some people to speak out in confidence. Some managers have unofficially appointed arrogant ‘deputies’ who influence skewed decisions and enjoy protection from the managers. Many would thank God if our senior management commits to use outside agents to seriously investigate and this behavior, to improve the work place and motivate WBG staff who spend on average [NUMBER] hours a week here. There needs to be recognition on what staff is doing; a check on what individuals are pushed to do - a sense of valuing quality of delivery/work done versus just a cog in a wheel that needs to keep turning just to keep turning. There are too many cogs that seem to be just going through the motions, as if no one is asking what it is that is actually being asked to be done. 'Is that sensible? reasonable? best for the institution?' Instead it seems each individual at the top-down is just pushing the garbage to the next person down and the person who actually stops to say 'wait, is this garbage?' is actually the person at the end of the line, who either just has to go along with the game and push out garbage and praise it along with everyone else that came ahead of them, or the person is prosecuted for being the odd man out! Support more diversity (gender and cultural/educational background) and give credit to good performance in terms of results on the ground, rather than to good salesman skills. Equal appreciation to local staffs Less hierarchy and more recognition to knowledge and experience. Recognition for field staff - 94 - To really appreciate young candidates with great potential. Take into account human capital from different backgrounds en diverse experience. And by this I mean taking into account candidates with great potential, even though they do not come from the best universities in the world or do not hols the highest degrees. I would try to implement a stronger system of feedback and accountability. There is very little feedback on people's performance and behaviour (apart from the annual exercise). There should be feedback on every project or task, which should ultimately feed into evaluation and accountability. Those found to be performing well should be promoted, those with a poor record should be terminated. Currently both, thorough evaluation as well as accountability (action following evaluation) are missing. Promote the people who actually do the work. Not those who take undue credit. Even all the attempts at "diversity and inclusion" appear to be focused on either LGBT staff or women from the Middle East. But there are so many other Part II men and women (especially women) who deserve recognition for their contribution. Unfortunately, they do not have a voice within the institution. [NUMBER]- recognizing everyone's contributions without bias. [NUMBER]- Promote ACS staff based on their honest performance [NUMBER]- Provide incentive for career development [NUMBER]- Use learning budget for all staff and promote practical missions training requested by staff for their career development. [NUMBER]- Thanks for giving all staff a chance to show their potential and at the same time. this will save the GP budget by using less consultants. [NUMBER]Give good performing staff an indefinite contract, so they feel appreciated and can plan their lives. .- break down GP silos - make HR decisions fair, but faster (to reduce constant uncertainty, leading to fear in a lot of people) - avoid superficial, unproductive collaboration ([NUMBER] PMs signing of a SMO etc) - finally start working on system simplification, as no progress has been made there - appreciate client engagement, collaboration, "getting things done skills as equally important as "technical" skills Bring back the focus on the client and stop the competition for publicity. Our work should be mostly appreciated by our client not by the intranet. Let's be true to the Bank mission. I would give country staff more responsibilities, recognize their contribution to the overall goals of the WBG and compensate them accordingly accountability of managers, managers'/supervisors are held responsible for leadership building and career progression. Incentive/recognition for innovation and superior performance Lack or absence of staff recognition. It's even impossible to get promotion despite of staff's achieved results and targets, because at the end management will find tons of arguments that someone deserves more to be promoted cause of her/he works longer and etc. reward performance outside of bell curve. Private sector recognition is what is needed not bureaucratic stuff which says older staff will get the [NUMBER]'s then a handful of [NUMBER]'s. If you perform you should be rewarded for it. Sub Theme: Respect No. of Sub Theme Comments: 28 The culture of the staff - supervisory staff who do not treat their support staff well and undermine their work and take credit for their work for themselves without being willing to promote and help them break THE BARRIER and move further up the career ladder (many support staff are women, a lot of them are from the third world countries, here in the US alone and away from families and a lot of them have education as much as Masters degree, [NUMBER] years and more of work experience and are technically sound) women staff with domestic violence issues with respect will not be able to help the poor in the third world countries. A lot of WBG staff use their title and power to hurt and humiliate staff under them and get the other staff to do their dirty work for them - otherwise the same ill fate will happen to them if they do not do when the powerful staff ask them to cooperate into destroying another staff's career. FEAR IS WHAT GOVERNS A LOT OF STAFF TO DO WHAT THEY ARE TOLD. restore trust, advantages of a WBG staff and image of the WBG to the international community Respect among colleagues, especially senior colleagues towards junior colleagues. WBG should respect its employees. - 95 - There are two classes of staff LRS and IRS and there is a glass ceiling between them. IRS who do not treat LRS with respect in COs are not held accountable and their actions are tolerated far more than acceptable by the CMUs who are also IRSs. This needs to change. Treat everyone with respect and dignity [NUMBER]. Staff should be all dealt fairly: with respect and dignity. There should be ONENESS in Diversity. We are all equals regardless of the grading - that needs to be definitely improved for the morale/encouragement of the staff. [NUMBER]. ACS staff - we are the foundation of this great institution, and yet during a time of change, we are the first ones to be targeted, our salaries are always targeted. We are not on the high end of the salary scale - we are on the lower end of the spectrum and why is it that only A-D is targeted and not above that. I would like to see that change and improvement. We talk of equality, where is Equality here? Treat us also equally. [NUMBER]. BENEFITS - this was not fair/just. Every one's child/children needs education not just G[NUMBER] staff. Why is it only G[NUMBER] staff had educational benefits. Does it mean only their children needed education? Other's children don't need to be educated? Where is EQUALITY? SMALL changes make BIG differences. Please treat as as human beings. Place greater emphasis - and give clearer guidance - regarding minimum standards of workplace conduct. Professional and personal conduct of WBG staff in the workplace is often very poor, resulting in a lack or trust and creating considerable organisation impediments to effective collaboration. It is still unclear how term staff will be (or ever will become open ended staff. At the moment there are [NUMBER] classes and term are treated as second class. I understood there was some initial talk to review and change this but this doesnt appear to be on the agenda anymore. RESPECT FOR PRE-BANK EXPERIENCE OF A MID-CAREER PROFESSIONAL Build confidence among staff and treat Country Officre staff with more respect. Rebuild the trust lost between senior management and staff. I have been shocked by how senior staff (notably a cadre of respected senior women in leadership positions) have been treated under this current administration. Many of these people have been fired seemingly indiscriminately. This has quelled enthusiasm among those of us with prospects for leadership positions who are essentially keeping our heads down and/or actively looking for other jobs. We need to restore trust within the Bank and inspire people to reach for the stars within this institution. I would like to see more mindful leadership and less racial discrimination. I would like to see more humility and less arrogance towards those who do not have PhDs. I would like to see more equity for diverse groups in particular more respect of Africans. Two years is critically short period for contracts which creates challenges for life and career planning. It should be much longer, as minimum starting from the second prolongation of the contract. Such approach will increase trust and motivation of staff. more respect to local staff Treat all staff, both local and international with same respect, dignity and give them opportunities for regional involvement. The change most required is to provide local staff with similar benefits as international e.g. AfDB and UN agencies do provide child and spouse allowances for local staff which the WBG completely does not. To build trust, team spirit, and bring back the drive and motivation of staff at all levels that put all of us to work in this institution in the first place. Respect for diversity Transparency in how staffing decisions are made. Too many positions are still being filled based on favoritism over skill sets. Too many hiring decisions have been made even before positions are advertised. For example, the recent hiring of some Practice Managers, were made in a non-transparent manner with people lacking strong operational, technical or managerial skills being promoted to a role for which there were other very strong qualified candidates. There is no trust in how hiring decisions are made at the institution and this is one area which is affecting staff morale and needs to be addressed. - 96 - Think and act as one for the good sake of the Institution. Avoid individualism and encourage collegiality that best represents our dear Institution. Be respectful, a good listener, and avoid unnecessary arrogance that we still see on some of us. Be mindful and work hard to deliver sustainability. Improve coordination among TTL working in the same country and same Unit. we work very disorganized in the countries. Recognized the work we do in training, conference, supporting another colleague. Have more respect for safeguards specialist. We do a work that is like is invisible. it is needed but nobody cares how is accomplished. The managers who are responsible of the TTL's project do not care - this delegation of authority in safeguards is just - bluffing. We safeguards specialist are alone - the one who cares - to fix an in environmental or social problem- There are other safeguards specialists already eaten by the system, who do not see, hear or do nothing- just play the game of the Bank, support disbursements and see later how to fix the issues. Create a common corporate culture that uses one value and ethics system based on high standards, much as a successful multinational corporation might. This should be a system that is enforced and ensures there is a high standard for professional behaviors. It should allow staff to feel that they are treated with respect and have protection and recourse without reprisal if they encounter problems with managers (direct and/or otherwise). Behavior change. Ask the Country Directors/Managers to respect all the staff working in their country office. Sometimes these managers have no respect for staff. To be treated with respect as a person based on my knowledge and experience. to strengthen respectful work environment (including the HR system; People need to be hired based on pure merit, and not on task team's personal preferences) so that people collaborate and work together in a more respectful manner. Respect, Trust and Treat Fairly the staffs. Valorize and Help your TTLs to succeed instead of judging them. Stop blaming the TTLs, HELP them find solutions when problems occur. Treat STCs and ETCs with more respect. Reduce the almost dictatorial power and discretion managers have over the staff. Theme: Sub Theme: Communication No. of Comments: Employee Voice 214 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 98 find good managers who should be exemplary to staff; the highly expected restructuring and management change did not deliver what staff were expecting; managers with bad track records continued to be confirmed as managers which says a lot to staff about the Bank claimed change; with the change, no one talks about work and life balance; no one dares to raise different opinions; many subtle forms of retaliation could be used by managers, of which staff can pin down for investigation but easily feel it; most staff feel the Bank is going down the drain, less competitive than before. the fact that only one person/manager reviews the feedback provided by feedback providers in the staff performance evaluation. Instead, it should be two people who have to agree before staff are given their scores. Decision making process at the management level in a way to include staff opinion prior to changes Given the client centric approach it would be good if the WBG includes client feedback into the Staff Appraisal System. If not the system has more accountability to internal masters rather than responding to the client needs in an efficient manner. - 97 - In short, surveys are not followed up by concrete actions. There are then followed by another survey or a set of survey. As such, the World Bank management needs to act promptly if it is to address the challenges faced by the institutions. On the issue of diversity, the Management is simply not doing enough in concrete term. For example, it is shocking to see that Sub Sahara Africa staff do not represent [NUMBER]% of the GH grade while Africa is the Bank's priority. It comes across as incoherent to have Sub Sahara Africa staff that are trained in the best universities in the World and combined a wide experience, whi can simply not be promoted to higher technical grades. When assessing the Bank's performance, increasing diversity, including from Sub Sahara Africa does not seemed to be a Bank priority. Instead, there is among staff a sense that it is more of a public relation campaign aimed at talking the talking, but not walking the walk. This needs to change. Fear of retaliation Listen more to clients! I would like to see an environment where a Manager will represent the thoughts and ideas of his/her staff, not his/her own thoughts only. In all senior management meeting, this should be ensured that Managers come with the collective ideas of his/her staff not his/her own ideas only. This does not happen in most cases, trust me. managers tend to think they know everything !! I would encourage management to listen and take our opinions when it comes to understanding the political economy of the countries we work in. For example an Arab's take on what is happening on the ground in the region should be valued and taken into account when dealing wih clients and their needs. OPE assessment and SRI are incompatible. Staff should be rewarded based on his/her performance. Include staff of government we work with as feedback providers. make people feel safe to speak their minds, to do good work, and to propose diverse thinking/activities. Management should be more willing to trust and listen TTLs Please stop reorganizing now, we have been doing it for the past two years, we are very tired, very confused and demoralized more than ever. Internal processes have become more cumbersome. ACS support staff who work the hardest are considered [NUMBER]rd class citizens by Senior Management as they are the easiest to target. Don't purge operations staff who do actual work. If you want to be efficient and really save money, replace incompetent and useless Managers across the Bank and get rid of overpaid non-essential Senior Management. I was quite hesitant to do this survey just like the other surveys, as I doubt that this Survey will even change the mess and demoralization of staff that is going on in the Bank right now. But because I care about my work, I voice my concerns to the Prez & Senior Management that the reorganization and strategy is not working. Otherwise, staff will not be demoralized & dissatisfied now. The way practices are configured now, cross GP collaboration is becoming less frequent and more complicated, and regional staff within same T&C GP are becoming entrenched for new lines of work coming out of HQ based staff. Mission formalities are being enforced to unbearable levels, the number of people copied in every engagement makes it counterproductive. And when is time to give back feedback on Aide Memoires, etc, there is no guidance or action whatsoever from country based staff, nor attention paid to this. Furthermore, logistical support in the country offices is not enough and CO staff shows less and less interest in collaborating with visiting missions. Do [NUMBER] ope for all TTL and professional G and above, as the feedback needs to come not only from peers. Have a system for rewarding staff that does not depends on the unit or the department but a truly global one. Be inclusive for staff that are not HQ based. Provide effective training to assist professional staff to get to manager level and not systematically have people from the YP program promoted before mid-career professional. OPEN THE INSTITUTION! Inputs of locally recruited staff should be highly regarded within the Bank because they have both international exposure virtually and local knowledge of the client. - 98 - Upper management needs to listen better to what staff need to get their jobs done. Many decisions have been made that clearly do not take into consideration the demands on the staff doing the actual work. With this reorganization we are spending a large amount of our time "re-inventing the wheel". Systems that worked well before now need to be fixed. It has reduced our efficiency and greatly reduced our morale. As a Level D staff, I also find it unacceptable that we are now "part of a global practice" however we are excluded from training that is organized for the global practice. More genuine listening to staff, rather than politically correct declarations on involving staff that do not reflect reality Hold managers accountable for their behaviour and actions via regular, systematic feedback on managers to management beyond the sector. .- Changes of institutional organization and operational processes should be communicated in a timely manner to allow for buy-in and feedback before and during implementation - Ensure that the feedback received is taken into consideration for further improvements (I contacted OPCS help line to get help with some new processes that don't seem to be fully developed and the response they provide is generic and clearly will not lead to their revisiting of the process - Allow for immediate feedback on the changes in Portal and other systems and make sure someone reads it and fixes the problems we flag (we are suffering with the new Portal: the outline on the system is different from the document that the system prints out, the system is not stable, etc.) - Promote cross-GP cooperation by institutionalizing higher LAN and SPN coefficients for such cooperations - Finish strategic staffing urgently - we are loosing experts in the process The Bank is not longer a place where we can attract or keep the best people in each domain - at least I can see this problem in transport where the bank has one of the best sectoral experts. It is not only about salaries and benefit package. It's about pushing papers and process to deal with the huge bureaucracy. Any process from hiring a consultant to booking a ticket for a consultant takes too much time in the bank. This survey mentioned that it only takes [NUMBER].[NUMBER]% of my weekly time but actually I am completing the survey after hours because the rest of the time my time is divided between reporting the bank and the real development work TTLs are the people who develop business for the World Bank and deliver results on the ground. Ten years ago there was still a decent trust to TTLs and the teams, but the bureaucracy grew tremendously over time. Despite the recent organizational change at the World Bank, establishment of global practices will not result with necessary efficiency gains, if we compromise on removal of (in my view) unnecessary layers between the RVP and Country Offices – CMUs, including Advisors of CDs in HQ and Program Leaders in the field. [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] of TTLs’ time is spent on dealing with internal bureaucracy, which takes away their time to focus on the real reforms and motivation for innovative solutions. To get a more useful feedback on the required changes, please conduct a special survey of TTLs and follow-up consultations with their groups. The limits on staffing and the inflexibility are wrong, both from a moral as well as a business point of view. If an activity is grant funded, it should not have staff limits imposed upon staffing. What is the reason for this. The staff are released at the end of the contract, there is no permanence, it is just another consulting job for many of us. So why limit term staff for these assignments. I manage a number of term staff, and STCs. My ideas about their promotion are not considered. They are dealt with by "higher authorities" and policies. IFC is fond of staying "no exceptions" to rules. This can be counterproductive, because there are always good reasons for exceptions. - 99 - I think we need more accountability, especially in the support services, for example HR. I also think that as a whole, we need to be more responsive and take actions more quickly, both internally and externally. I used to work in a private consulting firm, and I find the slowness of how we respond to internal colleagues and to clients very negative and not helpful to our reputation. It should be easy to find out who is the supervisor of anyone, so that they can be included in correspondence with lengthy response times. I do not feel that in joint Bank and IFC teams, that we are equal partners. There should be more fairness and even handedness. Communication needs to be clearer and more effective. We need to work on our long distance technology. There are always issues with VCs, webex connections, personal conference lines etc. Creating a mechanism that inspires/incentivises staff to try new ideas and take risks for higher impact. This could break the walls of risk-aversion and take performance management to the next level. We have deep knowledge in key areas important to our clients and high caliber staff but we lack the tools or medium that unleash the full potential of the minds. We need innovation incubators to nurturing entrepreneurship in development and knowledge transfer. Bring in a professional HR function that has experience in managing a corporate transition and listen to them. Integration/mergers/acquisitions are done everyday. Our process has been and continues to be the most inept I've seen globally. Involve junior staff in the recruitment of Managers. There have been several instances where managers with very poor people management skills but excellent 'upper management' skills getting appointed to Management positions. Many managers neither have the technical competence nor the people skills. They demotivated the entire unit. Manager's [NUMBER] degree feedback should be looked at not just for the "praises" but also the criticisms. Promote career development for those that are already here. There is no formal program to support career advancement, especially those of the younger staff. While there have been attempts to improve this through the new analyst program and the strengthening of the YP program, this does not address those that are already working at the World Bank, some of whom have incredibly useful knowledge working on projects. If the WBG wants to compete with the top consulting firms (both management and strategy for cultivating talent), where does a top young staff member go after his contract is up? There is no clear strategy. Younger staff that are reaching the end of, or are in the last year of their contract, should be contacted and have more than a simple OPE or Mid-year review meeting. While becoming an STC is definitely an option, it is not sustainable over the longer term. Managers are far from staffs in Country Offices and decide on their fate on the basis of the opinions of expatriate supervisors who may be very unethical and biased for various reasons. .-need to seriously take the consultations done from staff into decisions especially those involving recent restructuring related to GP - need to simplify the processes related to hiring consultants as RM do not give solutions to problems, they just make problems from solutions. This jeopardize our timely delivery of committed engagement with client countries, etc.. in addition to the time and efforts put to complete them while this time wasted can be invested in effective client activities. - need to have a link between performance and rewards. there is a disconnect with the annual pay increase. - need to ensure that staff has adequate time for learning development, by ensuring that work program is allowing that. - provide open ended contracts for consistently very good performers. instability is a refraining factor for growth. I would listen to staff on what is needed to steer the reform process in the right way. Parts of the new structure of the Bank have not produced the expected results of collaboration and exchange of knowledge, these challenges should be tackled right away. Similarly if, some senior management appointments are not performing as expected, they should be replaced. - 100 - Things are on the upswing, keep working at that and don't get complacent (like before) please! [NAME] coffees and other areas of outreach have improved folks' understanding of what is going on and helped to address some of the more irrational fear that was prevalent. This outreach needs to continue and the VPs need to be doing the same [NAME] is following the example and, in general, making a positive impression with the changes in HR. The GP VPs have probably the hardest job in the Bank so my criticism in the survey should only imply that I think they need to be even more visible and communicative. Staff do not get the global agendas - we are still stuck in sectors. [NAME] does a good job I encourage him to be more the public face of GPVP. [NAME] means well but is a disaster the few times I've heard her speak to staff - some coaching there would be very helpful. Lastly, consultations on most of the changes has been "drive by", particularly when it comes to field based staff. Ensure that we have good managers, both technical but also strong on personnel skills (i.e they provide mentoring, career guidance, take action when needed to manage difficult staff who may make other staff's work environment uneasy). Ensure that the Bank does not promote bad managers and take [NUMBER] feedback seriously. While there has been progress on communicating actions, the in unit teams and the way they are managed is a problem. I believe this was brought out during the last survey. If this is addressed, the culture the senior management team and the unit managers are trying to foster will be realized. There are other international development organizations that offer better packages than the WBG at all grade levels so I would encourage the WBG to really take a hard look at it and reform especially at the entry level as that seems to get left out of all the calculations done recently. If the young people and entry level staff are valued/feel valued and affordability in the duty station is good, they will last longer, do more for the organization, and the work environment will greatly improve. Respect for diversity, difference of opinion, difference in approaches to work, and respect for staff regardless of grade. streamline operational policies, there are too many staff involved from different units and often slow to response More openness/incentives to provide differing points of view to management and to suggest changes that may not have been considered. (Not just lip service to actually listening to staff). Less bureaucracy. WBG needs o significantly improve its knowledge management capabilities, if the business model is increasingly to provide consulting services and charge like better consultants, then it needs to treat knowledge more seriously. Bank's change initiatives in implementation have not been successful so far. It finally ended up in the old CMU vs. SMU tension. Although a robust survey on institutional health (OHI) was carried out, the implementation is far from expectations. Two important findings of the survey have been deliberately neglected- i) issues of CO vs. HQ staff, where CO-staff are underestimated, their inputs or results of inputs are largely ignored; and ii) implementation is at back bench, in fact, out of five or six main elements of OHI results, implementation capacity is found missing. Preparation of projects has the highest reward or incentive. Immature school boys with a [Duty Country] degree or from other university, having no practice in development work, are fast promoted when they prepare a PAD or take a project to Board. These projects are not implementable and immediately require restructuring. There is no accountability on that. Could not cite the other issues due to space limitations. Make peer reviews of projects blind so opinions can really be voiced Listen to the staff Offer careers not job: offer a career plan. Talk to our young professionals and see What they want? How they imagine their career in the [NUMBER]st century? and prepare a career plan for them. More engagement with the country office. I feel that we are very far from the decision making and therefore our views are not considered - 101 - To stop having multiple types of contracts for people who are doing the same work. This creates an environment of unfairness between colleagues. I am temporary for [NUMBER] years, ETT, (a weaver has been given to me to extend my contract a [NUMBER]rd year), working in a unit that has been using temporaries for many years to do the same job. Where is the temporary in all of this. Never had formal feed back from my manager and of course as a mother of [NUMBER] kids I don't have Family Leaves neither Sick Leaves!!!! I have been working for [NUMBER] years, I am [NUMBER], and this is the first time I see so many unfairness in a workplace. I like my job and I am doing it with a lot of accountability but to be honest I though that The World Bank will be treating better their employees and especially those who have being showing a lot of professionalism and commitment. So please do homogenize your contracts. Thank you establishing an honest/functional feedback mechanism to manager/senior officials Some staff are overloaded and others are under-loaded. Managers overload reliable staff precisely because they are reliable and deliver. An exit program for staff that is under-loaded is needed. Not firing that staff, simply facilitating their exit in a respectful manner. Many companies have programs particularly for mid-careers who used to perform well but now feel disconnected from the organization and hence underperform. But they are tied to the organization and cannot leave. Please study examples from private companies, particularly consulting firms. Openness and transparency in recruitment and promotion processes. When feedback from staff is solicited, significant effort should be made to ensure that it is reflected in actions going forward. That has not been the case during this change process. Rather than simplifying, process are becoming more bureaucratic. Rather than focusing on delivering better to the clients we are taking long to realign ourselves internally with no clear benefit of it improving client engagement. Make all managers accountable by having them evaluated on a [NUMBER] basis (without them choosing their friends as feedback providers) and make the results public (internally). I have a direct manager who is NOT a line manager and therefore not listed in the survey. He is the one I should evaluate. Therefore, my answers unfortunately do not really reflect my work situation. A more concerted focus on work-life balance. This includes managers and other TTLs leading by example. We give lip service to work-life balance, but I have never been in an institution with so many staff running so hard, so exhausted. I see families suffering as a result, along with employees' sense of satisfaction and optimism. I believe this also reinforces gender inequities by creating a dominant masculine work ethic not too dissimilar from what we see in the financial, legal, and consulting sectors where women--particularly those with families--have difficulty sustaining careers. We are an institution full of hard and smart workers. That's an asset, and few of us just want to work [NUMBER]-[NUMBER]'s. But the institution has to do better to promote and demonstrate work-life balance. Even if this means fewer, more streamlined engagements, or enabling TTLs to hire more STCs or support/RA staff, or otherwise increase team capacity, to distribute work better. Eliminate the culture of fear that still exists within WBG in terms of sharing diverse points of view Prohibit the use of acronyms (starting with "WBG" in this survey!). Put all the staff from each GP in one place. We are too fragmented now. Our senior director sits in what was formerly the anchor, isolated from operational staff that are spread across regional units. The restructuring was supposed to get the anchor staff more involved in operations, but that does not seem to be happening. Our current set up reinforces the view that our senior director has a poor understanding of the Bank's core business (lending) and is not sufficiently engaged with government clients, regional VPs and CMUs. Include WBG in the global employers survey. Listen more from country office staff as they leg and hands at field. Local office staff will engage closely with client. Mandatory meeting/communication at least once a month by direct supervisor/ manager with all staffs. This will enable two meetings for each manager; one with his/her supervisor and one with their direct reports. This exercise has higher likelihood to increase positive result for many of the queries posed in this survey. Senior management should reach out to staff for feedback on matters related policies, procedures, changes to system (BW, ISR, etc.) as they are the ones who are directly affected by the changes to these things. - 102 - Please find [NUMBER] interrelated observations / suggestions: [NUMBER]. There is huge room for improvement in the area of the operational effectiveness, one of the main objectives that our reform initially set out to tackle. For staff serving clients, processes remain slow, tedious and messy, particularly in Africa. OPCS keep changing templates and simple contracts still takes weeks to process. By institutionalizing a team structure in which technical staff focuses time on improving services to clients and processes are outsourced to a high performing operations / admin team, our client service can truly become competitive to high-end consulting Firms. [NUMBER]. Invest in people and clearer professional development trajectories. Ensure high performers feel they have a future with the Bank (this needs to be managed at the GP/CCSA level). Let go of consistently mediocre and low performing staff. Improve managerial skills of Practice managers; fix the OPE system and make it more objective, not simply dependent on one PM's assessment of all feedbacks; make clear distinctions between roles of GFs, GGs and GHs they all task manage and often have similar responsibilities; get rid of the false distinction between LRS and IRS Share feedback on survey and show how survey results are used to improve the WBG as a place to work [NUMBER]. Replace technical managers with people managers [NUMBER]. Recognize that WB sells labor/consulting services, not just financial products: hence staff satisfaction is an important factor in quality of delivery [NUMBER]. Streamline internal processing requirements based on actual business needs, not internal fiefdoms [NUMBER]. Recognize that a $[NUMBER] million trust fund and a $[NUMBER] million investment product are different in terms of the level of risk and scrutiny that is needed to ensure quality All these endless surveys keep asking the same questions over and over so obviously either the answers are not taken into account or there is no capacity to address them. The main point is not how to improve the WBG as a place to work -- but how to improve the WBG as an effective institution. This can only happen by re-identifying ourselves as a development institution, not as a some kind of private sector corporation whose performance is measured by how much business expands. In spite of all the words I hear, the only bottom line is how much more investment we have done. I feel our institution should improvise further on client focus approach. this needs clear understanding of client needs and developing approach based on client's feed back on Bank's performance and what they expect Bank teams to deliver. Changing modality of deploying staffs, I believe it has to be either contract or permanent nothing more, beside this I value staffs based on their input and achievement of the twin goals of the World Bank Group I don't believe valuing staffs based on where they are from or where they are recruited or which region they belong. Though language is more important for efficient delivery and communication to the clients, it is also important to acknowledge staffs for knowing the substance on what they are doing and acting towards meeting their objectives. Too many things to change - I won't limit myself to [NUMBER] thing (but to # of words!): - I don't mind the outsourcing of activities to [Duty City], but do mind the quality of services provided. I dare you to do a survey and see the results. Those responding do not have often a clue of what we are talking about and they are supposed to help us. They are quick at asking for our UPI (for records purposes) but unable to call you back when we get disconnected. I was told one day "straight": I don't know the answer to your question let alone redirecting me. - TTLs hire STCs offering daily rates above what should be the right pay based on the resume. I often expected that HR would stop it, the contract went through as letter at the post office. Who to blame? both TTLs and Managers both approved; the latter is too busy to pick those issues and of course the [NUMBER]rd level check (HR) also does not care and approve since it was anyway approved by the manager (budget holder). - The ethics unit discouraged me - 103 - Change senior management. Low morale is pervasive. There is widespread agreement that [NAME] is problem # [NUMBER]: completely out of his depth and full of self-delusions. The enormous damage caused by his lack of technical ability to understand the work of development, combined with his tendency to make rash decisions, cannot be over-emphasized. Many believe he has done more harm to this institution than any other president in recent memory, Wolfowitz included. The culture of fear he continues to maintain means that information about the various ways in which this institution has become broken is not passed onto senior management. When inviting staff to provide feedback, he has even said he wants to hear good news. He has surrounded himself with mostly weak "yes men," after firing several. There are rumors about his renting a house in [Duty City] and trying to cover it up. The impression he gives is that of a technically weak, egotistical, vindictive, and even unethical president. I would like to see a more balanced working atmosphere in global practice groups, with IFC colleagues' voices and inputs being taken more seriously by the IBRD colleagues -- these inputs are based on concrete, hands-on and longtime engagement with clients on the ground, given that in many occasions IFC staff working in country offices on advisory projects have accumulated more real-life experience beyond the analytic / diagnostic nature of the IBRD colleagues' work. In global practice group, the expected or 'supposedly happen' collaboration between IBRD and IFC colleagues has been promoted by the very top level but not so much so by the manager level. Coming from IFC, myself and many of my colleagues feel like we are [NUMBER]nd class citizens of the GPG: our balancing inputs often time were noted but not incorporated, our participations in meetings and interactions with important external clients (who used to be our main counterparts prior to the internal changes) were limited. Allow CO staff to have a more role and to better listen to them More transparent Reorganization/Change - all Bank Staff should be more involved in decision making regarding the Bank's reorganization Reducing the number of internal transactions and meetings. Integrating & reducing the number of IT systems, and replacing them with user friendly ones (With user in mind). Reducing the number of internal reports, and reporting formats. An advantage of the WB has been its cross cultural nature, and it is of outmost concern that such survey is including questions on race, sexual orientation and nationality at birth, etc. that are usually collected where race and nationality are of serious concern. This is a low point for the Bank. Improve managerial capacity and promote a culture of ongoing open and honest feedback. We need to spend more time listening to clients and less time on cookie-cutter diagnostics and navel gazing. Do not change without consulting with the staff genuinely and seek their opinions seriously. .- Foster more internal mobility (within and between practices) and external mobility (leave in the interest of the WBG for [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] year periods with consulting firms, other development organization, universities...) of staff - Decentralize by creating regional WBG hubs. It is hard to rationalize for example the existence of WB staff scattered in [Duty City], [Duty City], [Duty City], Lisbon, [Duty City] and Marseilles instead of having one central office in Europe from which staff could cover AFRICA, MENA and ECA more easily. - Allow more possibilities for junior staff (GF level) to move to country offices. The questions in the survey are poorly designed. So here it is: Restructuring process has been appalling and has taken a toll on staff. Do not see any improvement related to the reorganization. Communications (or lack of) from VPs have been notoriously ineffective. It would be a good time to take a look at the effectiveness of senior management (including VPs) and make necessary cuts/adjustments. At the GP level, things have been in flux and, in spite of promises and high expectations, things are the same: total lack of transparency on recent management positions as well as Global Lead positions, the same old boys network still very much applies. Recruitment decisions are made based on who you know and not what you know: ([NUMBER]) Most PMs do not know the sectors they have been appointed to and, in addition, they do not seem to possess the management/people skills. ([NUMBER]) Most Global Leads are not the intellectual/technical leaders in their sectors. So very sad for our great institution. Listen to people who work in Country Offices before deciding on policies and procedures from [Duty City] - 104 - [NUMBER]. more listens and respect to the local staff as the bridging to the client not to be seen as the arm length of the government in the WB office. [NUMBER]. open and transparent career path development to the local hire staff [NUMBER]. give more opportunity to the local staff to be the TTL and more opportunity for promotion [NUMBER]. more communication between GP and CMU since some time the local staff is confuse, are We belong to the GP or to the country office and who should We report and give priority to?. [NUMBER]. More opportunity to work in other country within the GP and region, since some time the local staffs are judged they don't have the international experience. This is because they don't have the access NOT about the capacity. [NUMBER]. It is advised that the HR Unit in country office need to be strengthened therefore they can develop career path mapping for each of the staff. Listening to Staff Consideration of staff views, value regional office, value clients' views. We love the WBG as a great institution to work in development to serve the poor. Many of us joined this institution with this goal. Not money. Not titles. Not because of high academic and experience. But because we want to make a difference. This institution we love has extremely fallen short of key values that we preach our clients. No examples. No names. But this survey, if really commissioned to bring change, should seriously look into these issues. We see practice managers that exercise nepotism/discrimination in hiring/promoting/favoring more of specific country people and get away with it. Do a matrix of country of origin of HQ staff hires in specific units and you will get shocked (HR?). Some staff are bullied that they cannot work outside their regions or perform certain tasks. Others question whether we have the right TTL or not. Unethical values get unpunished (even very senior people get away with it). This must stop. Everyone in WBG needs equal treatment. reducing the internal review process, better listening to staff especially in country office, countries should be treated differently depends on its context. not on one size fit all approach. Today the Bank is a top down institution in which different opinions by staff towards management are not accepted. More listening to clients priorities and constraints I would LISTEN to people on the front lines, in country offices rather than in [Duty City] to make strategic decisions. The Bank has become more centralized and [Duty City]-centric in the last [NUMBER] years than before-what a loss and wasted opportunity for development. Managers promotion scrutiny. It is very important before promoting a Manager to get their current team's feedback and not only contact the listed references. also to check with the ethics representative at the office on internal complaints that have not been recorded or captured at higher level. also the reference to [NUMBER] and the fact that no Manager can access it to know who wrote what and then retaliate has to be reemphasized as there is a widespread mistrust in the [NUMBER] and a believe that a Manager can access it through HR. the fact that its administered independently has to be emphasized. it should be made mandatory that all Manager share their [NUMBER] with their staff. that is the only way to hold them accountable and make them think twice before exercising their authority. Overhaul HQ Global Practices in [Duty City]: eliminate HQ arrogance; be less theoretical and more pragmatic; listen to the technical views of staff in the field, including accepting differing points of view; strive to find "happy balance" solutions, based on calculated risk-taking, that effectively balance theory and practice and incorporate the views of the client/stakeholders; improve HQ management. Less requirement to consults and clear everything with everyone. The performance of support staff require a lot of discipline. The immediate boss should have more say in the evaluation of their performance. Make our sr. management care more about development (of citizens including the poor, the actual clients of WBG) than their turfs, egos and whims of so-called clients, i.e. high-ranking government officials. This remains a rare quality, which has been the story in the past too - so let's not conveniently blame it on the "change". If anything, the WBG goals have forced everyone to at least provide lip-service to poverty reduction; and the structural change has reduced the "every VPU an empire" syndrome that was in vogue before the change. To change behaviors, top mgmt need to (a) create incentives that are not "zero-sum", i.e. pitting GPs against Regions; (b) hold VPs accountable for impact of lending (and feedback of citizens), not just the volume of lending and disbursement - just like many school principals are being held accountable for learning impacts and NOT the no. of children in a school or the no. of happy school board members. - 105 - We continue to have a major problem in encouraging responsible risk-taking. Indeed, this problem has become significantly worse since the last survey, likely due to a climate of fear and uncertainty created by the Strategic Staffing exercise, the Expenditure Review, abrupt senior management changes, etc. I would ask Regional VPs to really listen to the client and respond to their needs. .- Performance evaluation should be revised; it is currently too opaque and allows the manager to interpret feedback received from feedback providers that may or may not accurately reflect said inputs. - Promotion should factor in the recommendations of more senior colleagues/ supervisors directly working with the staff and not just the manager as this biaseds evaluation in favor of individuals doing tasks that are more visible to the manager, notably those with a strong corporate orientation, and may not accurately account for the work done directly with client or cross-sectorally; - a measurement of cross-sectoral support should be devised at the staff level and factored-in performance evaluation and promotion. Fairness in assessing one's skill which should not only include technical skills but behavioral/attitude. High performers should be rewarded accordingly. It is my wish and dream that the vision for "equality" within the bank could be practiced. ACS (support staff) should be given top priority for career development rather than suddenly opening up the Program analyst with the age limit of not older than [NUMBER] years old. I was deeply disappointed when the announcement was sent out. I have thought ACS who have worked very hard and are high performers will be giving the support and opportunity for growth. I hope this survey will have hear the voices of our silent scream. Thank you. Managers are able to run units as their own personal fiefdoms with little oversight from senior management. Often times it appears that the institution rewards managers of poor character as demonstrated by frequent staff complaints. The institution should find better ways of incorporating [NUMBER] feedback, and develop a more disciplined approach to measuring managerial competence. Sometimes I get the impression from senior staff (I'm an E level) that it's not really worth it to develop junior staff. I've heard from senior team members that it would be better for junior staff to leave the institution to "skill up" and then come back. And while I agree that outside experience is valuable and helpful, I think comments like these are somewhat shortsighted and fail to see the opportunities that come from developing the staff that already exists. On this vein, I think the WBG could offer more formal mentorship opportunities where people could connect with others in their field and get career advice/feedback. For younger or incoming staff I wish it was easier to start a career at the WBG without having to be a STC first. It seems as if this was a given even if the functions you would be fulfilling are probably worth of a full time staff position. Somehow staff positions are regarded almost as a privilege while in my opinion if there are clear and sustained business needs then enough staff positions should be available. Also, I would like to have more clarity in terms of how I may advance my career within the WBG. What are my options? Are there specific carreer tracks? I believe more guidance in this regard is needed. My manger may be technically good but he is the wrong person to manage. His managerial incompetence and favoritism have led to the loss of confidence amongst staff and no clear path for career development. His lack of transparency and favoritism have negatively affected the morale of work. The one thing to change are managers who are not fit to manage. Bring back the [NUMBER] feedback, ensure that ALL STAFF working for a manager fill it and TAKE ACTION if the manager is not fit to manage. Management needs to take a page from successful private sector firms and other dynamic organizations and get serious about how the WBG uses its younger staff. There is a feeling within the Bank that you aren't worth listening to until you reach H level, and this is a massive waste of talent, energy and ideas. Focus on people's talents regardless of their grading. Talk less about collaboration, but instead start doing it and avoid using patronizing and disrespectful language when one part of the Bank Group talks about another. Instill transparency in career development and actively managed feedback loops. Sub Theme: Transparency No. of Sub Theme Comments: 91 I would Like the world bank to reduce the term contract for more open ended to give carrier security to staffs. clarify the line of command transparency More transparent incentives for teamwork, while still enabling individuals to excel and advance their careers Put an end to the "project approval" culture, be honest about project performance and impact. As long as this is not the case, the World Bank will continue to produce sub-standard projects. - 106 - provide staff with clarity on their career prospects: it's difficult to remain motivated and plan your career when you're on one renewable contract after the other...open ended contracts need to be reinstated better transparency in management decisions More openness, transparency; less talking, more actions I will create transparency on the reforms ongoing. Transparency Clarity on objectives, concrete steps to implement them. a spirit of openness and willingness to learn and adapt Transparency Improve transparency and honesty, make better use of staffing resources available. Value the staff-- at present this is a top down management with little transparency and utter disregard for staff inputs and participation People should stop managing up and trying to know and use all the buzz words to get projects through the bureaucracy but focus on what is required to achieve real development impact and this is possible. More transparency on decisions made. Better link between decisions and speech with the practice. [NUMBER]. Enforce the work life policy - or scrap it (be honest and say we didn't mean it) [NUMBER]. Continuous [NUMBER]-year term contracts create too much uncertainty in staff lives I would put in place comprehensive and transparent career growth plan in line with WBG needs to meet its objectives and including the conversion of fixe terms to open ended contract in order to give more opportunities to performing staff. At a personal level get clear input as to what is needed to improve chances towards promotion and career development. At a corporate level more clarity as to what it take to progress from grade to grade Increase transparency and better handling of employment status/issues More open communication from top management, especially with regards to changes. Improve clarity of purpose and action plan for the short, medium and long term On-going uncertainty around the unfolding reforms -- people are still guessing as to what comes the next... The decision making process should be more transparent, whether sequencing of projects, or promotions of colleagues, seem to be expeditiously done. More information sharing by management Transparency for promotion and staffing. Be transparent More clarity and perspectives for career development for young staff. For example on retention rates after a JPO. Stop reversing good initiatives from the past (e.g., span of control, FPD reorganization under the previous VP, using TRS to ensure a better allocation of human resources to tasks, adequate BB for TA and analytical work at the country level, ..), changing management structures every year, so staff and clients have the opportunity to show results with long term development objectives as a priority and not just corporate internal objectives With the change in structure, second reporting manager's interactions have shrunk and staff are now limited to interact with their managers only. May be to do with span of control issue which need to be addressed. [NUMBER]. Reduce and streamline number of people simple checking others' work, and an increase in the number (especially at junior levels) who are actually doing work. We can produce quality work as a team if incentives are aligned and everyone is in the trenches, rather than a few people working, and many others playing simply a compliance function. The organization needs to change from a top-down central planning model, to a more inclusive, flatter organization with clearly delegated decision-making responsibilities. [NUMBER]. More open discussion of failures and successes, clearer communication of strategy from top down, and more transparency around management decisions. [NUMBER]. More openness to mid-career entrants, and their ideas; better ways to attract young people, outside of the YPP scheme which is elitist. - 107 - More transparency Less propaganda, less messaging, being more practical Provide staff with a more predictable and transparent career trajectory. Create a culture and mechanism to promote honesty and integrity. Transparency and open communication of senior management decisions. Senior management accountability for error and bad decisions. [NUMBER]. To be transparent is to be transparent. As a staff we feel the management sent out mix messages. In particular relating to strategic staffing. Please be more clear on the strategy. No hidden agenda. [NUMBER]. Business today is not business as usual. As part of Global Practice Group, we feel that Country Office may see us as group of scoundrels that needs disciplines. It is hard to engage with clients with this kind of attitude. Foster more clear responsibilities for units and teams to avoid overlaps and limit unproductive competition of egos. Transparency. Empower staff and promote transparency and accountability (particularly in the career management) I think the Bank should be transparent in performance evaluation and work assignment: staff should have right to know who are the "performers" identified by the management on what basis. when there is potential work opportunities available, every staff should be aware and compete for it, not assigned by managers secretly. Honesty and integrity of words and actions of top management of WBG Ensure that only competent, responsible and honest personnel constitute the WBG and they are transparent in their actions and held accountable for results. Transparency Fairness and openness between management and their team Transparency Create a more open environment for discussing what's working and what's not working. Management culture has evolved to the point where adhering to the official line is the way to survive and advance, and there is little basis or incentive for presenting contrary views. Conduct performance assessment of GP management; where management performance problems are identified, take resolute and escalating action to resolve the problems underlying the weak performance (e.g. highly political and non-transparent decision-making). More clarity on a career development track for IFC advisory staff. Management to be fair, transparent, and honest with staff. Allow travel on business class especially for country staff that travel significantly in region imposing a high health risks and exposed to Extreemly low quality and safety airlines. As management in [Duty City] not effected they care less to review the travel class policy for specific groups and staff needs. Reduce practice management span of control, currently completely crazy [NUMBER] direct reports ... Better clear dissemination of information, less uncertainty in appointments. Track record of transparent decision making will improve the internal work environment at the WBG. Transparency; less politics Be transparent in matters of career advancement! More transparency on how decisions are made. More transparency regarding promotion decisions would be important Openness and keeping the patronizing behaviours in check Transparency. Management says they are being transparent, but then when asked how a process was transparent they cannot justify it. I am not talking about my PM but higher levels. To be more fair and transparent in promotion and career development. Organize staff in project teams, have TTLs actually supervise their team members, change our office space to enable teams to work together (open spaces, more interaction). Promote transparency. - 108 - Make processes and decision-making more transparent. Stop with the continuous change; be transparent, open and acknowledge that the changes have not all resulted in better outcomes. Greater transparency, especially on the ongoing strategic staffing exercise. We need more young people here. (Note: I am not a young person.) I find that we often lack a certain energy and dynamism. When I visit other workplaces in the U.S. in the tech space (my area), the dynamism and openness to new things and willingness to share and collaborate are palpable. Here: Not really. transparency More transparency in what people think and do. We all need more clarity on the change process. Right now we are still not clear how we are expected to work in the new team. I have my individual objectives but many other work related aspects are unclear. I would like to see this place to become more transparent, really see that care for good workers ans encourage their growth within the Bank. I would like to see someone who really has the capacity to direct people in the right career path. To provide transparent and clear career development opportunities equally to everyone. More transparency and inclusiveness of the workers in the decisions Procedures should be simplified to speed up action. They are often too complex. WB documents should be limited in length, including annexes and repetitions of paragraphs forbidden. An approach more focused on delivering projects is needed. TTL I know all say that procedures take the biggest share of their time. HR should be forbidden to use acronyms on its answering machines for they are not understandable for newcomers The annual assessments need to be more transparent and objective and technical work need to find more space as a basis of good performance. i While I understand the WBG is re-organizing, by now some clarity of work objectives at the unit level should emerge and those should be communicated to staff clearly. It appears even managers do not have clarity on objectives and direction of the unit. Sometimes I wonder who is in charge? More transparency on the hiring processes (eg. manager positions) Allow more transparency in decision making Clarity of roles Ensure that there are clear roles adn responsibilities in WBG Improve transparency More clarity and information on work related changes Managing a meeting or coordinating an event venue should be improved. (booking a room, requesting all associated services - transparent/cost/time/accountability etc) Improve transparency and accountability Ensure a more transparent, fair, and competitive system of internal candidates selection/promotion. More transparency and more opportunities for growth. The WBG has become a very flat organization, it is really unfortunate. Transparent communication between management and staff level. Be more honest with ourselves. Correct mistakes in a timely manner and move forward. Transparency, fairness and accountability. More transparency, more honesty Clarify the roles and responsibilities of units since it seems they are adding layers. Sub Theme: Methods/Channels No. of Sub Theme Comments: 25 Please continue on communicating the changes as effectively as possible! Communication interfaces and support to make them work effectively The number of emails daily received without evident usefulness Country offices staff well informed as the Head quarters Staff on various regulations - 109 - More communication from senior management Effective Communication between HQ and Country Office. Better communication between management and staff. More communication among people. Make knowledge more easily accessible on the intranet. Also: stronger decentralization to country offices Communicate, communicate and communicate to staff on everything happening in the WBG. Senior management provide open communication channels with the field base staff. Despite their good intensions it is difficult for them to get to know the ground realties. More guidance and mentoring to newcomers. More effort by management to make the best use of staff. More communication Individuals in Management positions should have stronger human management skills and abilities. I love my job and I love working for the bank. But the lack of good leadership at the manager level cascades down to a team full of conflict. That leaves us to work very independently and not discuss and interact as much. MORE Time devoted to THINK. To enjoy debate conversations around projects and topics among Regional economist and TTLs. The analytics in the bank at higher levels are rather disconnect from the projects design. the Poverty reports and the Data, the WDR should be use efficient to INFORM next generation of projects. Regional Economist should ask the TTLs what do they feel is important to analyze instead they pick topics without consultation so there is no connection between this important analysis and the operations. Reduce email load. to do more and strong communication between staff. In the last year it is like a dozen of same exercises (regional tables, MFM macro, macro-pverty notes, country snapshots, country briefs , GEP just to name the few) performed in different formats for different units in the Bank and nobody sees this except us working on these, and all at the same time. Some improved synchronisation and better coordination will help us being more efficient and effective as well. Improve communication at all levels Give the CCSAs a country-related operational mandate, give clearer leadership guidance on what is expected from CCSAs, give them the appropriate mandate and procedures to work on it and instruct all GPs to align themselves accordingly. Better communication on things that are going to be changed. These changes of the Global Practices have been affected in my daily work basis. improve communication The procedures to complete a tasks require too many reviews, i.e. decision making meetings or peer reviews, so that limits timely actions and creative ideas for contextualised solutions. enhance communications between HQ and COs Work place in [Duty City] is casteist to an extent. I don't understand why we allow ADs on the notice board that says "i will rent my house to my community people only". The Demopgraphics within a team is closely aligned with the demography of its Team leader/Manager. Theme: Sub Theme: Managing Change No. of Comments: Job Security 184 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 91 Create more jobs for intermediate level employees. Do away with the concept of limited period contracts, especially ETC. Give the employees longer term contracts so that they feel comfortable to speak up, are inspired to give their best to an institution that cares, and do not worry about next contract extension every single year. Our goal is a longterm goal, and one and two-year contracts do nothing else but undermine the achievement of that goal. Give more opportunities to ACS staff. I feel that there is no room for growth. I believe that we could be incorporated in other capacities and that we are limited to repetitive tasks. I would be interested in career development opportunities. Also, the length of the temporary contracts doesn't provide stability and with all the changes taking place I don't feel I have job security. - 110 - Retain high-performing ETCs and remove barriers to career growth for more junior staff. Get rid of the various contract levels that create a constant state of uncertainty and inability to plan in advance. There is a huge lack of job security. Strategic demotions and redundancies Bring equality to the staff appointments - there should NOT be people doing the same work with same qualifications but on totally different job conditions/benefits/security. The WBG should provide more information on process change and each unit mapping. Regarding the staff contract it should be [NUMBER]-year contract signed rather than [NUMBER] year because it will give more job security to staff and confidence that we work in the WBG we save our life. The staff should feel secure about their job and career prospects. Instead of hiring consultants, training of the existing staff might be more effective. Addressing career development and employment fairness/security needs for STCs/ETCs/young staff Improve job security and make pay+benefits competitive The uncertainty the type of contracts ( automatic conversion from term to open ended subject to performance should apply) Job security to the staffs by providing Regular / Open ended contracts. need to be Job security for all level Give open/ended contracts to holders of term contracts I feel that internal bureaucracy, processes and procedures often limit the WBG's ability to effectively serve its clients. Simplification of those, e.g. a scenario where senior management's approvals are required only in exceptional cases, could be of significant help. I also believe that more opportunities for internal career development should be provided, e.g. the proportion of open-end VS short/extended term contracts should be significantly increased. Similarly, there may be need to revisit rules for those shorter assignments. There is a tendency at the Bank to make excessive use of STCs, including for WBG retirees who in some cases receive extraordinarily high rates. Also, the [NUMBER]-day limit still provide room for consultants to work full-time on a certain assignments, whilst enjoying very little job security and practically no benefits. As an alternative, the day cap could be reduced significantly e.g. to [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] days/year, and the [NUMBER]-year limit on ETCs could be removed. Greater visibility for carreer development and Open Ended contracts (to "belong" to the WGB) secure jobs for staff Remove the [NUMBER] days limit for STCs. Most of our consultants have to stop their work in April every year or work for free. What private company would limit its ability to deliver in this way. It does not make any sense. Abolish STC contract or extend to the full year, providing reasonable benefits! Enhance job security for the staff better job security Improve local contracts. Attract more young talents. To end the fear of losing job because of ongoing reorganization. the type of contracts Term contracts should be made open ended. Provide more job security, i.e. do away with term contracts to ensure equality between open-ended and term staff. More stable contracts. Make it easier to fire underperforming GG and GH staff who are on open-ended contracts. Replace term contracts with open-ended after successfully completing the first term. The uncertainty towards the end of a term contract is unsettling and undignified. offer long term contracts for term staffs to provide job security. More long term contract so that to have time to deliver more results - 111 - Insecurity. Eliminate term contracts Better employment security More young people with better contracts. Motivate performing staff with some assurance of continuity, so that people are not so worried about losing their jobs and can focus on the tasks at hand. At the same time, have a strategy for getting rid of the perpetual nonperformers, many of whom are sitting pretty on open-ended contracts yet adding little or no value to the Bank's mission. Change the environment of uncertainty. Make people sure that they belong here, unafraid that they will lose their jobs, and you will see better performance. I have seen this uncertainty distract people from what is actually important - the work. More job stability/security for staff (young and medium career staff), not saying maintain poor performers, but as it is now medium career staff are always looking for alternative opportunities and not [NUMBER]% focus on their work given contract will end in [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] years. Change its policy regarding the use of open ended contracts. The STC rates for consultants should be similar, not lower, to the ones used by other IFIs (EBRD for example). More mentoring to young staff and more job security Improved job security - less use of term and consultant contracts Support for families, especially in terms of access to child care options that are affordable and good quality. The childcare center at the bank is great but has limited space for new children. It is really hard in the [Duty City] area to get a spot at a good daycare. Fix term appointments! The institution has to show that it really values its employees by offering them the kind of benefit packages and employment contract that allow them to have some peace of mind, to plan adequately for their families, etc. We have very stressful jobs that take a lot of time away from our families and often take a toll on our health. I think most of us are passionate about the work we do at the WBG, but job security should not be something we have to worry about. Expand open-ended contracts to well-performing staff with more than [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years of experiences working in relevant business lines. Review of the market-based compensation system for countries with dysfunctional markets or no market at all. Enhanced carreer development opportunities for LRS by ending discrimination due to nationality or origin and type of contract (IRS Vs LRS). I'd like to see enhanced empowerment and participation for all staff, plus enhanced accountability, mentoring and guidance directly provided to staff as managers' responsibility. Eliminate redundant layers (CMU coordinators, leads ...) which creates communication gaps between manager and his/her direct report, plus limiting staff to provide rapid response to clients. Eliminate redundant, cumbersome, useless and idle automated systems for counting beans, such as PRIMA [NUMBER], with a value added close to zero when it comes to assisting staff to deliver. Change the culture of what is it it for me to please my boss (inward looking), to what is it it for the country(ies) I work for, so that we (together) can finally take the poor out of poverty. Job security: Make contract length performance based : allow open ended contract to serious, committed, hard working, and performing staff. Provide staff with a sense of security: security in their jobs and future, in particular many are on G-[NUMBER], security in taking risks, security in working with a certain degree of freedom and lastly get rid of hierarchical attitude and behaviour. people should have more secure/longer term contracts - i.e. contracts should not be extended only few days before expiration - 112 - In respect of diversity and inclusion, bring job security and re-entry provisions for women having children into line with those typical in OECD countries. Remove uncertainty regarding job security by converting term-contracts to open-ended. Reduce the number of types of staff contracts, and make local staff comfortable compared to other colleagues. Opportunities for advancement of younger (<[NUMBER]) staff. Job security/opportunities for consultants. Consider all professional staff in same platform, either all contractual or all open ended to provide better sense of security. Move from term to open-ended contracts Maybe WBG should provide a better job security, especially an opportunity to be permanent staff for the ETC that has been doing good performance on his/her job. Career development and job security Could do something or manage differently work precarity (shot term or termed contract) that create both insecurity and biased professional behavior (want-to-keep-my-job attitude). Follow up on such contract is poor : last minute notification, no proper and fair performance management. Stop threatening us with job redundancy and start matching people's actual skills with tasks across the institution there is enough to do for most of us, but with [NUMBER] boxes, and duplicate management layers, the place has lost of lot of its efficiency (and morale). Term appointment is a strain on staff. Short term extension of one or two years affects the working of the staff. It is suggested to make more open ended appointments so that th staff is free from job insecurity wordiness. I believe the Bank's biggest asset is the quality and diversity of its staff. The staff needs job security to fully and sustainably engage in development. Some staff believe that becoming part of a strong clique or group of influential staff members is the best way to guarantee job security at the Bank than sheer hard work and contributions to the Banks goals. [NUMBER]. Offer competitive salary; [NUMBER]. Provide opportunities for career advancement based on merit; and [NUMBER]. Provide job security by offering open-ended appointments to staff who have proven themselves after two contract extensions With the recent changes, it is becoming harder to find stable employment as a young professional at the beginning of her career at the Bank. The Analyst Program offers stable positions to only a small portion of young, highly qualified people. Many TTLs abuse the short-term contracts: young staff are paid considerably less for the complicated, and analytical work they produce, they are in many cases asked not to charge some days that they worked, they don't have job security. In the flipside, many managers don't have adequate information on potential ways available to them to hire young people. The Analyst Program is a start but not a real solution given that only about [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] people will be hired per year. The argument that the young people don't want stable jobs is a bogus one given that many are forming relationships in these years with prospects for starting a family or paying student loans. Like all institutions, the WB is not perfect but it is a great place to work. What I personally find disturbing is that personnel with the same level of skills and the same work are treated differently from the point of view of the type of contract leading to disparities in pay, benefits, etc. Term employees have no job security nor can they use their employment to develop long term plans in their lives such as having access to loans for periods for longer than [NUMBER] years for major purchases such as a home, etc. Offer better stable positions to people who work hard. Ensure job security to enable staff members to take long term decisions about their personal life. A clear career path and job security for the Trust Funded Term staff like myself. It includes an opportunity to be trained for a continued skills improvement and a chance to take another positions for job variety after some years working in the same position and project. Employee evaluation for ETC contracts Job Security Give staffs opportunity to talk openly without fear/threat of losing their job More flexibility with employees with changing ETC contracts for high performance staff to term contracts will be appreciated. - 113 - Reform the whole contracts architecture. Open-ended contracts More Flexibility in the leave system for Extended Term Temporaries and be allowed to apply for DIASs and other jobs within the Bank. And if an ETT has shown exemplary work to be automatically absorbed and given a better contract this will provide security for the person. Greater period of term appointments with staff who have been in the Bank for [NUMBER] years or more to ensure some job security and take away the feeling of a sword changing over one's head after every [NUMBER] years. job security/clarity I would make sure all staff have open ended contracts. I will want to remove layering of processes which makes system non transparent and leads to hidden unemployment in the organization. Layering also leads to working more for internal customers than working for external customers and hence slowly and steadily making our organization ineffective. The cause for which all of us work is great but the way organization works makes simple things look complex. Consolidation is important but not at the cost of actual work at the field. With increased processes (whether formal or informal), the management principle of organization before self is also compromised as each employee starts to justify their contribution in the system. Doing away with multiple layers, which might mean reduction in staff, is necessary before the whole organization becomes redundant. I would covert the term contracts to open ended contracts (or convert open ended contracts to terms contracts) so that staff are treated equally and feel secured with full ownership of WB's mission at work. Improve job security/stability in a way that it will enable employees to focus on their jobs and INSPIRE (not motivate) them to grow further. Developing clearer career paths would help. the institution should not have most of its staff on term-contracts but graduate those with more than [NUMBER] years of continuous service and OPE ratings of [NUMBER] and [NUMBER] to open-ended contracts Fire the non-performers instead of letting go of the young (STCs), the new (term contracts) and the good ones (the ones with attractive offers elsewhere are the ones we need to keep). Greater job security - i.e. no more Term contracts that are extended on a yearly basis Clarity in career development and job security and value people's committment to their jobs and the WBG more rather than use it against them Simplify the contracts. Too many contract types, people doing the same work for different pay, benefits and levels of job security. STCs are frequently used in what should be staff roles and HR doesn't seem to acknowledge this. Changing STC rules without addressing headcount won't solve the problem. Offer more long term or open ended contracts in order to attract and retain excellent talent. Two year term contracts do not provide a sense of job security and this may affect performance as well I would extend the terms of contracts. Having to worry of whether or not you are going to keep your job ever [NUMBER] months is counterproductive. Abundance of STC contracts. They're are cheap but discourage young talent from staying at the bank. The WBG is immensely exploitative when it comes to short term consultants. Many of my colleagues and friends are STCs and are expected to work full-time jobs without benefits or job security. This is particularly shameful since STCs do the majority of the institution's work. Furthermore, many STCs are relatively junior. If there isn't a better system for mobility then the WBG is losing out in terms of the innovation and efficiency that younger colleagues provide. If they do not move up in the system, then the WBG will continue to be a top heavy institution that is completely disconnected from new, fresh and more relevant perspectives. Also, who will take over if we do not invest in our junior colleagues? I would create better career options and better job security for the very large crop of ETCs and STCs. Sub Theme: Stability or Constant Change No. of Sub Theme Comments: 59 changes some of the petty rules that were introduced to limit stop over while on mission, or rest and recuperation. change the senior management - this institution and its goals are not about THEM personally, that message hasn't become clear yet, it seems For staff about the change, more inspiration, less fear. - 114 - The whole change process has demotivated many colleagues around to work at their best, this has a ripple effect and work has been impacted. Not sure how this can be changed. stop trying to fix things that are not broken! Provide clear career pathways and improve job stability for well-performing staff and consultants I think all staff have change fatigue and those who were enthusiastic about the changes being for the better cannot tell that it has. Improve job stability to deserving/performing staff by removing "term" status Better coordination across global practices and streamlining processes to simplify procedures. We need a long term contract to have stability not only in our work but also in our personal life The salary of staff in the country office need to be aligned with the salary of staff in the headquarter Replace top management with people who understand WBG's work and mission, and are able to design and implement change. Move away STCs and ETCs and offer staff more certainty .- replace "speed (in all we are doing)" and "perpetual change" as key values by "sound and informed decisions and actions". This will result in: - deeper sense of meaning - more clarity - higher individual and collective commitment Have clearer action plan when major changes occur Term contracts do not provide staff with a sense of work stability and make some nervous getting to the end of the contract expiration. I recommend that after the first term contract, if staff are found to meet the minimum delivery requirements they should be signed on as permanent, Ensure ways for staff to change to a different GP if there is an appropriate skills match (the only chance was the remapping exercise about a year ago) Convert term staff to open-ended SENIOR MANAGEMENT, ESPECIALLY THE PRESIDENT, SHOULD TRULY VALUE THE STAFF, be honest, be transparent and SHOULD NOT manage by fear or reprisal. They should practice what they preach and say only what they mean and mean what they say! We should not change for the sake of changing --- when it's not broken don't fix it! Let's truly put our resources where it will really make a difference, let's stop wasting money on superficial things that we think would make us look good! Beautifying the building (e.g., wasting money on stickers on the floor and on the walls) and renovating Senior level offices will not end poverty. Change in the Senior Management team! More bottom-up change. Do not rush into change just for the sake of it. Have informed analytics before rocking the whole institution. Less bureaucracy. Actually this is changing by streamlining procedures. Good! Remove the use of term contract. All staff on term contract for more than [NUMBER] years should be converted into open ended. Practical, feasible ideas for effective change management towards modernizing WBG approaches to be aligned with the changed contexts since the inception of IBRD, which would help make IBRD more efficient, effective, responsive and relevant. Simplify and reduce layers of procedures, and avoid continuous changes (personnel rotation, unit organization, CMU geographical scope, procedures, roles ...) Reduce the amount of change Stop the fancy window dressing and focus on real reforms: I.e. the hard an tedous work of streamlining cumbersome processes and bringing the institution closer to the client by decentralizing it. Transparency and clarity to staff in implementing changes and holding managers accountable for their actions/decisions. Focus on client needs and business, more streamlining of internal procedures. Still too many poorly qualified managers in operations. Change the senior management team. - 115 - Change the management. Wrap up the Change Initiative I would provide employment stability. The change process needs to come to closure. Stop with the changes now. I will give stability to the employees’ careers. The most important is to finish the change to GPs We talk about simplifications, but the policy decision makers do not give weight to the operational staff experience. So if the Bank could more operational staff with good experience and good standing to work when policy changes are discussed. Less change and less GPs Be more evaluation oriented in assessing the managerial changes. Change the matrix management system which does not work in the country office. I see that it does not work not only for myself but also for my other colleagues. change the people to change the culture. When systems are being changed, the end users should be consulted with. operational procedures: more simplification/streamlining needed stability Clear definition of project team members and their responsibilities that should include people from task responding units, support units, oversight units, and advisory units. Stop focusing on ever-changing procedures only, allow the nurturing of teams instead. Bring the human element back into this game of development. Until we become 'one accountable team' rather than riding on the shoulders of TTLs, there is no hope going forward. People can influence the development effectives positively only by knowing that they are in a team which is held accountable collectively and no individual is working alone. Put an end to stupid initiatives that pander to what the management believes the President wants and have the courage of their convictions to argue the case when it is merited. Stop messing with the internal organogram. [NUMBER] years of change is enough. change term contract to open ended after few years of staff good performance More transparency about the changes in benefits and working conditions. Greater certainty of job continuity. Improve job stability (stop short [NUMBER] year contracts) and improve transparency on hiring/ discontinuation of contracts.. I would work with the client to identify points of intervention rather than decide what the client needs. I would also work with the client to build their capacity rather than have consultants who are unable to transfer skills and when they leave the initiatives introduced by the bank collapse. I would use staff more, and the NGOs less because their operational costs are very high. Stop uncertainty. Put an end to all the "changes" . Declare immediately: everything is done and allow business to continue 'as usual'. stop the endless change. ask the shareholders to recapitalize. Creating an organizational culture that truly prioritizes supporting countries rather than what individuals in the organization see as priority and thus can change frequently Keep the institutional arrangement stable for a while, say five years? Have management (starting at director and senior director and above) STOP be focused only on those above and make their primary focus on Bank staff at the working level. It is quite amazing for management to talk about all the "change" but it is what affects their work but DO NOT take actions and focus on what the average staff needs. The organization is a success or failure based on the work of the average staff not those of management Culture change that values honesty and competence over arrogance. job stability - 116 - Stop messing around with change and let us all get back to work. Sub Theme: Restructure or Relocation No. of Sub Theme Comments: 34 The restructuring led to more silos. To remove these or at least make them less painful, appoint VPs who understand Bank business and have a strong operational background. Go beyond rhetoric and papering over issues and deal effectively with real issues. E.g., the goal of the reorganization was cooperation yet while GPs happily organize joint BBLs to show "working together" in reality they are sinking back into silo mentality that existed maybe [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years ago. stop the destructive, morale sapping, open ended and negative reorganisation that is patently going nowhere and bring some sense into the organisation. MAKE STAFF HIRING AND PROMOTIONS FAIR, TRANSPARENT AND SCRUTINISE Finalize restructuring immediately. Announce managers and leads. Staff need to know the organizational structure. Back to normal! Consolidate GP/CCSA into meaningful groups, i.e., too many structures and no standards across. Ending frequent re-organizations and office moves. It is highly disruptive to work. Get rid of the GP structure and CCSs Tap on peoples potential and interest by removing silos. It should be easy for people to move across departments based on their interest and capability. Accelerating and finalizing the current reform which is negatively impacting everyone. Finish the reorganization! The Bank should finalized the reorganization agenda as soon as possible to gain the trust from donors. Because of not clear picture, where the Bank will be leading, people are not comfortable in working with the institute. Turn back time to before the reorganization and before the appointment of the current President Too much restructuring, too much internal change, too little focus on client needs and desires!!! The constant churning as a results of the reorganization as been pointless and destabilizing. It should be finished expeditiously so staff can focus on real work. It would be really nice if reforms focused on the main problems identified rather than using a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and letting the shards fly off, breaking everything that did work. Decentralization/decision making at regional offices. There seems to be a shift back to centralization as a result of the restructure. move staff term contracts to open ended contracts Finish the reorganization ASAP. .- Current office arrangements are not facilitating the functioning of the global practices; we are spread over too many places and de facto operate by region, as before. The suggestion is to co-locate Practice staff together. - Promotions are too often based on the length of employment within the Bank, with previous experience discarded altogether. This may enhance internal cohesion but limits our ability to renew ourselves and be creative. The suggestion is to specifically and explicitly value experience outside of the Bank more strongly when selecting candidates for promotion. Improve professional career. This is a knowledge Bank, so moving good technical people as managers as only way to grow have no sense. After this reorganization, nothing is yet clear to the staff. Our global lead reports to some other manager than whom his staff is reporting to. The restructuring has dragged on too long and left many colleagues unclear about their roles and responsibilities and lacking confidence in senior management. Flatten the structure, drastically, vertically between levels and horizontally between HQ and country offices. Top management (ie the President) needs to recognize that the reorganization was a missed opportunity, is a failure and find a way to fix the mess. Unless this is recognizes as a huge mess, we will continue to apply band aid to Ebola virus instead of containing the problem Seriously focus on knowledge generation. Analytical, research and knowledge work is getting crushed by the reform. - 117 - To finally complete the reorganization This drawn out poorly implemented reorganisation that seems to have delivered very few gains at a huge cost of disruption, poor morale, centralization of decision-making in the GP that has become authoritarian. The flexible work arrangements are being made much less flexible by the State Department changes on G[NUMBER] visa rules. Reformulating its mandate (ending poverty and shared prosperity is too broad to be addressed effectively). my only wish is for all staff relocating from country offices to Head office to be given the same relocation benefits regardless of their grade. Review salaries for grade A-D. The $[NUMBER] metro complementary fee should be increased. Encourage knowledge production which promotes immediate decision actions for reforms. The institution needs a flatter organizational structure. Hierarchy stifles the ability of staff to deliver. This multilayered hierarchy is getting more entrenched with the re-organization. There are simply too many layers of administration and approvals. The reform has only made this worse. Move past the seemingly endless reform activities and allow time for real development work. Having good supporting systems would be a big plus as well. complete the Global Practice restructuring Theme: Customer/Client Service No. of Comments: 157 Reduce the number of high management and increase the number of mid-level people so that we can still cut costs and at the same time improve our ability to respond to the needs of our clients. Focus on client needs and respond to them. Aligning our act to this objective would clarify the direction. I wish people would advance in this place because they care about their clients and have delivered great work for them, and not because they are better at internal Bank politics. People think the Bank is a great thing from the outside so sometimes I feel proud to be here, but once you are inside everything changes. I care about development and there are many exciting jobs that have much more impact than this one. After two years here, the only reason I am considering staying is for the american visa. Simplify our procedure to allow better serve the client. Align investment and efforts with the twin goals. Clearly define if the WBG is still a development organization, including IBRD and IFC, and accordingly, focus on a serving the client needs and not provide off the shelf solutions from a distance. Reach out to the clients, constantly and consistently. Dismantle the HQ giant and become an effective and agile development organization that has strong local presence. Strengthen quality control function for project design and deliverables; Introduce a framework for reviewing missed opportunities in serving clients; I wish that the staff evaluation change. Manager can get information from government or clients, NOT ONLY from WBG staff Focus on the client more as opposed to internal navel-gazing. Give everyone in the institution at least a single opportunity to experience development on the ground. If we see first-hand how our work delivers impact to those most in need of it, there would be no stronger incentive for "doing our best work". foster an environment that has better links between performance, client orientation and promotion. internal visibility is a waste of time however very important. Amount of time it takes to deliver project to clients. More sensible and flexible to clients needs Move the ECA VP to Europe so we can work in the same time zone as our client and travel more often. More decentralized, more client-focused, more nimble I would implement a much quicker firing procedure for under-performers . I think we should get rid of those who are not pro-active , who do not care of result and to keep the best client oriented employees. More flexible and effective internal procedures to respond timely to clients needs Consistency between the speech and practice, for example, be faster in response to our clients demand. - 118 - To be more specific, I will talk about procurement which is an excellent implementation tool for any budget or project. One important issue is that task-team leaders and other technical task-team members (i) feel not to be involved in procurement transactions and reviews, and (ii) are not providing the procurement specialists with adequate support during procurement preparation, procurement reviews and procurement implementation. On the Borrower’s side, the same behavior exists with the technical team and procurement specialists and this affects drastically the preparation and the execution of the budget. Knowing that procurement and anti-corruption programs play a critical role in improving service delivery to Client Countries, the Bank should be able to inverse the tendency so that procurement is seen and used as great teamwork gathering technical, financial, procurement, legal and other specialities. In this direction, the Bank will better contribute in developing client countries. Efficiency. The WBG is created to serve the client, not itself. There seems to be too much focus on the "self" in practice. It is not an efficient and client focused and oriented organization (though the talk is always about that). Thank you, A culture of "nepotism", favoritism, and lack of meritocracy in promotions. Transparency and accountability is a major issue. We preach to client countries what we ourselves do not do. This is a case of hypocrisy. [NUMBER]) The organisation places excessive emphasis on knowledge champions which breeds arrogance and individualistic behaviour. There needs to be greater emphasis on delivery to the client - even if it means using more "humble" or 'nuts & bolts' interventions. It would also foster collaboration (which is otherwise diluted because everyone wants to be a "guru" instead of a team player). [NUMBER]) There are endless number of BBLs/ Talks/ Panel Discussions organised - supply in [Duty City] - the purpose of which is not always clear. The repeated notifications clutter our Inboxes and also consume a lot of time in sifting through the material. There should be some check on the number of such events and the number of notifications sent out. time consuming internal processes refrain us from working closer to the client Have a better system to incentivise collaborative effort, openness, good professional values and ethics, and eliminate individualistic behavior that doesn't focus on the client or the organization. Cut internal/procedural demands, simplify, allow teams to focus on client Practice what we preach to clients. Internal processes and on time delivery to clients Regional management should focus on external client engagement and not upward management of bosses greater decentralization for closer client engagement Many ACS at different level are not doing their works in a timely basis and this is very bad to be effective in our delivery to our clients, and it seems that the new strategy encourages more qualified staff in high level to leave than unqualified staff in low level. More focus on clients and success stories within the Institution The goal of the WBG should be re-allied to focus delivery to the external client. Of late, the internal organization driven output is increasingly becoming the focus of operations. We are becoming our own clients and the efforts are overly focused towards feeding the internal systems and creating internal visibility and showcasing the work done. The organization should trust its employees that they are working towards the goals of the organizations, instead of asking them time and again to create visibility of their work in-order to prove that they are doing something effective…that to the group of people who are detached from the actual ground level work and challenges. The senior management should re-focus on the fact that we are a non-profit organization in development sector, hence should concentrate on developing policies, procedures which and conducive for us in developing our technical edge in the sector. Create accountability and client orientation - 119 - I would like to change "Animal Farm" culture of doing things and embrace a positive way of looking at the development challenges - using the available skills to address them to the extent possible! I believe that each unit within the WBG has some space to apply their skills and ideas in many of the developing countries and it is the attitude of those presented with the challenge that will determine how it all plays out. For example, for any given sector, there is need for both public and private active participation to ensure full productivity hence based on this understanding, it is possible to have the WBG (IFC, MIGA, IBRD) work together to produce relevant interventions depending on the need! Our FOCUS on the client needs to be upheld by each and every one if indeed we are going to achieve the desired goal of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. Abandon the reform - the new structure has inherent contradictions Stop navel-gazing and refocus on client Reduce management layers and numbers Unleash the technical knowledge the bank has - stop hindering it SMT to realize their actions and deeds have and are creating a deep cynicism in the institution Focus more helping clients rather than on ourselves (never ending org change in this case) Give TTLs more decision-making authority at the project level and make all Management staff have at least one noninternal client to understand the transaction costs of working with the WBG. Build trust between senior management and staff with better communication. In the change process, the senior management was unable to explain to staff that what this change entails which created mistrust. The new structures are now in place but the staff is questioning what has been achieved and what impact did it have on our business and clients. However, there are no answers with the senior management. There is too much coordination needed for something to happen. Collaboration and coordination are good things, but we have reached to the other extreme that has become chaotic in practice. It seems that the organization is not designed to support operations, it is designed to allocate risks and manage stakeholder expectations. A more balanced approach will improve efficiency. We are still too internal client facing. Even with the good work on simplification, the process tendency returns in other areas -- a lot of which is now related to integration across the [NUMBER]GP/[NUMBER]CCSA. I work very hard since I started the Bank but there is no career stream for ACS, I don't feel that management even knows everything we deal with, from operations to dealing daily with clients, human resources, disbursements, legal, I feel that if I worked in the private sector I would have been promoted for all what I do here in the Bank, but only executive assistants get grade D, we need an incentive. The toxic environment needs to be addressed. This change is all anyone ever talks about and it is impacting on how we can deliver to the clients. If we could increase specifically in our internal communications. Also, reduce the number of internal learning events (BBLs, meetings, etc.) and focus on imparting more learning to our clients. Reduce hierarchy and delegate decision making to to those who are close to the client More focused on the clients' needs, rather than talking more but doing less; improving internal management efficiently and effectively, rather than creating jobs internally but reducing the overall efficiency. Make all staff directly responsible for delivery to client -- simplify the management structure so that subject matter experts report to managers who are directly responsible for client engagement (for instance in the VPUs). The current structure with the GPs not reporting to regional CPUs makes (a) makes response to clients too indirect and dependent on the senior management of each GP; (b) increases time needed for critical decision making with having to seek alignment between VPU and GP; (c) slows down careers by making cross-GP movements difficult and based on network connections. Client response does not necessarily need deep expertise in [NUMBER] different fields -- it does need close collaboration with those responsible for client relationship and those who can build solutions. emphasis on cross-GP teams for more comprehensive approach to the client build/give special time to spend exploring to know our client/s and their needs better. The performance management system should be strengthened to reward better the staff who are focused on doing well for external clients, have a strong ethic to deliver good long term results to clients, and focused on external relationships, and not just reward those who try to advance themselves internally with short term, superficial actions. The promotion criteria should reward better those who are genuinely technically first class, and also have good management skills, and strong ethics. Bring in more staff to the World Bank who have a private sector background and care about development. Disparity between IRS and LRS in relation to WPA, benefit , responsibility and client engagement - 120 - Put our minds and energy more on what it is strategic to the client countries through technical dialogue and less on compliance with internal procedures and operational policies. Excellence (not perfection) in service provision to the client. I think the proposed changes are bringing out the best in use so far. The twin goals give specific quantitative and qualitative targets for tackling poverty. I must say that the twin goals spurs the feeling of 'we can do it'. All of a sudden, the insurmountable goal of reducing abject poverty feels achievable and doable. The targets help sustain dialogue with the client and helps us and the client feel 'the elephant from same side'. Facilitate internal processes and procedures to guarantee a speedy service to our clients, as well as speed up decision making process Allow small grants (up to [NUMBER] k) for task teams to provide on the spot technical assistance to clients with no ex ante bureaucracy, but with ex post controls and a mechanism built on reputation for following rounds Conversion of term contracts to open ended to give staff the same chances and comfort in delivering the best of themselves and first class quality products to our clients Enable adequate financing of operations, let TTLs do technical job without inventing ways to pay for a mission or a consultant, and clearly identify that those who are internal clients in the Bank also provide adequate financing for what they wish to achieve. Consider improving the country office staff skills and knowledge and then depend more on them so to deliver faster and be more effective to respond to the clients needs. I would change the huge divide between IRS and LRS, especially in terms of salary and benefits and opportunities. Nowadays, more and more LRS are leading Bank operations or providing high-quality technical support to project teams at the level of - or sometimes better than - IRS and that is not being fairly recognized. By the way, having a stronger LRS portion of the staff is the right way forward for the Bank to compete at country level and be more effective and responsive to client needs. This [Duty City]-centric institution has to change. I don't think we know what we are about. Investment projects in infrastructure are very difficult to design and implement when (mostly [Duty City] based) staff with no experience of working in countries (in my case in Africa) have free rein to impose pet theories of development onto what are already difficult to implement project. We end up being out of sync with what our clients want. The culture is hierarchical and not client-focused enough. Be more results and outcomes focused rather than process focused. The situation has improved but TTL still spend so much time on process versus technical work and results for the clients. There is too much focus on getting projects to the Board and not on implementing them Have more realism in the financial needs that are required to adequately prepare/supervise complex projects. We are seeing numbers fall in operations which limits our capacity to be able to effectively serve our clients. To reduce internal procedures and step out/reach to the clients for more help Global practices functioning : is this really adding value for the client? [NUMBER]) Take actions on low-performers or people that act unethically. Unfortunately, that does not happen often. [NUMBER]) Offer more field assignments for international staff and encourage decentralization. Working and living in a client country close to the client and living the reality of our client's environment should be a mandatory part of everyone's career. [NUMBER]) Abolish the different "classes" of employee status, i.e. international vs local hired staff, preferences for YPs, different treatment of STC/ETC Greater client focus and operational engagement in the field and away from [Duty City] centric policies, management and culture. more delegation to country offices. A greater appreciation among select senior management for staff whose primary focus is to support our clients needs than for those who staff whose primary aim is to seek visibility through delivery of Projects to Board or those staff whose primary aim is being recognized as the thought leader in a particular area. Streamline the bureaucracy, staff are not sure who should they to report to. Instead of a more effective and prompt response to the client’s (Borrowers) needs and request, responses are is taking longer, and not always a direct response is given. There is a feeling that staff is receiving the impact of the cost savings, while top management expenses are increasing. - 121 - Be more tuned to the work with clients, focusing on real needs timely. It is important that Senior Management in sector have technical competence in addition to managerial skills to that they have a vision to lead the work in that sector and can engage effectively with client to help the teams in moving the development agenda forward The change process -- as well as the overall management of the Bank -- has been very poorly managed and it has created damage to the Bank, its staff and clients. At a time when the Bank should be strong, management has diminished its reputation and has enabled other development entities to emerge. The last few years in the Bank have been trying on our staff and families. A terrible situation from which lessons need the be drawn and action needs to be taken. Provide staff with greater job security if they perform well, to be able to focus and deliver high quality results to clients. I think that the Bank staff need to have more engagement with clients and share and show to the clients how the Bank is doing business in order to improve their knowledge to choose the Bank as a partner in a more competitive development business environment. Reacting more timely to client needs. We still haven't figured out how to cut through the red tape. In some cases it looks like we have increased the red tape by creating more layers of reporting. Improve incentives for collaboration at the country level to respond to client demands. The GP structure has instead created competition and fragmentation at the country level. right incentive to serve clients and treated by management fairly. Provide more authority and decision-making to the GP and less to the CMU. It is the GP that delivers to clients, and ensures quality, not the CMU. Please stop this reform. Its chaotic and not beneficial to the clients. Internal procedures for preparing and implementing projects should be improved to address the quick demands of the client promptly. In order to design an effective process to deliver the task it is key to reach out the client demand on time. In todays world developing countries and emerging markets have experiencing a very dynamic climate where they can not wait to think and progress, so our service for the clients should be much more effective and specifically timely. Simplified and faster operational decision making is necessary to be competitive and effective IFI against other alternative solutions for clients. Link reorganization with the clients' needs and staff experience, skills and knowledge. Stop changing the institution so fundamentally. It just creates higher insecurities amongst the directors and managers, and that trickles down to the entire institution. Fix what is broken, don't build a NEW machine. Start with managers and above and look for behavior that HELPS the institution better serve clients. Penalize behavior to the contrary. Better day to day management of the WBG human resources to boost motivation and productivity of the staff in order to provide the best quality services to our clients. Improve access to global 'on-the-ground' development knowledge to staff in country offices and clients. Improve Internal processes to help us deliver best results to our clients. I would assist the client to overcome some of the difficulties during implementation by providing the support they need. I will provide the client and PIUs clear understanding of the WB policies and guidelines to follow during preparation and launching stage. Put the focus on the client! Probably no change, so people are less likely confused or feel insecured but focus on our clients and projects we need to deliver. Figure out a way to make hiring and career advancement truly merit based and not so opaque, quota-driven, arbitrary. Despite all the rhetoric of the last [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years...the change process has truly failed the rank and file employees...especially those at the operational level who were promised that all of these changes were being made to allow us to be more effective in providing clients with solutions. The employment conditions and how management are identified, hired, and supervised is truly broken and not yielding the desired effect. Re-focusing on serving our clients, not inwardly looking to the GPs. - 122 - Improving service conditions for LRS Hiring practices that heavily rely on one person (the "hiring manager") and often subject to manipulation and favoritism, and do not result in optimal results for the Bank and its clients. Simplify the internal procedures and focus on implementation and not on preparation as is the case now. We are loosing clients because of that. align internal (to Bank management) and external (to clients) deliverables Selection of management positions should be strictly based on practical work experience, understanding of client needs, and real measurable contributions to poverty reduction. The Bank staff should better listen the clients needs and strengthening by action the twin goal of the institution. We should avoid to abandon conflict areas or areas where people are dominated by dictators. We should fight against poverty with our last energy. Ensure that senior ( high level) management takes decisions to benefit our clients and staff members rather than their own career advancement Make Governments the clients! rather than making managers the clients. Focus on each environment's uniqueness and not one size fits all .- Accountability to shift to the clients and not the CMU Go back to original setup or merge some practices which fit well together. Such a large number of global practices as exists currently only breeds unfriendly behavior among colleagues who used to work very well together. Collaboration went down significantly, everybody is fighting for a piece of the same pie. People do not have incentives to work well together, they have incentives to torpedo other practice's work so that their practice gets more projects mapped to them. Even tough co-TTLs are allowed now, the practice to which project is mapped runs the show and practices fight to get projects mapped to them, even at the expense of meeting client requests. Client requests should always come first, but this does not happen with the current setup. Three main things (among many others): [NUMBER]) internal processing, briefings to multiple management, indefinite reporting through several platforms, multiple calls for proposals for small funds... All of these processes, all internal, make up for most of the work time of all employees in operations --we should be focusing on the clients and limit the bureaucracy to the minimum or we will continue to lose relevance. [NUMBER]) Staff in their [NUMBER]'s or [NUMBER]'s, who deliver most of the work of the Bank, are treated as "young" and nominated "analysts", when in other organizations they would already hold senior direction positions -the WBG needs to seriously reevaluate how it treats GE/F employees and increase their responsibilities. [NUMBER]) The WBG strikes as a hypocritical institution: its goal is to fight poverty but, while on mission, we stand out due to the luxurious conditions -this could be moderated, while continuing to ensure security standards, or else, it can be uncomfortable when dealing with clients I would re focus senior management and management attention further down the ladder on ([NUMBER]) the reform of roles and incentives for technical and operational staff where the bulk of client delivery comes from; and ([NUMBER]) on the practical and operational proposals coming from these levels concerning key operational decisions. Bring client concerns and voices more centrally to every thing we do (from our events to our business processes). We spend much too much time naval gazing - marketing things to ourselves and not making a compelling case for why we are here in the first place. Clear organizational structures which provides for strong career growth and not promote redundancy based on performance and strong academic achievements. As it is in other bigger organization (UN, ADB etc), career growth are clearly defined and it is easy for you to project how well you will grow within the organization based on your performance and strong academic achievement. Being a part of developments solution to our clients means we should be developed - professional model which shows clearly a growth model ( this translate to reality our goals and pursuit in the development community), hence the importance for the Bank to create a clear model for career growth with the staff, with emphasis on good performance and strong academic achievements. Many thanks. - 123 - More clarity on promotions, progressions and how SRI's are accorded. Collaboration within the Bank Group shouldn't be carried out for the sake of it, but it should essentially mean high quality delivery to clients. This does not seem to be the case. The concept is being "misused" . To promote the engagement with Clients and understanding more on the countries' needs, I encourage TTLs to be based in country offices instead of in headquarter. Re-orient everyone's focus to delivering results for our clients. Such strong focus on disbursement and overly cautious risk management make operations slow and does not set the right incentive for staff to focus on what is most important at the end of the day, namely delivering development outcomes. Somebody (other than the US president) must be able (in practice) to hold the WB president accountable for his actions! The incentives in the WB are mostly not aligned with our development goals. The board which is supposed to oversee the president consists of former country politicians who usually did not work in development and do not care for the WB (only to use position to serve their own country specific goals). Thus, (developing) countries cannot hold the president accountable. Staff cannot hold the president accountable neither. What is left is too much power to abuse the office. This has always been the case but becomes obvious now. At all stages though incentives of senior management, career development and staff in general need to be better aligned with serving our clients (bottom [NUMBER]%). TTL have incentives to push through bad projects in particular lending projects as disbursement numbers matter much more for career development than development outcomes Concentrate more decision making in field based staff and managers, so that the expressed needs and interest of clients could be more effectively factored into our knowledge and lending work. We should strengthen our identity as WB to keep closer our dialogue with clients in each region. It would be a competitive advantage among other agencies. I would do a lean assessment of all procedures as these are slowing down our ability to work effectively and timely with our clients. The structure they created is very heavy on the top. Too many of those who give marching orders, not enough people to actually do some work. What are all those countless number of directors doing every day? Instead of making the management lighter, it is much worse now. We do not work across the sectors, we are very boxed in, does not matter what we tick in our OPE and RA. This is another craziness now - in order to check the box people have to come up with all sort of crazy ideas about how they cooperate. We became very inward looking. I think the client's perspective is kind of lost in all this. Link with CMUs is becoming weaker and weaker. Program Leaders are becoming kind of irrelevant. We might manage to build a bit stronger technical expertise with this structure (MIGHT!), but we will end up not being able to deliver our services effectively to the clients. Many internal institutional and operational procedures and policies changes have been initiated but these initiatives still lagged to have a concrete impact on easing our internal operational procedures. To be more effective the WBG need to reduce its internal heavy procedures ( procurement, Tust Funds policies and procedures) and empower its TTL to deliver on the field for Client satisfaction. I invite the WBG to undertake a survey to record the time and delay due to internal procedures (i) to prepare a Trust Fund; and (ii) to Call Funds from Donor. Best Regards Institutionalize “one bank one staff” philosophy by improving salaries and other benefits of country office staff to be in line to the work they do and at same time same rate as international staff based at country office since they do the same work and live in the same environment. Provide adequate budget to staff to be able to deliver Bank operations in the country office. Reduce unnecessary and ineffective processes in Bank’s operations which affects timely deliverables to our client. Re-focus the attention of management and staff towards operations and the client needs Promote knowledge on country context and stronger interactions with clients in order to serve the countries better. Improve mentoring for new and junior staff. Flexibility to adapt to the client Current change initiatives do not reflect what the Bank's stakeholders are demanding - refer to [Duty Country]'s support to the "BRIC's Bank" and the Infrastructure Bank. Current change seems to have created new silos and a more HQ ([Duty City]) centric approach to the workplace. - 124 - The WBG might be a greater development player by building its set of unique/differentiated values to governments and private sector clients rather than relying on its reputation and multilateral donors Client-facing/frontline technical staff should demonstrate good technical expertise and added value to address client demand and reduce reliance on external technical resources. The Bank should rely more on local staffs to engage with client (government officials, think tanks, etc.) as they are the one that can have a frank discussions on the needs and challenges faced by the clients. Get real on simplification of business procedures so that we really can deliver on the promise to our clients to cut time from project identification to first disbursement by one-third. Make easier the move to same level positions within the WB GPs. Simplify and streamline procedures in operations to make more effective delivery to clients and minimize costs. Strengthen Client Engagement at the CO level as this is where the business need of the WBG is. THE WAY THE MANAGERS DEVELOPS NEW PROGRAMS AND ENGAGEMENTS WITH CLIENT SHOULD START WITH OPEN STRATEGY SESSION, THE PROCESS MOVING FORWARD SHOULD BE AGREED AND DISCUSSED OPENLY AND PERIODICALLY IN EVERY STEPS (INCLUDING DURING IMPLEMENTTAION), INCLUDING ALL ISSUES WE FACED EXTERNALLY WITH PARTNERS AND CLIENTS, AND INTERNALLY. THIS IS TO AVOID UNFAIR PRACTICES BY MANAGERS/CMU/SUPERVISORS AGAINST THE TEAM. Business decisions need to be made based on needs of our clients and partners. For the last two and half years, the focus was very much internally driven with key decisions made based on internal rather than client priorities. The long procedures and the levels of approval needed for minor things delays delivery to the client. Change the current inward-looking focus on the internal WBG reform back to the outward-looking focus on the client, i.e.: the client does not know, nor care how the Bank is organized internally, but needs to know that the Bank can deliver high quality, targeted solutions to client needs. In the current work environment, this does not seem to be possible and should be changed so that the WBG can remain a competitive and relevant development partner for client countries. Reduce the redundancy in management. Instead of introspective navel-gazing let's focus on operations and delivering to the client. Stop creating new org charts every week. The managers are too busy congratulating themselves on securing their jobs with new fancy titles. There has been no discussion or effort to improve the ability of non-managerial staff to deliver on projects. Instead we are burdened with more and more layers of bureaucracy and "so-called" managers that add nothing of value to any discussion. Have the Board actually hold Sr. Management accountable on important issues (are we doing the right things, are we actually serving the client, is Sr. Mgmt honest with staff) Stop focusing so incessantly on internal matters -- and reorient ourselves back to our real clients, in actions, not just in words. reverse JYK reforms -- these have produced confusion, fear, churning and less delivery to clients. Also: reduce management layers (resulting from JYK reforms); remove [NUMBER] day ceiling for STCs/STTs to give TTLs flexibility; make AWS available to all staff; allow staff the option to book own travel to save costs. If there is one thing, it should be Client work/ relationship. This is at the core of our mission, hence it should be incentivised and measured properly: - This applies for the work done on the ground with clients (knowledge transfer for instance) is measured - there should be consistency between what the values we promote and what we do and how it is rewarded. Before managerial change, I have been working with clients for years without my manager being able to assess that properly. This is mainly because teamwork didn't allow for that (it had reverse effect) and management chose to ignore that and look elsewhere and support other staff. There should be a neutral and objective way to measure personal interventions on the ground. Improve accountability and recognition of the ones that do the job (not the ones that simply write nice strategic note for management and in the ground do not listen nor deliver to client). [NUMBER]. Better communication/coordination among the various groups (IDA/IBRD, IFC and MIGA), [NUMBER]. More timely response to the client. I feel that the Bank became almost a commercial institution, where the only concern is selling our loans to our Clients. The Bank pleases politicians to do business. Eradication of Poverty and Shared Prosperity are just part of the advertisement package. - 125 - reduce internal transaction costs for delivery to the client which have increased with the move to the relatively large number of GPs create simpler structure and faster response to clients Excessive focus on the internal client originated by lack of prioritization Have the President and senior management ask all front line TTLs to report [NUMBER] specific examples of how the ongoing change process has either enhanced or detracted from our operational effectiveness and engagement with clients, and then to collate those examples, report back to the institution on the findings and what they will do as a result. I would like to see the improvement of the procedures and policies- to have great help desk services we can rely on to better do our work and respond effectively and efficiently to our clients - fair treatment of all staff despite their culture and gender. Center our work in our client's needs rather than in the WBG internal politics Focus Bank's intervention on reforms way and increase client better involvement in operations financed by the Bank. WBG staff ( in country offices) must work together and improve their collegiate relationship to deliver services effectively. to establish a culture and a modus operandi that address our external clients more effectively as opposed to the current bias towards internal management/ internal clients. Focus on implementation and result achievement and ensure by all means that the client is at last in the driver site. We are still making decision and put the client in front of the " fait accompli". Enhance speed of decisions and service delivery Work more to simplify the internal processes to ensure better and more efficient time management for that staff and allow larger space for serving our clients. more focus on the client and more support to staff who are doing the day to day work on the ground. The focus on the client has deteriorated significantly. The transaction costs of the [NUMBER] GPs is huge and the technical teams are further away from the client than ever. HAVE MORE MANAGERS AND STAFF IN THE FIELD TO MAXIMIZE THE FACE TIME WITH THE CLIENT PARTICULARLY IN FCV SITUATIONS We need to be seen as a serious institution and we are diverted by senior management engaging "talkshows" with celebrities - too little attention to the real clients adn their basic problems. I would change the current schedule for FY delivery. Please ask staff if the current fiscal year structure works. It does not for me. In order for a task to be "delivered" this FY I have to wrap up basically by mid April! This is so that I get the necessary clearances, get the decision meeting done on time, and submit the activity completion by first week of June. Given the summer months of July/August when my clients are on vacation too, I am effectively expected to *deliver* AND *disseminate* a whole year's worth of work in [NUMBER] months (not counting Christmas or March holidays in some parts of the world). What is an alternative? I think allowing tasks to run for [NUMBER].[NUMBER] FYs would be a good idea so that dissemination can be done even in the fall and final products incorporating comments can be delivered by December of any year. Otherwise, if we stick with current schedule then the expectations of what can be "delivered" and disseminated in [NUMBER] months have to significantly scaled back. Definitely downsizing the WBG in order to be able to act in an effective way, focusing on client support, without being burdened by the attrition created by too many people doing (or trying to do) the same. The work environment. Family spirit and collaboration between colleagues is quite poor. The environment is very competitive and sometimes colleagues tend to privilege their own career development and survival in the WB over a good collaboration to deliver the best results to the clients. - 126 - The multiple GPs have created new silos. In the context of the expenditure review it means that GPs are competing against each other to "be relevant" as measured by the lending they are leading. This means that the incentives not to share information and experience across GPs are as bad or worse than before. In the end it is the client who loses. For example, how is it possible for the Governance practice to provide good advice if it does not coordinate with MFM on tax issues? How can an equity lens be brought in to tax policy considerations if the poverty GP is not included in the teams working on these issues? Co-TTLship is not happening because there are budgetary implications. There should be a budgetary incentive for task teams that include more than one GP. Simply processes in order to be able to respond to clients more efficiently, do the work in a more timely manner. "Less chiefs and more indians" - Staff have too many managers to report to and not enough resources (time, energy, team members) to deliver the best results for our clients. Recognize in time failures so that to processed with prompt corrections (ex: the disaster of GPs reforms) without fear of displeasing top management, get back to perform for client countries cap the change agenda to wat we are mandated to do - ie deliver results for our clients in the field. Theme: Teamwork and Working Relationships No. of Comments: 145 Openness and less politics with increased coordination among GPs Better collaboration between IFC and World Bank Collaboration and communication among GPs and CCSAs could be improved especially in the field offices to ensure that we are focused more on country specific cross-practice solutions, instead of business as usual (silo) approach. Trust officers who are working in the organization and punish who do not abide by the laws of the institution. Make the culture more performance based really deliver the one-bank one staff in reality. Stop differential treatment to [Duty City] based staff/international staff, and country based staff.([Duty City] based staff travel in business class to countries while country based staff travel in economy to [Duty City], even if it takes [NUMBER]hrs and even when management ask them to travel) Also the manager an regional team leader may ensure TTL s ensure cooperation and regular communication within team. Minimize gimmicks and pursue objective, relevant and deep actions towards more effective work, collaboration and engagement. If for one reason a staff is unable to prepare the performance report during the performance period there should be a mechanic Decentralize decision-making closer to the problem. Managers at all levels should be trusted to make decisions that are safeguarding in the institution's best interests. Too many decisions are being pulled back to HQ. Change the culture of sycophancy, whereby people are appointed and promoted on the basis of who their friends are, who they have existing relationships with, who they suck up to, whether or not they are part of a click. Make hiring and promotion decisions based purely on merit, on skills and performance. The way hiring decisions are made now, we have far too many people in senior positions, including management positions, who are incompetent, do not have the respect of their staff nor of their peers and do not have the managerial or technical skills needed for their jobs. This situation is severely damaging the performance of the institution and the morale of staff. Increase the accountability of senior management, mid management and senior technical staff for creating a transparent and collaborative work culture: one based on expertise, merit, people skills, track record, focused on results, and equal standards across units (for knowledge and operations); and strong accountability towards staff Streamline internal procedures and reporting lines to fit to the modern business model needing well informed and quick actions. Promote further collaboration between Global Practices to avoid another "silos" reality, and rivalry instead of constructive cooperation. Adjust HR strategy to allow operational staff to focus on highest value adding activities and release them from administrative/less complicated tasks - due to insufficient level of support staff and technical support staff. greater clarity in roles and responsibilities; more meaningful integration; less competition, more collaboration - 127 - There is need for Senior Management to limit Policy experimenting. Too many Policy changes at the same time brings confusion and demoralizes staff moral Foster and formally incentivise cross-unit and cross-boarder cooperation. We work best when we work as one team. Differentiation of staff between country and head office needs to be changed. Cross country and cross sectoral collaboration, coordination and opportunities can make WBG more appealing as a better work place. clearer responsibilities and collaboration among different GPs and units Finalization of the change process. Better coordination between FIG and Practice Group. Cross-sector working relation should be improved Morale, trust, and certainty appear low at the Bank. While these may be due to ongoing changes, they certainly affect a staff's sense of belonging and drive to go the extra mile in the name of the organization (rather than just from a personal interest in one's activity/project). To have colleagues to collaborate for a common goal Segregation at the Bank is based on ethnicity and native language. Nationals from the US, Canada, [Duty Country], and Europe segregate colleagues coming from part II countries, particularly those whose native language is not English. Please stop the ongoing reforms. It has led to unfair competition, work in silo. Reforms are import, but what we need are reforms that help to improve effectiveness and efficiency in our work The concept of International Staff and Local Staff needs to change. prevalent uncertainty and low morale of staff Address the renumeration matters, in countries with high rate of depreciation of the local currencies. That affects the staff moral and motivation. To fix the "silos" issue across GPs I want three things that I used to feel in the Bank, which kept morale high: (i) being part of "the A team", with pride in the fact that most of my colleagues were first class -- much of the best managerial talent has either left or is in the process of doing so; the collegiality amongst the troops is dissipating as it has become a far less predictable environment; (ii) That the non-performers face consequences (or at least the harm that they can cause is minimized); (iii) That talent is recognized, nurtured and harnessed. CMUs and HQ should really work as a single team. Reform has been a total failure. Staff is demotivated. Do more to break down the increasing number of silos. Improve morale and get a new president who can communicate a vision. make cross GP work more effective (it still doesn't work) keep IFC and WB separate so that the different teams focus on their own mandate. forcing the two to work together makes both weaker Find ways to utilize staff that are energized and motivated to be here. You have the right people on the bus, you just don't know it! Eliminate segregation between local and expatriate staff. Enrich environment for collaboration work between groups and colleagues together Reduce the number of position and units which don't bring clear and necessary value added to the work of the World Bank. I believe more team building activities are needed to enhance the work place. More operational support to technical specialists. One Bank one Staff policy is not implemented. There is difference between how Bank treats its international and locally hired staff. We do not need Global Practices ([NUMBER] silos instead of [NUMBER] - this is very confusing). Fix the [Duty City]-Country Office disconnect. More explicit trust given to the country team to know the political economy and institutional context in which development takes place; issues and flags not driven by [Duty City]. - 128 - Better integration between the work of the country offices and headquarters. In the country offices, we tend to feel like our work and contribution is less valued than HQ Right people in the right place Cultural sensitivities must be recognized more. Create a culture that cultivates professional and personal integrity one bank one staff should be a reality instead only a slogan Fostering an atmosphere of collaboration rather than unhealthy competition. help boost staff morale. Reform has left many confused and uncertain about their futures. As such many colleagues are down and worried. Better resource sharing between teams to achieve common goals, rather than letting each TTL/team try to work things out on their own. Ensure a shared responsibility, improve collaboration and work effectiveness between [Duty City] staff and COs Less attention on internal issues and competitions that provide wrong incentives for promoting collaboration. Go back to staff feeling they are the Bank's most valuable asset. A Feeling of trust and support needs to be inspired by sr. management. ACS need more career development opportunities, especially those that have acquired relevant business degrees and want to grow. Growth between levels is stagnant. Improving the communication and coordination among the units and GPs/CCSAs and between IFC and WB Cultural awareness and adaptiveness should be a minimum requirement fro WBG member of staff Exchange between Headquarters and country office have to improve. The people in [Duty City] should know what is doing in the field and the CO should know better the dynamic in headquarters. The current division of regions don't help to strengthen this relation. Revise the current zones thinking in development and business, not only in business. At end of the day the business will improve also. Build trust with management Team spirit and ensuring that all staff members have a 'fire in the belly'' (to use JYK's terminology) to make a real difference in the most disadvantaged people in our planet. improve collaboration between units. Use staff according to their unique skills. I would let some toxic staff go in order to create a healthy environment in the work place. Better collaboration across units and geographies. Work more collaboratively Still big barrier between ibrd and the rest Internal politics and game playing get in the way of technical/development work Create a climate of trust and mutual respect between top management and staff. ask WB colleagues to respond when i or my IFC colleagues say hello to them Coordination and collaboration Change the culture and recruit more people who are genuinely interested in working together and promoting development rather than an institution where people constantly have to watch their back and focus on pleasing the internal crowd and bureaucracy. Hold staff and management accountable for doing their jobs. If someone is not performing, it needs to be dealt with immediately, regardless of gender/nationality. Overall staff morale is low because one person is not performing, refuses to perform, nothing is done about it, and everyone else has to pick up the slack. Make bureaucracies more intelligent and less rigid, to allow for greater creativity, trust in management staff leadership skills and more dynamic program implementation. Greater collaboration among the teams. Sharing experience Get rid of incompetent employees and replace them with fresh blood There is no trust. - 129 - Bring GP teams who still sit separately as regional entities together into one space. Team work and collaboration needs to be monitored and rewarded at all levels on an ongoing basis at each major milestone of a project, report, or internal task. Instead of focusing on individual behaviors and achievements which lead to ever more egocentric, arrogant and respectless behaviour, the WBG would gain a lot from learning from team work, improving team leadership, respectful cooperation, and good team spirits, while flagging opposite behaviors such as militaristic team management which is common and often predominant throughout the Bank at all levels. Together we achieve more. I would encourage that management be hired based on behavioral assessments to show how well they can collaborate and create a culture of trust among employees, and not based on supposed technical merit or diversity indicators. Put real incentives for cross-collaboration to allow staff with a diverse set of expertise to contribute to projects in other sectors / areas [NUMBER]. More engagement, coordination and cooperation from GP Managers. [NUMBER]. Coordination and cross GP support. [NUMBER]. Closer relationship between the staff and CMU and GPs and CMU. Managers such as PM take more risk and have full trust to the performing staff Aside from creating institutional procedures and organizational structures for collaboration, you need to explicitly and publicly recognize good practices (including everyday behaviors, not just collaborative projects) by promoting managers and leaders who work well with their peers and direct reports, and not just "perform upward". They should be enablers and encourages, not bureaucrats and obstructionists. The converse is also true - you need to NOT promote managers where that does not hold true. This is the layer that most directly impacts the majority of Bank staff's working lives, and it seems quite clear that the [NUMBER] reviews have not been taken into account nearly enough in this last round of hiring. This means more every day turfiness between peers managers that is pushed down to direct reports to contend with. And major transaction costs. Break down the silos, possibly even revert to three networks Promote better ways to collaborate with other GPs and Regions. Country office Staff and HQ staff should be served as one Bank without different policies. Re-instill a culture of trust encourage cross practice collaboration and projects Reduce disparity between Local Staff and international staff Reducing the numerous silos created by the GPs, fractionated into numerous departments and units. Situation which has been recently aggravated by the very narrow and exclusive job descriptions, which are at odds with the multi-dimensional nature of development challenges and client demand and contrary to the talk about integration and integrated solutions. I'd improve motivation to work collaboratively across the WBG. Improve efficiency of project processing. This means internal service providers (legal, proc, FM, safeguards, ITS) need to be held accountable for their performance and responsiveness. It is pulling teeth to process projects!! Interpersonal relationships. I wish the Morale of the Staff was far better coming into work everyday... Improve on the new structure that was created, prevent worsening the silos that have been created. Turf wars and lack of collaboration needs to be punished, with high rewards for EFFECTIVE collaboration Not using several type of contracts, including the ones with very poor benefits, and not abusing of STCs to do the work that needs to be done by staff with adequate support and benefits. Ensure projects are more cross-sectoral implemented and motivate people from different sectors to work together as a Team. Better coordination between GPs Cultivate a culture of openness and trust where risk taking is encouraged rather than an inherently negative thing. - 130 - Take genuine action to break down the new silos that have been created by the GP structure. The new approach has damaged well functioning and cooperative working relationships between units and replaced it with an environment of unhealthy competition between GPs. Its obviously too late to unravel the GP structure now but some sensible consolidation could take place. Perhaps six GPs (including the cross cutting solutions areas that appear to still be struggling to find a meaningful way to add value). Bringing professionalism in the institution WB and IFC collaborations has increased Team spirit, we need to strong the spirit of team working and a good leadership. The World bank needs more changes that those engaged by the President. I am sure he is a good faith person and that he founded a WB in deep crisis, including a moral crisis. The problem is that the WB is not a meritocratic institutions where people can trust in an objective evaluation of their job, initiatives, and creativity, but a place of nepotisms and clientelism. For sure there excellent professionals, but just because the Bank need their services to go ahead, but most of the senior management and even simple senior and other positions are fulfilled according to clientelar criteria. Staff feel that their rights are not protected in an appropriate way, and the conflict-solution mechanisms are manipulated and simply do not work. Many managers (and I do not like this word but in this case is the right one) are [*@:!] that have not compromises with ethical and professional values. They are producing an enormous damage inside and outside the institution. President should think about it Improve coordination and reduce overlapping. [NUMBER]) Ask people to work as a team on [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] tasks until they are finished. [NUMBER]) Allow staff to have slack time to adjust to unplanned tasks that emerge during the FY further strengthening of management accountability, harmonize reporting and accountability ADM structure , remove separate parallel reporting in manual spreadsheets to informal managers/ "advisors" who are not directly themselves accountable for the results and downsize on the "informal" managers, advisors, program coordinators, "quality" reviews. Synchronize and standardize management decision making across GP and regions and formalize through Portal rather than the parallel and different informal mechanisms. Put in place a financial incentive for collaboration by defining a formula/agreement where and how budget can be allocated to different GPs in a cross-GP lending operation rather than only to the lead GP. I would create real incentives for cross-unit / cross-departmental and staff collaboration. There is too much "unhealthy" competition sometimes. There are individuals who are too concerned about promoting themselves rather than focusing on the end goal. There should be a premium/award given to individuals or teams who genuinely collaborate for the best of the client. Global Practices create more silos than before. Break this and find other incentives for truly WBG collaboration. A mature relationship between the Bank and borrowing countries, in which the Bank ceases trying to help governments with "the how" of development policies (which inevitably devolves into the Bank doing the government's work) and instead collaborates with the governments in "the what" of development. avoid "competition/conflict" between GP and CMU Collaboration across and within the Global Practices are still not functioning as well as they should. Provide the right incentives. Now the political "correctedness" is collaboration even if it does not make sense. It creates situations of complete unfairness when people are promoted just for the sake of collaboration while they do not have any competency nor anything to bring. This is just to satisfy the personal agenda of one person in the WBG even if it does not make sense in many situations! And the worse is that nobody in Senior management has the courage to realize that this is not working. We are tired of the "political" game that the so-called leadership team is playing and what we want is fairness ! We do not want people to be nominated just for the senior management to show that they are "collaborating" ! Let staff do the best they can do Green environmental atmosphere I would work on developing collaborations between GPs - 131 - Instead of trying to change the whole World, I would required that each team works on a few countries and makes them a success instead of trying [NUMBER] countries and do half baked work. Make each unit focus on at most [NUMBER] countries over a [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] year period. Create or strengthen incentives to allow for cross-GP collaboration or cross-regional collaboration within GPs. More opportunities for country office staff to work internationally to gain more experience. This will significantly reduce the cost of project management and also provide opportunity to get better expertise to task teams. There are major difficulties arising from the Gov GP structure, leading to less rather than more integration. Unfortunately the current strategic staffing exercise has a negative effect on staff moral. There must be a better way to motivate the staff than constantly informing them that they may lose their jobs. Restructure the IBRD safeguards function along the lines of IFC, ie. combine Environment and Social cross-support in one unit Staff are currently very demotivated. This needs to change if we are to deliver our best work. In order to foster collaboration across GPs, we strongly need to create the incentives for the GPs to collaborate and share the credit.. If an operation is recognized only in the portfolio of one GP, then all other incentives will not be good enough for collaboration to bring any fruits. Co-TTL-ship is not the answer. The answer is: double counting operations (or at least splitting) in the portfolio between multiple operations, but of curse making sure that it does not happen when the numbers are aggregated. The new organizational structure (the GPs silos), GPVPs (out of touch) and the Governance Sr. Director (wrong choice). Put genuine emphasis on simplification and care about the reality of TTLs. Put more people back to work in operations instead of in positions where their existence is justified by how much time they spend telling others what to do and how to do it. I am a good performer, recognized for handling well difficult clients and building relationships in countries where we have had no business. i also collaborate very well across sectors. Yet, all get every year is a pat on the head. I work practically every evening, I have not had a day of leave - or a holiday - in [NUMBER] months and I have decided to leave the Bank before I burn out. I would improve collaboration between the among the GPs as well as among the World Bank group institutions. Make it a more professional environment across the board. It is astonishing to me that it is not. Create more incentives to collaborate across practices. Subdivision into Global Practices has created more silos which compete for leadership of specific policy agendas Get the right people for the right job. Collaboration between GGPs. Too many silos between GGPs and too many silos within the Governance GGP. Within the Governance GGP nothing has changed. Things have only become worse. Change in SMT that would dismantle the GP Silos and bring the matrix integrative structure back. Build back trust and confidence Positive attitude. Support to team in CO Managers should be given more flexibility to hire people to respond to the business needs. Currently, managers and team leaders are having to rely on STCs to do most of the substantive work. There are STCs that are effectively full time staff members, but without the pay and benefits. If a team needs to hire the same STC for few years, it should be given the option to make that STC a staff. As it stands now, STCs are being exploited because managers/TTLs do not have the easy option of hiring them. improve culture and incentives for collaboration and risk-taking, so far nothing has been done that effectively encourages collaboration across GPs (GPs are also extremely silo-ed, way more than previous structures) More country (regional) specialization. I think the WB could use the advantage of so diversified team more actively. People who know the region or specific country could be more involved in the business in this region/country. Less rotation could help with this. - 132 - The WBG needs to improve the sense of community and staff morale. [NUMBER]) There are many young talented and qualified professionals who do not have a masters degree at all (or if they do, not in the typical fields recruited by the bank group). These professionals, with their bachelors, are in many ways more than qualified to perform GE tasks, but there is no access point for them. The bank is missing out.[NUMBER]) The Bank is top heavy. We need more worker bees willing and able to get things done at the lower grades. It is unhealthy and likely more expensive to outsource so many critical (and frankly routine) tasks to STCs; however, it is necessary because there are too many “experts” and no one to implement.The bank has a “consultant” problem because we are not WELL staffed on our own. Both of the mentioned issues fragment the institution, lower morale, and degrade community. Collaboration across units, regions, etc Stop curving performance ratings in units, as this is the biggest disincentive to teamwork and collaboration. Help staff rebuild trust in each other; management to help them focus on what really matters. Clearer, quicker ways to remove staff members who are not committed to the WBG and whose performance is consistently below par. Create a culture of trust not one based so strongly on competition Theme: HR No. of Comments: 118 Human resources services In order to motivate staff, I would provide staff with open ended or longer-term contract. Turn this decrepit institution into a meritocracy and get rid of all the useless dead wood that does nothing but siphon off money that could go towards helping people in developing countries. The WBG is riddled with waste and hypocrisy HR procedures take too long and there are not enough opportunities for advancement within grades. CO salaries. How is it competitive for [NUMBER] person of [NUMBER] nationality to work in a country, but for another (of same qualifications, doing the same work) they are paid way less. Staff of the same org at the same level should be able to live a similar lifestyle IN that country regardless of nationality. In [Duty City], regardless of nationality, people are paid a standard for their job. WB salary policies are not fitting in [Duty Country] where employees get car/fuel allowance, [NUMBER]th month salary, cheap loans, which WB does not give to staff- these aren't in the HR comparators. Even WB per diem rates: [Duty City]=$[NUMBER]; [Duty City]=$[NUMBER], compare this to the salary differences though. Local staff should be able to live in the same homes, send their kids to the same schools, eat at the same restaurants as foreign staff. Add in saving + traveling, paying off loans from the same foreign schools foreign staff attended. Do we all have to move to [Duty City] to get decent pay? Gov staff on WB projects we supervise are paid more. Morale is low! I would change HR. They are not very effective in responding and providing information when needed. On benefits, education grant should be granted to all WBG staff including IRS and LRS with term and open-ended contract. Weed out bad managers [NUMBER]) Make it easier for managers to let go of poor performers. [NUMBER]) Get rid of the unfair labor practices around STCs/STTs. If they are needed year after year, they should be staff. Promotions, rewards, recruitment should be based on merit and not on the basis of you know and who you have managed to please. Moreover, who realistically think that retaliation can be addressed by appointing people to senior positions within GPs that have reached there through retaliation, bullying, and connections rather than performance. Overall HR system, specifically hiring process that is not fair and honest. Majority of positions are posted for preindentified candidates. The recruitment process in the Bank must be done in a timely manner to avoid people lost their previous job without gaining any position at the Bank. Last freezing has made many staff in STT or STC contract in a very precarious position. Considering foreigners conditions in local staff. More efficient human resource practices Finally end the reform process, clarify HR strategy and plans, and clarify all organizational/procedural arrangements. The way promotion and recruitment is done need more transparency - 133 - Make HR more people focused instead of being procedures focused Better HR system for especially those working in the field There has been unclear situation since July [NUMBER]. I do not understand the function of HR and Accounting in CO now. What I see that HR in CO only a unit to print the local LOA, they seem to not understand HR rule since local HR rule doesnt apply to any WB staffs. Now the Accounting transactions have been done in Chenai office, which eliminates the function of Accounting unit in CO. I wonder what is the background of this since we were experiencing some chaos and delay, and the Accounting unit in CO has no power to help. Are they going to be swifted to any other function? This has caused demotivation to some staffs since they still get paid by doing nothing. Eliminate all forms of discrimination mainly in HQ. Promotion of staff who don't master English language is a bit complicated and sometimes even not possible due to problems during interview The World Bank procedures should become less bureaucratic and more client-oriented. HR and Compensation staff should feel they also belong to the WBG, while currently they do not act as if they are. Provide more clarity for junior staff on career advancement especially those who were brought in on consultant contracts and ETCs and who engage in substantive operational work, even de-facto TTLs in some cases, but are not recognized as essential operational staff much less given a way forward. Sometimes working at the Bank is like hacking your way through a dense tropical jungle without a GPS. Also, HR needs to actually provide answers instead of hemming and hawing and being generally the most ineffective support team in the organization. For junior staff new to the Bank there is absolutely no transparency in compensation with HR and managers effectively colluding to underpay significantly. Make HR role stronger as far as staff progressions are concerned. Ensure a more equitable task sharing among staff. Good performers are only added tasks, while poor performers left to do nothing, as managers don't have the energy, time and courage to deal with them through the system. Hold poor performers accountable I would consistently improve the recruitment process at the Bank. Apart from the YP and JPA programs, and job market positions at DEC, recruitment at the Bank is a joke. I have seen all kind of absurd situations in recruitment processes. I would create an operational career path so that operation analysts can be in charge of the operational work and the TTL is not held accountable for the operational work, only for the technical work. I would force people to work across GPs and punish the units that operate on the basis of territorialism. I would create clearly strategic and research-oriented positions to facilitate women with families to travel less. I would define "client" as both governments and citizens, we work too much with governments only, which not necessarily have the citizen's interest as priority. I would not define timing of projects according to the VP's MoU, but according to the client's needs. Equal Career growth for all without discrimination of titles. Better Contracts [NUMBER]years or more instead of [NUMBER] year contracts. Open term for people who have worked for more than [NUMBER] years. The HR function. At this time, when the Bank is undergoing such a transformative change in how it does business, the HR function should be working collaboratively with senior management to manage change and the natural resistance to change that staff will demonstrate. Instead there has be no guidance or support. Staff moral seems to be at the lowest I have seen since I started at the Bank more than [NUMBER] years ago. Although I am proud to work at the Bank, I am quickly loosing hope that the change we are undergoing will lead us to be a respected and effective development agency like we were decades ago. Provide term staff with an open ended contract after a successful [NUMBER]-[NUMBER]years term. Remove Term staff vs Open ended staff discrimination Human resources needs to become more human and management to trust staff. We need more workers and less managers and [PEN] pushers. They make the work of those that do real work very difficult. The one thing I would ask for in order to improve the WBG as a place to work is a change to a truly competitive selection process for the WBG President position as well as a realignment of votes in the Board of Directors. The eroding perception of the WBG as a credible institution starts with our actions at the very top. Level playing ground for IRS and LRS, particularly in recognizing performance and contribution to work program and appointment type and conditions. In addition, Bank staff should be allowed more discretion to take decisions based on experiences gained and challenges encountered in the front line. - 134 - WBG needs rigorous manager selection processes based on fair and transparent basis with regards to competencies. Some managerial appointments that are announced on the kiosk often create suspicion. Term appointment to Open-Ended Enable open ended contract for those that have earned it. A revamped HR service please! Hold managers accountable, not only for delivery of commitments, but for also quality. Not only for hiring staff, but also the quality of staff they hired and how they are mentored to integrate into Bank. Not only for "not creating waves" but for pushing the envelope and taking risks (which means tolerating some degree of managed failures, but will get high rewards). Identify non-performers, and provide them the support to excel (and in some cases, exit), which requires fair and accurate performance management, which is hard to get managers are unaccountable and they are rewarded for "not creating waves". For each country office to have its own accounting and HR department. This way, processes, urgent requests and procedures can be handled within the office rather than bouncing it back and forth to another place. Sometimes we do not even know where to go to get things resolved / answered. Someone in HR or higher management should be responsible for reviewing the final OPE. Simply archiving the OPE does not do justice to the process. An action should be taken if the OPE is outstanding for number of years. More transparency at the top and more focus on competence for hiring rather than on political connections. Dismantle the culture of tribalism by improving HR management. I would base every job selection on the basis of a comprehensive screening of: a) technical skills; and b) psychological/behavioral/interpersonal skills. Yes, we have established the "Competencies" framework for all these positions, but we still have a long way to go until competencies for managerial positions are really thoroughly evaluated. To date, the Bank still has too many managers that should have never been given those positions if their psychological/behavioral/interpersonal skills had been used as part of the scoring process to be offered that position. This is especially prevalent in the case of Country Managers (CMs), who usually manage "their" Country Offices (COs) as feuds, where they can do whatever it pleases them with little relative control. I have seen CMs do almost anything imaginable, from threatening local staff in COs, to prompting every local staff "to bring their families" to a CO Retreat only to justify their bringing their own new fiancées. Stop firing people and taking our breakfast money, and increase the capital, by diluting US voting rights if required. Opportunity for country staff to work in other countries for better exposure. Effective mapping of skills to use the experience of human resource. Non-transparency in filling positions - managers do anything to ensure the specific staff will get the position. Their actions may be subtle or obvious, but HR is not functioning to check the fairness. Some managers even do not bother clicking "identified candidate" in the HR advertisement. Merit alone be basis of HR decisions Have a real career plan for everyone, not just Young Professionals and not just "teacher's favorites"; EVERYONE. Be bold and have an external and impartial task force review each and every one's trajectory since recruitment and induction to identify those who may have been forgotten, under-estimated, those who may not have benefited from the support of a manager or director but are also worthy of being promoted based on merit, expertise, clientorientation, and overall contribution to the organization. An effort such as this one would go a long way in restoring staff confidence in performance evaluation, in their managers, in HR. An employee's progression should not depend upon one person's "liking" or "disliking" them, or one person's agenda. Does the organization assume that a director or manager is always right, and is only promoting the staff who deserve to be promoted? Staff expect a more objective and progressive career management system from a first-class organization. I would rethink HR policies. I would offer more secure and longer term contracts in order to retain talent and to allow staff to make long term life decisions (e.g. buy property in [Duty City], bring family, etc.). I would supplement these open contracts with a clear, well-enforced performance management system, where staff members are evaluated on the basis of how they have contributed to their unit's goals. The current system seems to retain mediocre workers and provides little incentive or reward for those who walk the extra mile. Also, performance ratings depend on one's grade level, with junior staff getting the short end of the deal due to bell curving and managerial discretion. Staff performance should be taken more seriously and poor performers, regardless their contract status, shall face punitive action including existing if warrant. - 135 - Act more professional, especially for the decision makers such as managers who are responsible for their staff. I was a staff and just fired in January without any clear explanation, just one email sent from my manager. I hope it will not happen again in the future for my other colleagues. Management selection process Discrimination between local and international staff. Better selection of managers -based on real technical & managerial competences- and not just through a "good networking system or exchange of favours" Avoid hypocrisy and get rid of people that do not know the sector. There are too many "generalists" trying to fit everywhere in the organisation. Really consider the background of the senior staff -before joining the Bank- as a valuable experience for further internal responsibilities. The Bank can not disregard the technical & managerial pre-Bank experience because -as is the case- promotions are just subjected to networking...not to overall career merits (pre-Bank & in-Bank). Without good people you do not have a good organisation but just bureaucrats attempting to survive "no matter how..." The Bank needs to put an end to the [NUMBER],[NUMBER] year long transition process which has been extremely disruptive for carrying out the work, delivering results and managing our lives. This is the worst, longest reorganization ever. In private sector [NAME] would be fired. The strategic staffing exercise would have been a great opportunity to get rid of non-performance and dead weight, instead of it became UNstrategic staffing not related to business needs of the organization but manager hand picking staff they like or don't like to keep. The Bank lacks strategy, clearly identified business lines and priority areas. The GPs are a mess – now we have [NUMBER] silos versus five networks before and the GP VPs are clueless and ever absent from the scene. Find realistic and reasonable options to deal with nonperforming staff. Improve options for career growth. Do not turn the change process into a permanent revolution - bring stability ASAP. Fix the HR function - too much time is spent on many processes. Honestly evaluate performance of people and get rid of poor performers. Stop promoting and keeping people based on gender/race/nationality. These actions truly disincentivize the good performers. To create a culture where everyone is accounted for and service oriented. Corporate administration: HR, Accounting, Procurement are not meeting the professional standard of services (no follow ups, long delays in answering, or no concrete answers,etc) which caused significant delays in our efficiency to deliver. ISG and OPCS Help Desk have improved their service significantly. If we can not count on our internal team, as an organization, we won't go far. Governance. There is cronyism. There is little transparency of various decisions (esp. HR related issues). It is a very unfair institution for minorities. But minorities' voices do not come out clearly in surveys like this because of the responses are bundled together. Change HR. At the Bank, this unit simply carries out the wishes and instructions of management. There is no real management of the human resources which should be the WBG's most valuable asset. Weed out bad managers and replace them with few visionary leaders, who really understand what poverty is all about, and who are passionate to do good things for the Bank, the people and countries we work for. Hiring more upper level managers defeat the purpose of "Alleviating poverty". In a ship, we need only one captain and more rowers. The Bank is hiring more captains and we have less rowers. Needless to say, the ACS staff have no voice or votes. Other aspect I would like to see, is to have an real system integration that works for all. Thank you. The recruitment,assessment and training of managers. There needs to be much more emphasis on people management skills, with poor performance and/or unethical behavior punished. There also needs to be more transparent recruitment at the managerial level and bringing in of external candidates, with the clear signal that managers will be dismissed or made redundant rather than just shuffled around if they do not meet expectations. - 136 - WB HR system should accommodate specific needs of their employees. I worked very hard during the weekdays late until night, the security check/records could become the evidence that I leave the office lately most of the days. I travel a lot as well. This causes me a problem related to family issues. My family leaves [NUMBER] hours drive from the office and i was separated with my family during weekdays. WB HR system should have a system to tackle this kind of issues. For IRS the HR system provided allowance for accommodation, school etc. For local staff who has family with distance, should have been treated similar to IRS. WB should provide facilities, rent allowance, school etc for families. We work very hard with the clients day by day but we need to spend extra money for [NUMBER] hours driver transport, renting an expensive rooms, and the cost of being away from family. The specific issue like this must be accommodated somehow. Talking already with [NUMBER] sector managers for the last [NUMBER] years. Fire staff who do not perform well. [NUMBER]) Changes happen too slowly; there needs to be quality delivered at a faster pace [NUMBER]) There needs to be an active role played towards personnel management and helping staff to upgrade their skills - so as to remain competitive in the overall market .-better implementation of performance management -better openness in the change process and implementation -more efficient and accountable HR system better HR policies, including pay scale in country offices and more incentives to staff. the gap between the local and international hire should be bridged, both hires contribute effectively to the job and client. Term hire causes uncertainty, therefore; open-ended should be expanded to long good performing term contract staff. Transform contract to "open-ended" to achieve maximum and longterm staff commitment HR management Improve HR management. Manage transition better, by improving communication on changes (on strategy, staffing, etc) and effectively addressing collaboration disfunction across WBG (IFC, WB, etc). Career development wise, WBG should look into revamping the HR policy on progression/promotion of talented and dedicated people at Grade D to Grade E. It's ridiculous to let talented people go because of this policy, or to ask them to leave WBG first to later re-enter in order to secure the Grade E position. Consistency between goals/mandates/guidelines at corporate level and the ones stipulated downstream in each GP, Department, or Unit; and better HR management. One bank one staff principles be applied in letter and spirit. Discrimination between IRS and LRS roles and responsibilities and benefits should be removed. Term appointment system must be changed to regular/open ended contracts. timely action on HR issues, including selection and appointments of managers, rather than leaving a unit without a confirmed manager for [NUMBER] months. Remove discrimination in remuneration between local and IRS, remuneration to be based on job demands, competence and experience .- Making managers accountable of their work, low-performances staff, poor recruitment, and portfolio results. No manager having poor management results should continue as Manager. - All assignments in overseas should have a clear ending date so staff interested in those jobs can plan their carreer path. With one year in advance managers should announce to the staff the positions to be available next FY - [NUMBER]-[NUMBER]-[NUMBER] rule should be put in practice at the country level. it is not adequate to keep same TTL for more than [NUMBER] years in a country current system and policies for consultants and temporaries (ETC/ETT, STC/STT) Much less Hypocrisy - please. There are continuous exceptions made for individuals when it comes to staff rules and other areas regarding employment, exiting from the Bank, career advancement, travel policy, printing, and other entitlements. There are a lot of double standards. Too many. Also, when they take place no one seems to know about them until well after the fact. Focus on staff efficiency. Recognize poor performers and deal with them effectively. - 137 - Human Resources is one of the weakest point within IBRD. Specifically, the contract structure is extremely demotivating and many colleagues have been pushed to find other alternatives. It is quite common to move to another development institutions such as the IDB, specially in country offices in latin america. Term contracts of [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years are really bad because people start looking for either the next assignment within the IBRD or a job elsewhere almost a year before the contract expires!! I wonder if the WBG has weighted the costs for these distractions and if it has, if such costs still compensate the costs associated with having to let go under performers. The contract structure is bad enough to make people think twice between staying with the WBG or looking for job stability elsewhere. replace (entire) HR department Open ended appointment would help the employee to put their best. Introduce a clear and objective performance management system Hire managers who have the interest and ability to manage Human resources system/carrer development The contractual arrangements for term staff - the duration of the contract is so short, this gives staff insecurities and not a motivating factor to do one's best. Strengthened HR processes, i.e., more transparent job competitions, zero tolerance for obvious favoritism in hiring and promotions, and effective resolution or poor performer issues. Fair and serious performance management system Hiring, firing and promotion based solely on merit - not based on age and bias like the HR decisions of my former VP Bring back open ended appointments. Human Resource Department Get rid of the management. consultants, esp. [NAME], & have Bank managers and staff come up with sensible solutions to manage the Bank. If Bank managers don't know how to fix our internal problems, then maybe they shouldn't be managers, or perhaps they are part of the problem. Also replace [NAME], [NAME], & [NAME]. I am dismayed when I see the Bank coming full circle with HR changes such as broad banding, narrow banding, and then broad banding again of Staff Grades, & other reforms which show me that we are not making progress but simply spinning our wheels. Each time we have a reorganization it is as if no one remembers the past reforms and their results and we are reinventing the wheel that did not work the first time. There should be an IEG report for [NUMBER] & [NUMBER] reorganizations & only when there is clear understanding & knowledge should the Bank attempt to reinvent itself. Produce an IEG report for this reorganization to identify the costly mistakes of this expenditure review fiasco. Valuing merit, innovation and performance. Currently, there is some nepotism and in name of diversity, sub optimal HR decisions are being made. WBG has to manage HR better, reward and punishment system are not working. I notice that only LOUD person who do most of the talking (not action) and networking has an easy way to go up. While the staff (the not-so-loud), the real performer doesn't always get the proper reward. Promotion should be open again with the careful management, assessed case by case. Eliminate the cast system from Human Resources policies Strategy first - then reorganize. Cut the red tape. Empower staff to take calculated and evaluate results more rigorously. Reform the adverse internal justice system that does not protect staff against discrimination. reinstate open ended positions Hiring structure. Attract more younger staff (GF level staff) in Bank's operation and research, and improve the HR system to recognize the committed and highly performing staff. Offer secure job positions to those who deserve it in a more effective way. Also nurture the culture of working together and a sense of belonging to the Bank. Hands on & personalized HR and career management, flexible arrangements for working around the globe, real incentives to strong performance and cross GP collaboration. change the everybody gets term assignment rule resolve / end Term Contracting The World Bank needs to reconsider its current contract models for young people and extended-term consultants as they are not sustainable and the Bank is not always making a proper use of them. - 138 - The Ban needs to employ more visionary managers with extraordinary people's skills capable to lead and encourage the staff in reaching Bank’s strategic goals. Also, the HR policy needs changes to adjust to “one Bank-one staff statement” with regard to career development opportunities and reimbursement for the same work performed. HQ is far away from country offices. Managers is HQ and HR team need to get involved in the CO needs. Better and more timely Hr decisions WBG's HR processes. HR related concerns take forever to be addressed. There are situations sometimes on the ground that require speedy solutions, but that hardly happens in the Bank. HR Clear, managed career paths, especially for people in the field. The new "localization plus" modality, while it provides enough benefits to be attractive to young people, is an utter failure in career management and the "employee value proposition" that is so often discussed in the reform. The idea of formally being transferred "permanently" every time there is a change in country office is absurd in an institution like the WBG. And the increase use of this modality is a reflection of the poor HR policies and the inability to tackle their reform effectively. As a result, staff are forced to apply to positions whenever they are open, and staff transition not according to the staff preferences or the work program needs, but the timing of then positions are open. This creates huge distortions and problems. To increase the percentage of open-ended type of contract to align with other international financial institutions, which will make the Bank a better place to work in. I would strongly suggest that Senior management be wiser when selecting managers. too many managers lack the necessary people skills to manage effectively. It appears that most managers are selected based on technical skills vs people skills. While it is absolutely necessary to have technical skills, it is just as important to know how to handle and manage diversity. Senior management team need to discipline bad managers and when necessary, remove them from the position. There are some managers that have been reported for unethical behavior and some have several cases that have been brought forward, but Senior managers are not serious enough when it comes to taken disciplinary actions against those managers. Instead, they continue to get away with mistreating people. Reform the entire HR system to ensure that recruitment, promotions and salary increase are exclusively performance-based. This is the only way to reach diversity and inclusion in an efficient and fair manner. ([NUMBER]) bring or promote LEADERS to GP senior director and GPVP posts; for GPs, technical expertise is also important for credibility of the business (lacking in some cases now) ([NUMBER]) abolish HR, and contract out the entire service. Too badly broken to be fixed incrementally. Standardize Bank staff's HR benefits, because there are so many hidden or unspoken inequalities existing among the Bank staff. Examples include contract terms (open, term, regular, etc.), eligibility for mobility premium. Currently some staff who started their staff position below GF (including GE as the entry grade of professional job) are not qualified to received mobility premium even after they are promoted GF and above. Also internal promotion system (in-site) still seems very subjective. These small things really matter to keep up our motivation to work. I would start by reforming human resource management, and specifically the way people are hired, promoted, cultivated, and dismissed (yes, there should be a provision to dismiss non-performing talent). This is the single greatest weakness of the World Bank Group. No great institution can be effective when hiring and promotion is not done on an objective basis. The WBG should be using its human resources more effectively. It needs to be more open to career advancements of staff regardless of the years of experience but based on performance. Also needs to be honest in dealing with bad performers. I think it's a good place to work at but the staff needs to feel comfortable in showing career interests and not tied down with their past experience. Correct the current large unbalanced portion of high level positions with more analyst positions Patronage networks and cliques that continue to adversely influence HR decisions - including in the new GP system. On a related point, the quality of GI+ appointments appear to be highly varied. More efficient HR management Eliminate managers who do not consistently receive good/excellent managerial performance evaluations/[NUMBER] s. Don't just "reassign" them. Have the courage to get rid of people who aren't good, and leave room for good people to come into their place. Change the term appointments into regular appointments. - 139 - Theme: Strategy and Planning Sub Theme: No. of Comments: Strategy and Direction 115 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 73 WB to be true to its public pronouncements and to impose accountability standards for results across-the-board rather than engage in misguided expenditure cuts which punish good staff while protecting bad managers. To would be important to get a clear sense of direction about the mission of the Bank. since the change management process began a few years ago, I am unclear about the Bank's goals. Set aside the twin goals, those have always been part of our work for a long time BUT having a clear strategy of what we are about and where we are going appears hazy at the moment. The current situation for young people looking to stay at the World Bank Group is not at all ideal and will potentially hurt the business. During this very long freeze period and with sunsetting of the ETC it is very clear how those with [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years of experience over the age of [NUMBER] will find avenues into the workforce at the World Bank. In the meantime they work on short term contracts without adequate benefits often spread out over an entire year and are only compensated for [NUMBER] days. It does not seem sustainable. I have a strong personal motivation to work on development issues, which in turn has helped me sustain a strong work ethic and a sense of optimism. Nevertheless, it can be demoralizing even for staff members like me, to work in an environment where some employees, especially short-term consultants, on which we depend so heavily, are so vulnerable to exploitation and abuse. It bothers me that we are in the business of helping those who are most vulnerable, yet we have a system in place which puts an entire category of employees at a great disadvantage. I would like the WBG to reconsider its current STC policy as well as the hiring processes so that the opportunities for exploitation and nepotism are minimized and the best talent finds its way in. There are so many issues that are not working that it is hard to pinpoint one thing only that would improve it. There is a lack of an enabling environment and most staff with whom I have spoken feel disengaged and lack confidence in how and sequencing of decisions. For me personally, there is a disconnect with what seems to be expected and the establishment of the conditions to deliver - lack of inclusion in business direction and strategy to inform ability to be strategic, no clarity on expectations and desired outcomes in my functional area in furtherance of the strategic business priorities of the GP, no Corporate leadership in my functional area - and these have made it difficult to support and further a meaningful and strategic agenda. The above issues are not all the "fault" of my GP Leadership, as there have been Corporate mandates that were halfbaked and expected to be delivered either within unrealistic time frames, with little thought to appropriate need and sequencing, et Prioritize strategic goals; rally staff and units around those goals. Be more creative!! A clear sense of direction and aligning work with that. Beyond endlessly repeated platitudes of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity I have no of the objectives leadership pursues to achieve that. A vision repeated ad nauseam with no mission or clear follow up on what the objectives are does not inspire a sense of purpose, nor does it seem to be a meaningful way to advance the institution. Second, there needs to be clear accountability for quality of work and results. The WBG has amazingly good and high skilled individuals. It also has very bad and under-performing staff who has been around for years with no accountability. The latest example of this was the reshuffling of director into regional senior advisers rather than actually cutting people who have not performed or are no longer needed. To have a clear vision where we want to be in [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years Need for more accountability for underperforming staff as it overload those that are "doing" the work. More real collaboration instead of turf fights over delivery of support to clients. improve staff accountability. An institution like the WBG is as good as its people are: we should get good managers (not mediocre, risk averse ones, caring only for their own advancement) and get rid of non-performing staff. None of this is happening: new management is worse than previous one. There are too many managers who disagree with the direction that senior management has chosen. They should be less selfish and have the sense of pride to leave the institution rather than poisoning the environment for everyone. .- Acceptance of all as a human being with equal needs, dreams, space for creativity and backstopping especially where trust has been cultivated with the client. - 140 - one thing would not do a thing.... merge with AIIB? Eliminate double standard of contracts between open-ended and term; make them all open ended but with clear and easy-to-implement exit strategies so that managers can effectively manage work force. Nobody should feel safe until retirement regardless of his/her productivity and behavior, and nobody should feel vulnerable every [NUMBER] years when the term is coming to an end. Other institutions manage that, why can we not? Where is the change in behavior? Nepotism/cronyism runs even more rampant than before the change. * Outsource HR function to a professional organization outside the Bank * Accountability of managers (it seems the only criteria that counts is about how much lending was approved but as for the quality of that lending (measured against some objective standard) that seems to be irrelevant Add "Environmental and Social Performance" as a cross-cutting thematic group in order to integrate what is now environmental safeguards under one GP and social safeguards under another GP. I fully support the transition to a new integrated framework of E&S standards but warn that this transition is not being supported by management in the articulation of the global practice structure. For environmental and social performance to become "core business" rather than a safeguards policy compliance chore it requires coordinated management commitment to embedding it as practice in all sectors. Having safeguards under two separate GPS deepens the silos rather than busting them (now two separate databases are being developed for environmental and social aspects). .- Have ALL short term consultancy positions posted externally. - Allow siblings to work at the bank. (It is completely unfair that I know married couples working for each other and yet my sibling, who is I see once a year, is not allowed to get a job at the World Bank in another country). more accountability within management Transparency, accountability, and direction Clarify the relationship and interests between the CMU and the Global Practices and whose direction takes prominence for Sector work in a country. A much clearer and more streamlined focus on its core mission and strategic objectives Clarity in the direction in which the WB is heading. Better alignment of accountability, responsibility and job requirements Improve hiring practices, especially when it comes to the over-reliance on short-term contracts. Organise primarily along regional / country lines (e.g. so manager sits in the same office) rather than trying to organise along global practice lines. As a country economist my priorities and work program are much more determined by the CMU than by MFM. That is as it should be - ultimate responsibility is to the client not to MFM. Greater accountability for the work done It might sound dictatorial but any professional should do some practice at community level. In other words, the Bank could not afford anymore to send technicians from [Duty City] to countries, when these technicians are only theoreticians. Some concrete practical experience, contact with the vulnerable people, empathy, practical understanding of real lives is crucial. Working on the Roma vulnerable population inclusion agenda and being part of a huge Bank network of professionals, I never met one to have done some work in communities. This affects the understanding and the national counterparts tend to react very cautious when an "abstract" person tells them what to do. Transparency and clarity in setting the direction of change. Clear accountability of managers to deliver business results, not set up and spend time in meetings all the time. The relationship between the WBG and its borrowing member countries has to change fundamentally from a patron - supplicant model to one of genuine partnership. Borrowing countries need the WBG but the WBG also needs borrowing countries to survive, to be able to continue to support the worlds poorest. At the heart of the present patron-supplicant model is the WBGs membership and voting structure - as long as Part I countries continue to dominate the board, Part I nationals will dominate WBG management, and decisions on lending will continue to reflect the political priorities of Part I countries and not the needs of developing countries. The recent establishment of the AIIB is a sign of the future - sooner or later Africa will follow and then the Bank will complete its seemingly inexorable slide into irrelevancy. In sum the single thing the Bank needs to do is to change its ownership and voting structure. The rest will trickle down. - 141 - Consistency on how decisions are taken and business is done across GPs, VPUs, etc. Still most of these are subjected to individuals strengths, weaknesses, interpretations as well as their desires. Do not feel there is adequate accountability system in place to ensure consistency and responsibility. create a "map" that shows how every person working for the WBG and his/her expected deliverables relate to the overall strategy, vision and objectives of the WBG, and thereby facilitate more "management by objectives" than unexplained micromanagement, and provide a similar degree of accountability across all hierarchy levels Promote a culture of openness, transparency and accountability More accountability of managers towards staff and clearer communication on corporate changes and how they affect country offices. make technical expertise more of a priority in selecting candidates for promotion. There seems to have been an increase in "corporate- orientated" staff who are good at managing up but not necessarily strong technically being promoted, whilst many strong technical senior specialists have left management and the Bank. This indicates a worrying trend towards mediocrity in an institution that prides itself on the quality of its staff Motivate people to believe in what the World Bank does to help reduce poverty and boost prosperity. Provide a clear roadmap for career development. For example, the path for career development should be clear if one's project and work goals are met and/or exceeded and the staff can demonstrate his/her contribution to those achievements. I feel that career development is not necessarily based on objective criteria. Also, provide staff with longer term contracts. Reduce uncertainty regarding the continuity of the contracts. A shift from a “research bank” to an “implementation bank” Increase Management Accountability for actions taken The World Bank Group should act as one team (in same boat of the H.Q. Staff and Field Staff) and closely collaboration and move in the same direction (avoiding to play role as police). Truly becoming think-tank institution for development and total free from any political influence. The World Bank Group has to equally provide technical assistance supports to its member states. Job stability - convert Term to Open Ended contracts - so we can build a career and not just a short-term job. No retaliation against staff for being critical against the current institutional reforms; and have more mid-carreer staff that have practical knowledge and proven track record from implementing sector policies in their own countries in the Bank's core business areas. [NUMBER]). Less pillars, more vision: with the introduction of the GPs, we are thinking and working more with a tunnel vision then ever, not linking issues and not working from a global vision on sustainable development. [NUMBER]) Include sustainability in our Twin goals: I cannot believe it is not there! Greatly increase the clarity of the rules and procedures as they relate to our core businesses of lending and analytical work. As part of this, I would put a moratorium on changes to terms or acronyms: they all change so often that it creates a sense of chaos and no one bothers to learn them because they will change again by the time you do. ASA is not at all an improvement over AAA, but I need to learn it along with [NUMBER] other new acronyms (ADM anyone?). Management fails to understand that this is not a joke. Likewise, despite the efforts from OPCS to clarify (some of which have been effective) we still have far too many area of unclarity in our rules and procedures. We have no real time help from OPCS (it is an email helpdesk-- why bother?). Shadow rules and clearances are a serious problem!! Most people want to act as advice givers or "clearance gates" and the arrogate this responsibility to themselves with alarming regularity. As a TTL, I am helpless & must comply: yikes! Develop a clear roadmap for the change process based on what has been achieved, what has not worked, and what remains to be done over the next [NUMBER]-[NUMBER] years. This process should also define what constitutes and unsuccessful change process - the minimum threshold for success. Develop a clear communication plan to explain and monitor the process going forward. Staff reductions have already taken place and will continue. To be equitable there must be accountability for the Senior Management and Leadership of the Bank Group if the change process is deemed to be unsuccessful. THE BANK SHOULD FOCUS ON CORE BUSINESS Better and faster execution of JYKs excellent vision All Senior Directors are the most important key players and pillars of a New WBG. But questions are where they are now? Do they get empowered authority, accountability, and responsibility when they were selected? Less short term staff - 142 - Change the way change management is being implemented i.e.- top-down, untransparently, and inconsistently (strategic staffing and expenditure review concurrently going on before units' reorganization and strategy development have taken place). [NUMBER]. FAIRNESS! I have a colleague that is at my grade level, makes double my pay, and has an open-ended contract (I'm term). She messed up one of her projects, and I was asked to take over. This, in a situation where I already have [NUMBER] projects on my plate, and I can fill my time in TRS with just one of the projects. When I was asked to take over the project mentioned above, I asked to have an ETC position opened so I have someone to help with the work. I was told that because of the strategic restructuring, no new positions would be advertised! [NUMBER]. VISION! We are the best development institution out there, but we don't effectively use our major competitive advantage -- our knowledge and expertise (e.g. we don't know how to effectively communicate the knowledge we produce) . We should also learn as much as we can from the EU -- it has been the most effective development machine in human history. We are still trying to spur development by doing an infrastructure project here and there. Introduce more leadership and managing priorities program The Global Practice organization builds silos and creates all kinds of confusion. Go back to the [NUMBER] organization where accountability and lines of reporting were clear. Enhance accountability of everyone. Right now people don't always follow up on issues, no real action taken. Leave people changing. Internal and external clients. E.g. HR issues - how to develop people? Not so much accountability. A good new collaboration with clients? Not pursued etc. Make major institutional changes which would result in more prioritization, focus and alignment. These changes would include a dramatic reduction in the number of countries the WB operates in - focusing on these with notable levels of poverty - and limiting sectoral engagement in each country. Let's align our people and priorities around poverty reduction. If we cannot do these things, we should change the mission. The direction, strategy and planned actions of the WBGF should be fully and timely conveyed to all staff at all levels Prioritize the people and countries we are supposed to serve instead of the [Duty City]-centric priorities and strategy which have no connection to what is needed on the ground More attention and improvements should be taken to correct the unfair and discriminatory practices in treating contract types, especially towards current ETCs when compared to term/open-ended contracts. ETCs have much poorer benefits, less opportunities and are not rewarded for good work. This divide between the haves and havenots is getting larger and discriminatory during the change process. ETCs has been used by various managers as way to recruit good staff but by dragging out the whole strategic staffing process, ETCs suffer the most as they are being let go when their [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] year contracts run out. ETCs have families to support too and they do a lot of the critical tasks, if not more so than many of our current staff. This should be addressed immediately. Overhaul HR or else outsource to a private firm. Better communication of decisions taken and better strategic planning Senior management accountability or lack thereof. Better strategy for identification of core staff competencies and effectively utilizing these across Global Practices. Avoid keeping the institution in a limbo of uncertainty for two years. Choose managers with a strong development vision, especially in country offices, not administrators who tend to be risk averse. Clear direction to alleviate poverty. Define a clear reform strategy for the Bank Build a truly strategic HR management system and culture. Improve transparency. Stop double standards. Lean the beast instead of feeding it. Have greater transparency and accountability for SMT. I feel that at the moment with the expenditure review, the WBG is behaving penny wise, pound foolish. WBankers work very hard and what seems like pinching pennies while SMT decisions are not clear More accountability for bad managers. Clear accountability of managers. - 143 - be less inward looking; focus on solving the world's biggest development problems instead of a focus on financing projects Sub Theme: Planning and Objectives No. of Sub Theme Comments: 42 Withhold taxes for US citizens. For over a decade, my optimism, passion for our mission, and commitment to the institution never faltered. I was proactive and energized by what I was able to shape. I felt recognized and rewarded for delivering robust results, collaborating across silos and being a 'corporate citizen' (putting the goals of the WBG above those of my individual unit or myself). The reforms, however, have made me question my sense of belonging for the first time in [NUMBER] years. The calls by Sr. Mgmt for passion, teamwork, WBG collaboration seem like lip service. The confirmation and selection of mgmt and leaders are not all consistent with these behaviors. Also, many seem driven by internal politics and turf rather than doing what is right. Above all else, the changes have demoralized a cadre of committed & high performing staff. I still believe in the mission, but I so want to renew my faith in the organization... and want to again feel like the WBG is as invested in us, as we are invested in it. more focuses on developing field based staff as they are at frontline of WBG's activities with Clients Align the much talked about objective of sustaining younger staff for the future with actual action in regulations and opportunities on the ground. Specific example: abolish cap for IRS GF level staff in the field. How can they learn on the ground and prepare for more responsibilities if they are not allowed to be posted in the field ? Joint results planning Less reports , less writing about objectives and goals, more content, more action Be fair and consistent with everybody. Some staff can be affected. [NUMBER]. Step back and take stock of what was achieved in the last two years and honestly admit if structural changes did not work. [NUMBER]. Review the Bank management structure which is way to heavy and inefficient. [NUMBER]. Management efficiency in operations seems to be all about proliferation of initiatives and recycling old internal systems. Operational simplification is superficial. Trim down OPCS. .-Reduce staff in units that do not contribute to the mission (are not operational / client facing) and use those resources generated to better respond to clients -If TTLs are ultimately responsible for everything, allow them to take more decisions independently -Align incentives so that staff in procurement, safeguards, FM actually work hard to deliver projects and respond effectively to TTL request -Eliminate OPCS, we can have "wikipolicies" and change them as business needs change -Eliminate duplicity of clearances -Increase lending, only with this we will maintain the level of influence required to effect positive change in our countries. Clients are more receptive to advice and technical solutions can be better implemented when there is money behind them. -Invert the pyramid by firing GHs and GIs that contribute little to the actual work and hiring talented and proactive junior staff that can help in responding timely to client needs. -Change the role of the ACS to analysts My manager: seems to have problems with most of the competent staff, gravitates towards less talented staff with whom they've cultivated club behaviour, is not objective, hardly provides any guidance on technical issues, does not provide honest answers, and is not trustworthy - at all. - 144 - I think there are too many BBLs/workshop/staff retreats and meetings organized in HQ whiles the poor are out there. It is about time we refocus on the objective of the WB: “Eliminate poverty with passion and professionalism” and not organizing BBLs and things like that in HQ. We want to see more projects implemented, missions in the fields, training of people at the grassroots, alleviation of harsh conditions, procurements. Actual operations activities and less of administration. Gone are the days when we hit the ground running. Staff should be treated the same manner, regardless to their position. I feel some staff are at the mercy of other senior staff, subject to decisions taken from the top without any consideration of their contribution in business the Institution throughout the years. I also think the Bank should be proactive enough to avoid issues such as Staff Cut. The current situation could have been avoided. Surprisingly, we are seeing new staff being hired despite. So I ask, do we really know what we want. PMs, PLs and TTLs should emphasize should follow objective merit basis in selecting and promoting staff and should not target to benefit persons who they know better. The organization is very "output" driven (amount of lending) and focuses less on results. More focus on career development and mentoring of younger staff - less rhetoric and more action. Different senior management that is less focused on communications and PR and more focused on the core business, with the goal of enhancing rather than taxing the ability of operational staff to deliver results. my 'one thing' is already taken care of, but second thing is here: right to work in a healthy environment. Quality of working space should be assessed for adequacy (access, parking, comfort), healthiness, cleanness, indoor air quality etc. -in country offices as well in line with UN guidelines As a US citizen, the tax situation makes the pay less competitive. Increasing the tax subsidy would help. Be more proactive, problem solving not only problem findings and flagging We need more time. The time we have is not sufficient to do a quality work. To think and to develop new ideas. It is always barely enough to be above water Improve the culture for innovation . More focus on complementary between GPs Staffing challenges are becoming ridiculous - we are getting squeezed at both ends. A modest increasing demands (higher lending targets, more effective etc.) we are unable to increase staff head count, and at the same time our ability to hire consultants to provide support is being hampered (G[NUMBER] visa changes mean we will be forced to hire US consultants). Offer long term contracts to staff for ensuring continued engagement in critical areas that are central to achieving Bank's twin objectives. More focus on clients, less on internal self promotion that seemed to have increased as part of the ongoing reform. People get recognized for advertising their work internally more than for making difference to clients, the balance seems to be off. Develop more objective, accepted and universally applied performance indicators to better improve performance management. Reduce the number of objectives, agendas, etc. and focus on a few key areas to deliver high quality work. There is so much talk about being at the cutting edge of this or that or innovating, but sometimes we just need to deliver the tried and tested well and in a timely manner, which we are not very good at doing. Make systems consistent across the WBG and simplify them...that does not mean outsourcing them overseas, but rather look at and fix the smaller pictures within the 'big picture', which seems to have consumed management's attention. Better targeting and connection to country context,,more decentralizing decision and decision making powers,, advancing FCS experience and use,, further separation between geopolitics and development objectives in program implementation and design, better use of country context and country office staff experience Transparent, consistent, objective performance management More focus on the substance of the results rather than minor transactions. Objective and performance based selection of internal candidates for various job postings and to end the (counterproductive) culture of uncertainty linked to fixed term contract model - 145 - Empower the TTLs and reduce the barrier to access the CDs. Too many layers are precluding the TTLs to access the CD. In some cases the TTLs do not know what is the CD planning or the route to take. Too many layers for decision when we have most of our operations guaranteed by Governments. Streamline procurement. Clear Senior Management Quality Focused Objectives (not only be focused on delivery, expenditure savings, etc.) Bringing in non-traditional angles to the work Candid and objective assessment to improve quality of implementation of our projects. less focus on internal matters and more on clients and global issues I would like to promote (and see more of) a culture of reflection at the WBG, the kind that is more outward looking and thus contextual and relative, as compared to an inward looking discussions that are rather isolated from the real issues on the ground and more focused on the WBG as an institution. The overwhelming concern with my career and our institution is not inspiring enough to motivate people to get out of their way to achieve the said twin goals. Promote people on the basis of their contribution to WBG development instead of years at work. This means to retribute quality instead of quantity. Take further steps to make consistency with the Twin Goals more binding as a filter for the approval of Bank operations. Establish a culture of innovation and informed risk-taking Ask Sr. Leadership (Managers and above) to focus at least [NUMBER]% of their time on clients! Theme: Sub Theme: Pay and Benefits No. of Comments: Pay 97 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 70 focus more on remuneration and valuable staff who provide a tremendous job but still on unclear employment status, such as ETC staff who deserve to be a regular employees at the bank. Allow more opportunities for the development of young staff, where they are paid competitively and get the chance to learn and take on responsibilities. They are the future of the WBG. Remove the local/international pay gaps. Compensation package is no longer competitive with other options. Improve salaries for local recruited staff and offer more opportunities for local recruited staff working across countries and regions The compensation policy such that fairly comparable payment for equal work (regardless of place of recruitment) Compensation should be aligned with the nature and scope of work, not with the category of staff: local or international as currently practiced. Some locally recruited staff have more responsibilities (e.g. TTLs) than the HQ based staff but paid much less than their peers at HQ. The WB management team should really take a look at the salary level in my CO (one of the worst if not the one among all COs in Africa region). I am aware that the salary scale is based on the market reference. Although one likes his job, it is not motivating at all when one knows his peers are paid [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] times more than he is for the same job. It will be fair if the WBG can align staff treatment such salaries among the region but not only based on the country. salary need to improve for lower G Remove glass ceiling for ACS staff reform the performance review system and make the WBG a better place to work for people under [NUMBER] make sure the staff to get a competitive pay Certainty in career growth. Proper hiring practices that pay appropriately for the amount of work undertaken (ie. STC, ETC) Different salary scales for locally recruited vs international staff; with Global Practice becomes effective there is a strong likelihood for local staff to do regional or even International level works/activities; HR seems to be unprepared for this. There should be a mechanism to allow salary to be adjusted as a response to these changes I would improve upon the compensation policy of the Bank where staff are compensated on the basis of their contribution to the objectives of the Bank. - 146 - .-De-link career advancement from tenure/longevity; those who join the World Bank at a young age <[NUMBER] can expect a very glacial career progression regardless of performance, quite contrary to many other top-tier organizations. While not all young staff should achieve accelerated career advancement, we certainly should see more young people in leadership roles in the organization- it will not only make the Bank a better place to work, but will affect the way the Bank approaches decisions, strategies and results. -While once very competitive, the low-end of the GG salary scales are no longer so in the [Duty City] job market with comparable, top-tier organizations. While the mid-point and overall range is respectable, many staff, especially young staff, are clustered in the bottom of the range. The drop in the starting point of the G salary scale, in FY [NUMBER] for example, was very demotivating for staff, especially young staff who are most likely to be placed there. Junior staff/STC have no opportunities to grow. Have to offer other junior and mid level job opportunities. STCs have an unfair treatment, work as staff and are pay differently (do not have benefits) need to offer better working conditions and payment if are going to work as staff. More transparent promotions and increases' practices. Increase competitiveness of pay. Reduce salaries across the board to attract staff motivated more by commitment to fighting poverty than comfortable lives. Discontinue business travel to align staff behaviors with the mission of the Bank to fight poverty. You need to be sick sometimes to be a good doctor. Improve remuneration packages in country offices to bridge the gap between IRS and LRS and place more staff in the field, increase length of field assignment rotations [NUMBER] years is not enough to know a country; and increase of use of country systems for grievance handling - Inspection Panel is expensive, non-transparent and sometimes undermines project and country systems. Better focus on Country Office staff who are the "foot soldiers" of the Bank. There must be a conscious and well thought out program me of ensuring the CO staff get a fair deal particularly in promotion, and more importantly compensation on benefits. It would appear that CO are seen as an after thought and this is at all levels not just those in GA -D competitive salary with other comparable institutions Implement one bank one staff policy and at least salaries determined on a regional basis. reduce distinction between HQ and CO based staff on travel modes, per diems, other benefits (then salary ranges) Implement a fair compensation for G[NUMBER] ACS Staff. This issue has been raised year after year in HR meetings. I believe that if there is a CRY there must be PAIN somewhere. I wish that there is a way for the decision makers on this issue to see and feel that pain. Take away the grade ceilings and let Level C ACS who are college graduates and are functioning as technical staff be recognized and rewarded. The Program Assistant title does not give justice to what the Level C/D ACS are delivering. A number of Level C ACS are doing analysis and financial tasks and should be labeled differently and not just assistants. Revise the compensation policy to ensure "one Bank-one staff" across the WBG!! Better pay To apply fair treatment between IRS and Local in terms of carrier development (such as cross-country work) and empowerment; to have at least Region-wise standard remuneration scheme. Bring back to the previous set up and increase salary matrix instead of reduce it. Want to see equal benefits for all staff "one-bank, one-staff". Right now there is a lot of discrimination in terms of type of appointments, benefits, home leave, education benefits, salary increase etc. etc. A reputed institution like the World Bank should do a better job on being fair and taking care of hard working staff. I will abolish term contracts and replace it with open ended contracts. Term contracts enslaves some staff, makes them prone to abuse by senior colleagues, creates fear, and serves as a pay-back time. Open ended contracts provides security, boost moral for poverty work, and allows staff to properly plan their careers. - 147 - Allow local hires to be paid in USD, if they so chose. The disparity in pay between international hires and local hires at country offices are large and gives a sense of unfair treatment. This is especially the case for those who are on local hire arrangements but are not from the country they are working in. These staff are vulnerable to currency risks but these are not resolved quickly or effectively. For example, I have had to deal with this issue of my salary plummeting in dollar terms in [NUMBER] separate country offices. More promotion opportunities, more certainty, fair treatment of wages in devaluated local currencies (e.g. enough compensation during devaluation). To improve status for LRSs who struggle with compensation packages far below their IRS colleagues while in terms of accountability there is no exception between them. It gives a resentment of inequity within the institution which sometimes negatively impacts on the work place environment and productivity. Incentivise professional staff at country office by providing equal pay. Two benefits - (i) existing staff would raise the bar, (ii) the best will apply to these positions. Concerning the employee benefit package , take into account the overall specificity of each country (cost of live, socio,cultural,climate,..) not only the country labor market . For country office, like where I am based, I suggest a comprehensive review of salary scale given the pay does not reflect actual cost of living. The pay scale is relatively low compared with other countries in the same region. More competitive salary increase system. Differences in pays and perks for international and local staff. Please, please, please, look into the issue of locally recruited ACS staff! When one is being hired from the Country Office, it is not easy to settle in this country with small kids! Childcare that is spent is equivalent to one's monthly salary! While International hire do get incentives, which is good for them, please put a human face to the plight that we go through. Don't just look at the mid rate that is offered, we all have different challenges and feel like are we sure we are fighting poverty when personally I am going through a rough time and expected to perform at work! You can do better in that area. The other issue is on the term contracts! This too disadvantages us in so many ways, one can not invest in property, education, you can not save a penny as everything you borrow is based on the duration of your contract! Tell me, how does one young lady with [NUMBER] kids survive, and you want the best for your children? Improve culture to increase transparency in work assignments, promotions and remuneration. This can only be achieved by hiring managers with high standards of integrity and fairness. Improve work environment, including job stability, salaries, benefits, promotion opportunities, travel related compensations The extreme difference of salary scale between staffs doing the same job (international vs local staff) (i) Internal procedures (ii) salaries and compensation increase staff for the core operational business. improve compensation and benefit packages I will completely discourage the division of having "LRS", and "IRS" as long as staff have similar responsibilities and job profiles. LRS are taking responsibilities of TTLships and working in multiple countries, and if so, why do we have two labels? This in my view is fundamental and needs to be changed. It is not about compensation and relocation allowance --- it is about building the perception that LRss are competent and doing similar jobs. Biased unequal treatment between IRS and local staff, in terms of compensation. We USED TO be the best game in town. Now we are not. Offer the best compensation packages to attract the best staff. Your organization is only as good as the staff who are on your front lines. Staff on CO should have an option to make deposit % of their salary in $ to their BFSFCU accounts. I would decrease the difference of pay scale in locally and Intl recruited people. Rethink seriously the package of benefits and link better salary increases to performance. Reduce disparity in international and local hire contracts. Improve local staff packages (benefits and salary levels). Reduce the compensation gap between international and local staff Reduce inequality in staff salaries. - 148 - Truly competitive compensation packages, as opposed to finding excuses to continuously curtail benefits. The WB is not any more the place where the "best people" in development would want to work - contrary to a decade ago. Of course the Bank still attract people - hundred of CVs received for any new posting - but these are average rate and not "the best" any more. The same applies for staff and for STC, with a fee scale which is not in line with the market rate for top quality consultants. Parity between IAS and LRS and better compensation packages for mothers At each grade the bands of salary are very wide. There is no significant increase in salary on a year on year basis ( sometimes lower than the annual inflation). Only significant increase in Salary is seen at the promotion ( which are very few due to a flat structure) Fair and equitable treatment and similar compensation packages for local- based staff who do the same type of work as expatriate staff on assignment. Compensation of LRS to handled quickly and more serious in weak economies Better pay. I'm well below the MRP for my grade despite consistently good OPEs. better pay/compensation packages for staff, better protection for field staff in dangerous places, better coordination between units, better processes to deal with under-performing staff, better travel policy (policy for travel in the regions is terrible - we fly economy all the time, almost everywhere) I would suggest to improve pay package to some country offices. It seems that the way salary scale determined for local staff does not really reflect what staff has to deliver at work, qualification, experience and skills needed at WBG. It rather takes into account country economic development level and pay offered within the country. .- have no difference in term of remuneration between local and international hired staff I would fix and pay salaries in USD - because this is the burning issue for me at the moment. I would increase the responsibilities of all staff to respond to emails in a prompt manner. I would improve and shorten the clearance procedures from financial/procurement people. Improve HR practices, and ensure that task teams are appropriately resourced and supported. Introduce a culture of performance management and reward managers who oversee and support their teams. The latter is not the same as monitoring portfolio milestones and repeatedly asking teams for information requests. Publish the list of people who receive high performance evaluation and/or high pay increase, as a way of improving transparency in performance management and holding people accountable for their performance. The definition of the salary is based on clear rules from HR, based on the publications , education level and experience of the staff. however HR give to the TTLs a range, and some TTLs paid always the lower bound while others the middle point . Theres is no justification for this and it is very TTLs specific, if you see the trend by contract considering the TTLs , you should see that there is a strong TTL effect. This effect create that some co-workers have the same education and responsibilities that you and earn significantly more. Even, sometimes they could have less responsibilities or work less and it does not matter. This should be controlled in some way. Offering channels to deal with the high variance within unit. or even between units but with the same charge of responsibilities, education and performance. Make management appointments based on quality and not politics. Improve remuneration package to be more competitive. As it is now, it does not compete with bilateral. I would put more emphasis on job skills and less on formal qualifications and/or hierarchy when it comes to recruitment, pay, and benefits. Sub Theme: Other Benefits No. of Sub Theme Comments: 27 Do not lose the benefit for workers because it is what makes this institution a good place to work Align benefits with comparator institutions such as the IMF or Inter-American Development Bank. Make scholarship available for staff who want to go back to school, especially in grades: A-G Resolve discrepancies in benefits of all staff (between what the WB defines as local and international staff). I would narrow the gap between local staff and international staff in terms of benefits and previllages. To harmonise benefit packages between IRS and LRS who are similarly qualified and doing the same job. I think we would benefit from some realignment in the GP structure to reduce "border areas" - for example, the public sector aspects of the Governance GP could be shifted to MFM... - 149 - The gap of treatment between IRS and LRS still remains too important for comparable efforts. Even for LRS eligible to the mobility the benefits and other advantages for expatriates are always below those of the IRS within the same living and sometimes risky conditions. The Bank should further narrow this gap. WBG should remove the difference of pay/ salary or benefits between local and international staff for the same qualification and TORS. Increase benefits and term contracts Staff benefits must consistently apply to all staff, like pension (no more gross or net plan), travel benefits, education, home leave, termination grant. The same staff rules, manual and policy apply to all staff, why are benefits not similar? Improve daycare options Improve overseas assignment benefits. We have the worst of all companies that post people overseas, including compared to NGOs. Operation support for domestic travel should be reviewed The top management to be consultative to the staff especially when it concerns on changes. Also for the top Management to honor the benefits and not reduce them. Appropriate pay and benefits. It is getting relatively lower Improving benefit packages by including schooling allowance for Country office staff. operational travel guideline regarding trip. Ensure that the slogan of one Bank one staff becomes a reality. Country office staff don't have careers they just have a job with the Bank. There are discriminatory practices with regards to several benefits. Beneficiaries of term contracts cannot have access to long term loans for housing nor for any other long term investment. On the job, they are treated more or less as glorified ACS to take appointments for HQ staff who often take the lead without being more competent nor necessarily having local context knowledge. The WBG should work the improvement of the packages for LRS to close the existing gap between LRS and IRS and starting with including certain benefits such as Education Benefits for Dependent Children designed specifically for LRS. This specific benefit can improve the sense of belonging to WBG and give a clear message to staff that the institution cares about them and the well-being of their families by investing in their future. Please - sort out the rampant hiring of youth as pseudo-HQ staff on STC contracts. Most are foreign living under the danger (increased with the new G[NUMBER] rules) of visa expiration - not to mention the lack of medical insurance. I understand the purpose of the STC, but it is not used so - it is used to keep people in [Duty City] performing the role of underemployed staff across the calendar year. For youth this is particularly problematic as while, yes, they get to put WB on their resume, the WB does not properly invest in them as they are not real staff, for some individuals this can go on for years, and they put up with it because they believe in the Bank and the Bank's mission. We are yet to see how the YAnalyst prog works, but I am skeptical that it will be more effective than JPA in sorting out the above. Plus, if we assume YP average entry is [NUMBER] & most YAs will graduate at [NUMBER] - why are these progs not tied together? Young people are the future of this institution, but aren't treated so. Young term staff who are in [Duty City] should be given more chance to work in country offices. The benefit package for field assignment is too good, but most of them do not require such arrangement but require more experiences. It is OK for the World Bank to review the housing allowance amount given to the international staff who are based at country offices and send more capable & instrument young international staff! Stop cutting benefits, especially on staff that have to travel on many and long missions. Focus more on cost reduction by addressing overhead and back office staff cost. Revert to open ended contracts with comparable benefits for all staff so everyone focuses on their work and all staff are encouraged to develop and grow as global institutional assets for our shareholder countries. Reducing discrepancies in benefits between Local and International staff when they do similar work. Fair treatment of consultants, appropriate contracts for young people with benefits, more transparency in hiring decisions. - 150 - benefits and salaries Theme: Sub Theme: Inclusion and Fair Treatment No. of Comments: Equality and Fairness 94 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 87 Important things are not languages, but contents. It is not possible for highly competent experts to work and to be high position in world Bank, unless they are fluent in English, [Duty Country], or Spanish. Change corporate culture: from overly politically correct to straightforward talk. Call things with their real names for what they are. We need more diversity and inclusion and a stronger representation from Part II countries. No differentiation between IRS and LRS. Integrity, diversity and inclusion. Retirement plan, more consultation from senior mgmt before making decisions, more diversity Discrimination towards women and minorities Diversity and Inclusion I believe the Senior Management Team has to be replaced. The President has brought nothing but disruption and has damaged of all aspects of the institution. He is clearly not qualified to lead the WBG. The WB needs more diverse management: women and non-white European men. Make this real. So far WB management offers only phoney statements of commitment to diversity. treat everyone equally - as you said - race, manager or acs, gender - in all levels fairness in promotions [NUMBER]-Despite all the noise, I don't believe that there is enough diversity, especially in the higher ranks. Higher the position, less the diversity is. [NUMBER]-It's a good sign to open the door again for open ended contracts. But still not sure how much it will happen in the practice. How much can you motivate people with term contracts? Be serious about inclusion of African and Carribean nationals I would like things to be equal for everyone, because at this point their are many things that are only being applied for certain people. Fairness in the selection of staff for promotion. Acceptance of indigenous knowledge in our services to the Governments we purport to serve. Way too often, fly-by-night operators come to Africa just for promotion NOT for the interest of the continent. What is seen in a mere short-term visitor to the continent for which many a Caucatian or Latina is promoted over a blackman who was born, schooled and have better understanding of the cultures of the people the Bank wants to impact. Unfortunately, diversity and inclusion is only in connection with promotion of a few women and the LGBT community with little token black people here and there. enhance possibility to work on various regions at the same time Treating national staff fairly especially those who are posted on cross country support. make local and head office equal, as now local staff is treated as second hand and bring experts from [Duty City] to the Country offices where they work on day to day basis, as coming on missions ones a year is not sustainable. to treat all staff regardless of level fairly. Inclusiveness and diversity should be a reality, and managers should learn how to better communicate with staff particularly at performance evaluation. Promotion should be based on performance and not on network or who you know or your race or gender. Encourage respectful workplace among diversity staff. Under the new change, respectful work place would need to be reminded especially between expats and local staff. World Bank Group should trust on local/decentralized staff competences and put them in the front with support from central ( [Duty City]). There is no clear policy for promotion of local staff to international position and also diversity dimension is timidly applied. - 151 - Selection based on merit rather than other factors... As a black gay woman, I believe that the diversity and inclusiveness agenda is backwards. Rather than addressing the reasons why minorities are not performing well, you are intentionally skewing hiring and putting people in positions that they are not qualified for. This is building resentment and leading to a reduction in respect for minorities who actually get their positions on merit. Building a system for giving teh same opportunity to each staff regardless of their color, race, gender or ethnicity If the World Bank devises a mechanism that enables it to really identify staff who are truly chosen for their professional merit and genuine passion for development rather than their networking skill, the World Bank Group will change. I thought the new change will bring that but I see the same avid networkers in good positions while people who I think are strong in substance and passion are forgotten or feel left out. That is sad. diversity Breaking the coalitions amongst people in the position of power (H and above) who protect each other even in the most unfair cases at the expense of staff. equal opportunity for every staff only based on merit Give equal opportunity to all staff despite position, location and gender That ALL staff at all levels be treated fairly. Term contract without clear and applied rules about when to renew/ extend. Difficult to advise governments to handle personnel fairly when your own institution may leave people wait until the very last minute to get a contract renewed/ or not. I would make the World Bank an institution that values diversity- offering senior management positions to women, non- white professionals and country staff. I would change the top down decision making culture to decentralized management- that does not mean pushing [Duty City] based staff to the field- but to have field/country based professionals with operational on-ground experience to sit on senior level positions. Make the World Bank a WORLD BANK in real terms- not a [Duty City] BANK promotion of female professionals who constitute a very important force of seasoned team leaders , currently working at the technical G level but seem to be stuck there. Favoritism based on sex, origin is still prevalent. Managers using tricks to create positions for friends at the detriment of existing staff who have been waiting for the opportunity of this position. I would change the salary determination system. Despite of giving enough respect to diversity and encouraging participation and growth of staff from all ethnic, religious background and sexual orientation, the Bank is an extreme example of gender based and nationality based wage gap. This really discourages top performer women from developing countries. HR should pull up the data and do an analysis of the wage gap and try to rectify the situation. Improve on its diversity, especially that of African and African American Staff. Currently this group is treated unfairly compared to other races/nationalities, and there are no prospect for carreer development. It seems like recruitment of the said groups are simply to tick the diversity boxes. more inclusive, equal treatment between national vs international staff, more opportunity for staff capacity building All staff must be on an equal footing in terms of type of contracts and benefits, so all can contribute to the WBG without fear of being "shunted out" or feeling discriminated against, just because they joined after a certain date. The reporting lines for staff are skewed and not consistent across- this requires change to ensure everyone working for a particular unit are treated fairly and equally and staff do not have to be at the mercy of the people who are in the middle management with no decision making authorities- they are, in my experience, mostly with lesser experiences to efficiently manage people and programs. Fairness to all staff. Some staff may be quiet and not aggressive, but that does not mean that they are happy and content. Opportunities to perform at a higher level are given, but promotions are stagnant, especially for the ACS. - 152 - Promotion based on merit alone regardless of gender, race or other considerations. Affirmative action helps in the context of development where certain groups are indeed discriminated against. In the WB where there are many checks and balances ensuring fairness in treatment of minorities and women quest to appear fair in this respect leads to the de facto promotion of sub-optimal managers. As a result all who work under them, men, women, minorities suffer. These sub-optimal managers are less secure, surround themselves with yet more sub-optimal promotions, so the decline in quality of management and thinking is exponential, not linear. As a woman and a minority I strongly oppose affirmative action in managerial promotions as I have seen a long line of lesser people being chosen over good and competent potential managers, many of whom happened to be men. I witnessed the quality of management declining, becoming more cautious, more oriented towards pleasing the superiors, less strategic Manager and director accountability for staff performance, diversity and inclusion. We are missing the opportunity to use this major structural change to address the canker of nepotism, clans, silos and favoritism that have been maintained with the reappointment of the same old guards. National and international staff should be treated equally and respectfully in COs. Providing opportunity for all staff on equality basis without preferences. Opportunity for growth, opportunity to excel in one's technical area and opportunity to be innovative. Opportunity is key to level the playing field. Fairness An equal opportunity and benefit package between LRS and IRS. If everything is not possible at least to have equal educational package for children of LRS like that of IRS. Equal treatment to all. The WBG should practice what it preaches. Most of us are happy to work for the WBG but we have everyday challenges because people come from different cultural.ethnic backgrounds. You don't necessary have to be a talker to get the job done. Dedicated and hard working individuals should be rewarded/promoted accordingly not empty barrels! Fair play, particularly at the Country Office level! fairness Eliminate discriminatory salary levels which are based on arguable local market surveys rather than comparative merit or performance with other staff. Actively encourage more diversity, fairness, and better career management of staff by Managers. Same benefit package, and fair treatment of the staff at all levels, regardless of the nationality, gender, race, location, status etc. Fairness: Reduce the multiple levels of management, be fair in evaluating staff performance, be fair with staff benefits and salaries, flexwork arrangements mean to some managers that staff should work anytime from anywhere. Equal respect to staff of all cadres and with different contracts. For example, between ETCs and Term staff Selecting managers with better people skills. Managers who treat all their staff fairly and who help promote their staff's careers. [NUMBER]) Senior management needs to focus on what's best for staff and for unit to meet and deliver our work program instead of focusing on meeting nationality quotas just to look good. For instance, after two years of having an acting PM (who had done a superb job) a PM was recently appointed. The new manager is an external candidate who helps meet the "diversity quota" but who: (i) lacks any experience of working at the Bank; (ii) does not have the sector technical experience required to work on our sector; (iii) seems to lack any management experience. While one can give him the benefit of the doubt, it is highly unlikely that this candidate can manage and help our unit deliver on the work program effectively. It is disappointing to see that these decisions are taken without real consideration of the staff and the demanding work program at hand. [NUMBER]) After the reform, working across and for multiple sectors has become more cumbersome and difficult than ever before. Should treat staff equally between the country office and headquarter. - 153 - Stop excessive diversity policies: Diversity policies have in the meanwhile turned so excessive that they have negative consequences. ([NUMBER]) Weaker performance of the WBG as merits is not the first criterion for success any more. ([NUMBER]) Staff feeling labeled and categorized (gender, ethnicity, ...) which exacerbates perceptions of difference rather than promotes a sense of equality and unity of staff. What Sr Management is doing is wellintended but is regrettably misguided. Matching skills/performance with pay. Salary equality between [Duty City] and female within the same job and position. Favoritism Fairness in promoting staff You have missed asking about whether GE/GF level staff and esp. term staff/ETCs are treated fairly by open ended staff and even ACS? The answer is NO. This is a highly demotivating factor. Staff should be treated fairly when it comes to promotions, increases, growth within the Bank. Strengthen diversity and inclusion at the World Bank. Equity among Country Offices and HQ. Equal treatment/job/career opportunity for ALL, does not matter race, language or culture. reduce cronyism Eliminate "quotas" for women and regional representation. Ensure that positions are given based on meritocratic criteria, not country of origin or gender. Fairness in dealing with staff, improved performance based management and better accountability Senior Management. We need leaders who know what the WBG's work is about and understand development issues. We need to be realistic and provide benefit packages to staff so as to attract great people. Staff need to be treated fairly regardless of their religion. Stop the lip service on diversity and do something tangible. There is also no reason to attract new people for the sake of diversity while ill-treating those already onboard Take real action on diversity (incl gender) and quality management (vs focus on deliverables). Diversity. Staff should be treated equally regardless their race, gender, origin, religion, and sexual orientation. I feel that that African staff are very much less represented in senior management. First of all, to promote staff according to their performance and education. I suggest that the Bank checks the educational background of all staff. There are a lot of staff with fake degrees and who are getting promotion almost every [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] years. The Bank should look closely on the case of ACS who have a strong educational background and are performing very well. There is no fairness at the World Bank. The Office Manager position should be eliminated and the ACS Network also should be abolished. The GE ready program should be opened to all ACS with educational background (e.g. Masters degree) regardless of their grade level (A, B, C, D). ACS who are not performing and who have no educational background are those who are being promoted. Please look at the statistics. Usually educated Black staff are not promoted, except when the Bank promotes [NUMBER] or [NUMBER] to show that the institution cares about diversity. It is even worse in the case of Black women. Most ACS who are very educated are black. Treat everyone fairly regardless of their race especially when it comes to appointment opportunities. Being honest with staff. Hiring people based on merit and not on the need to balance gender. Not discriminating part I males Treating before on a level playing field, avoiding undue (positive discurimination), having a complete audit of HR practices More diversity Find a fair balance among grade levels. Transparency and Fairness seem to be lacking in the WBG. Promotions are not by merit but rather who you know. There is an old "administration" culture with a ridiculous hierarchy where colleagues are treated differently based on their grade and sometimes origins. So the one thing I would change is the current culture. French people hire French people, Italians hire Italians, Indians hire Indians when a very capable person is right in the office and could do the job. - 154 - Fair work programs for staff that means taking action when staff takes advantage of networks and other qualities to underperform without this situation being corrected task distributions within unit That if you are a white anglo saxon [Duty City] you are not discriminated against because of an overly aggressive diversity and inclusion agenda. This is particularly the case in the field of project finance where there should be equal access to opportunities but then candidates must be evaluated by their capacities without manager's fear of not selecting a woman or a minority. I am fairly new to the Bank, explaining that some questions can be answered at this point of time Sub Theme: Bullying and Harassment No. of Sub Theme Comments: 7 The employment structure at the WBG needs to be completely overhauled. For instance, the use of consultants is outrageous in that the WBG develops young talent through essentially "long-term" STC contracts but allows very few avenues to become full staff. This is the same for staff who join the WBG at grade GE or below. The employment structure should be adjusted to: limit consultancy to specific, niche requirements; open more staff positions, especially at the GE and GF levels; and reward staff for their job performance through new opportunities, promotions and monetary raises regardless of their age, grade level or other demographic factors. Doing so would allow the WBG to develop and keep talent, operate more efficiently, and improve impact in client countries. Racism and improve diversity More opportunities for young people (age group [NUMBER]-[NUMBER]) to enter the WBG on a longer-term (or open-ended) basis, when skills match the business needs. Often in times of change, the answer to identified problems is merely to add more bureaucracy. For example, climate change awareness in projects is answered with yet an additional step in project preparation. Furthermore, at GG level and above, there are not enough women and there is a rising culture of sexism at this level that is sometimes too subtle to report to EBC, yet still prevents women from reaching their full potential. Managers and TTLs alike need gender sensitivity training to address this issue. The obsession with number of years of experience and tenure within the organization as a criterion for deciding one's readiness for career advancement rather than his or her genuine ability and skills to perform the required job regardless of age. I would try to make career advancement based on a genuine evaluation of the person's capacity to perform the task rather than on arbitrary numbers of required years of experience expected within the institution. [NUMBER] year old TTLs effectively do the exact same job as [NUMBER] year old TTLs, and in many cases they do it better. managers should be held accountable for their actions and should not be allowed to intimidate or haze employees. Though safeguards exist, most employees thing that they are not safe so they don t use them More diversity in senior management with respect to age--everyone fits in one age band and so has a similar perspective. Theme: Work Environment and Facilities No. of Comments: 29 Open office space allowing for informal inter-personal interaction Rumor is not good for working environment; therefore, it is better if we could find the way to manage the spread of rumor in the organization. Ensure that job applications are blind until the short listing is done OR have sponsors at the table who can speak up for staff that do not have access to decision makers. Sweetheart deals and kitchen cabinets continue to exist despite [NAME] really good intentions, the culture will take a while to change. The WBG should promote inclusion in dealing with work conditions. More ergonomics work stations! Possibility to shift the height of the table so that one can work when standing also. I would improve the working environment. Free coffee on all floors. Open space for flexibility between rules and practices in different country context. more work space in office Decentralization of decisions at the level of CO Decentralization - 155 - Career progression for young staff, including better working conditions for Consultants. Noise reduction One think I would like to change is the work environment. People in the Bank can be very clicklnch. Information is transferred only to a certain group and others are left out. Just because you are perceived that you belong to one group, the other group wants to destroy you. That is the reason why people do not want to be seen with anyone, they would rather meet outside the Bank etc.... Create a good work environment in the field. Drastically improve the J Bldg. cafeteria. It is small, often crowded, with limited menu and bad coffee More decentralization More decentralization at the country office. In our country office, the consultants working for us should be given parking space as this saves on the time they spend looking for parking spaces elsewhere. Rooms with windows for all and more field experience for those whe miss. Better office space World bank should have its own offices on the field instead of to rent private infrastructures because all necessary commodities for a fruitful and pleasant work are not guaranteed More private work place. Make partitions, to enable me make phone calls without disturbing colleagues. We have very old office space arrangements and the rooms and furniture have not been renovated or modernized for many years. The technology is also very old. There is a lot to be done to better use technology in our work. Renovation Provide accommodation for employees working in country offices, especially in skyrocketing places in terms of rentals in places like [Duty City] needs to be looked at. I suggest the World Bank to buy a piece of land in the city where the office is and build units for minimal rental to staff and this should include sports and recreational facilities so it minimises travel between facilities and improve real time activities considering we start early and finish late at [NUMBER].[NUMBER]pm each day means exercising is difficult for most employees. Make work environment both office and travel conducive. Please have clear institutional lines of command. Over time, the work environment has become increasingly complex, too many people taking even a small decision, too many bosses with conflicting interests. This results is a gross mismatch between/among skill sets required, staff deployed and client goals. Create supportive, conducive and productive work environment Theme: Sub Theme: Flexible Working No. of Comments: Working Patterns 29 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 19 The treatment of STCs and ETCs. These are often the employees that the Bank relies on to undertake its technical work; and yet they are treated like second class citizens at the Bank. As a former STC, I know firsthand how STC contracts are used as a way to keep costs down, even as STCs are expected to work overtime for no pay and are given no job security. Even as staff complain about the change process, no one has addressed this abuse of the STC system. STCs should be for part-time work only, and if a unit needs a full-time employee they should hire on term contracts or at the very least on ETC contracts. The treatment of STCs goes against everything that the Bank claims to stand for when it comes to fairness, equality and inclusion. Compensate (in days off) for weekends spent on mission. One day rest on return is hardly enough. Making it a more flexible environment for work Greater flexibility (telecommuting) I would allow mobility in an out of the institution. Investment in staff growth and learning; provide remuneration i.e. overtime when needed as it takes one away from family it is only fair for staff to be paid. - 156 - There are several things: [NUMBER]) Convert people on consecutive term contracts to open-ended contracts starting next fiscal year, not years from now. [NUMBER]) Give people traveling on weekends additional leave time. This is time away from our families. Have people work only [NUMBER] to [NUMBER] hours a day and have them take forced vacation which they all deserve. Allowing sufficient flexibility to take time off after extended periods of intensive work. Reduce expectation on staff to work [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] Mandatory staff rotation of job assignments. Allow high-performing ETCs to be automatically converted to staff term positions in-situ, as they complete their [NUMBER]-year contracts. This is particularly important to operational departments, given that no new ETCs can be brought on anymore, yet most ETCs in the Bank are doing ongoing work where the demand for their services will certainly continue beyond the contract date. In the current situation, more likely than not, ETCs will run through their contracts and be forced to either hang around as STCs while HR processes and clearances drag on to open, advertise, interview and select candidates for new job posts, OR leave the Bank because changing around in limbo on part time self-employed contracts is not appealing or workable for them (which translates to a huge loss to the Bank if they are high performing and would otherwise be competitively selected). For a TTL that travels all the time , I would encourage a bit more flexibility for telecommuting from time to time to be with my family. allow additional time off for operational staff returning from missions. We are exhausted. more flexible work arrangements take down more walls...more open space...encourage more flexible work arrangements. A more reasonable thinking about travel. If I spend three out of four weekends travelling I would welcome some change in rules which allows for additional holidays. Add sabbaticals in a more systematic way so that staff have an opportunity to take a few months off (maybe up to one year) to retool, recharge, refresh. Staff could be encouraged to identify opportunities of value to them and to the organization. Even if unpaid - or paid by another firm or organization - many staff would be interested if shown that it does not damage their careers. This could help bring new perspectives and skills. The work schedule could be more rigorous. Sub Theme: Working Hours No. of Sub Theme Comments: 10 Continue to develop flexibility tools such as: flexi hours remote work, etc Output-based salary scheme instead of time recording, as the satisfaction of the client should have more weight compared to working [NUMBER] hours per week Strengthen Education for managers on the benefits of telecommuting and make it easier for "high performing staff" to telecommute as needed. In my case, I live [NUMBER] miles from the office, and spend anywhere from [NUMBER] hour on a good day to [NUMBER] hours most days getting to work, each way - due to the heavy traffic. Most days, after fighting traffic, trying to take multiple shortcuts through the neighborhoods - I am sometimes exhausted by the time I get to office. Make real improvements to work-life balance, especially with regard to hours worked There is ever increasing work-load and pressures, unreasonable delivery schedules, increasing budget pressure (which means less money to hire assistance and hence more work-load), increasing pressure to make longer and more intense missions and to travel economy class which adds further to tiredness and stress. Im on mission now week [NUMBER] of [NUMBER] weeks, an dI do this [NUMBER]% or more of the time. The expectation is to keep working until you drop, and this mission is no exception - [NUMBER] hour days or more including weekends. There is no end in sight - honestly, Im getting close to the end of my tether, and seriously considering my options to get a job that takes work-life balance seriously. There are great opportunities at the Bank, if only I had the time to take advantage of them. - 157 - Discourage working extra-hours, take strong actions against under-performers (which should include find a way to identify them): we cannot afford to pay people who are not productive and be forced to work [NUMBER] hours a day to cover for them... Leadership could also be improved, Sr Management seems inadequate (PM are often much better leaders). The new model does not make sense to staff: split manager/technical leader is non-sense (how can you lead without managing staff?) and the idea of "regional global practice" is a pure oxymoron. Last suggestion, move HQs to NYC. Allow us to appoint Trust Funded staff to relieve the work pressure in our team, which is unmanageable and causes people to work [NUMBER] hour work weeks, for month with no end or relief in sight and despite several emails having been sent to managers. Something will give -- it cannot go on this way! I would like to see more respect demonstrated towards staff and the work they do and the endless hours of work they put in the work. We need to build a reputation of being a selective employer attracting the best employees. So far, the strategic staffing exercise and the change process have resulted in sharper relationships between colleagues and cut-throat career driven staff willing not to even sleep but to be able to send out an e-mail at midnight. there is a large culture shift in the Bank and the climate generated by the changes is not helping any. New staff need to learn from old staff experience, while bringing in a little bit of freshness. Setting up a manic tempo of working [NUMBER] hours a day just to "stay on board" is a sad everyday part of life of many (in particular new) WB staff. I would focus on knowledge flow and incentives in regards to the next set of changes. In addition I would look to establish more day to day managers not just technical leads. Focus on the competitive advantages of the WBG, and build on those. In particular the SCD/CPF process holds a tremendous opportunity to align activities. Theme: Administrative Client Support No. of Comments: 29 Cut down the bureaucracy. Administrative processes cost so much more money than they save. Abolish the STC/STT system and place people in research and support roles on term contracts. The present system is horribly exploitative, creates perverse incentives, and makes the availability of key human resources unpredictable for senior and lead analysts. WBG should promote remote work across the board. Only GF and above are eligible for the WB phone or subsidy program without considering that other grade staff (GA-GD) have also contribute to work during weekend and/or after hours at their own expenses. On top of that, they get less pay but more responsibility to put thing together. Further simplify administrative processes. Treat STTs as if they're also fixed-term staff. Provide benefits such as vanbreda, annual leaves and other benefits. Open up for Admin. staff to develop career wise. Give more opportunities to ACS staff levels GC/GD with Master’s degree, MBA, MSc. For their career development, growth and broader contribution. Find better ways to allow career growth for GA-GD Staff, break the glass ceiling that does not allow GC Staff go to GE. Find better ways to work with IFC, IBRD, MIGA The Bank needs to stop defining "quality" of our work as compliance with TRS, portal checklists and other purely administrative criteria. There is an army of people checking on "quality" but very few people actually producing that quality. Enhance management. Maintain a appropriate balance and proportion between front line task team and internal services -- ie administrative, HR, budget and IT and logistic support staff. Replace the current ACS contingent with motivated, proactive and effective admin professionals. Reduce the distinction between IRS, LRS, ETC, STC, STT. i WOULD THINK ABOUT DELEGATE ALL THE ADMINISTRATIVE TAKS TO AN ADMINISTRATIVE PERSON. THE TIME THAT WE SPEND IN ADMINISTRATIVE ISSUES INCLUDING TRAVEL ARRANGEMENTS ETC. IS A LOSS OF TIME AND MEANWHILE OUR BEST SKILLS ARE ON HOLD. Many of the institutional/organizational changes made over the last year have made the Bank's work more, not less, transaction intensive, making it harder for TTLs and others to get their work done. This is for a variety of reasons, including loss of economies of scale moving from four networks to [NUMBER]+[NUMBER] GPs/CCSAs. Efforts to recapture economies of scale, plus to continue work done so far to simplify administrative procedures would be very important to improving the WBG as a place to work and for improving staffs' ability to pursue effectively the WBG's goals. - 158 - There are too many approvals needed to get basic parts of my job done. Procurement / hiring (GSD - HR Procurement) processes are extremely burdensome, long, confusing and include unnecessary steps. This means that a large percentage of my time is spent doing administrative work as opposed to value added / technical work. Simplify operational and administrative procedures, especially in light of tighter budgets and shorter turnaround times. Break the ceiling glass for ACS to move from GC/GD to GE, based on merit, skills and performance. Eliminate bureaucracy and the heavy administrative processes. diminish administrative burdens The organizational structure has become more complex - not easy to understand. I hope that the project processes will be kept simple - more time with clients and less with administrative requirements (adopt IFC processes where reasonable as it is less complex vs. the IBRD processes). There are too many emails especially from the Global Practices side - there must be a more streamlined way to identify who should be informed. effective admin support Eliminate unnecessary bureaucratic requirements, overlapping jurisdictions, and internal politics which all inhibit World Bank's ability to deliver to its clients effectively and in a timely fashion. Minimize and simplify overwhelming administrative requirements allowing the teams to dedicate most of their time on meeting the needs of external, rather than internal, clients. Fully harmonize the administrative, fiduciary, and safeguards standards across the World Bank Group Less administrative hurdles that take up all our time and do not allow us to focus on the things that count in development. Design incentives for support/administrative staff/staff dealing with internal procedures that are not based on amount of work done but on how effectively they enable client delivery. Let us have time to develop knowledge for our clients, instead of spending [NUMBER]/[NUMBER] of our time on administrative processes. Term appointments that have been renewed for more than [NUMBER] years should be legitimize and be converted to regular/open ended appointments. This is at least to reduce the administrative work both to the WB and the staff especially those on international hire and G-[NUMBER] visas and their families. Separate the technical and managerial tracks, to allow for Practice Managers, now overburden with administrative work (more than before), to focus more on quality control Rehaul HR: Fire the managers: (a) not selected for management positions, and instead put to pasture as "Advisors." These expensive staff are protected by their peers. Conversely, staff at the GA-GD level are losing jobs/being demoted due to "normalizing" exercise; (b) fire managers that have poor people-management skills; (c) fire poor performers who are incapable of being trained into solid players; (e) provide a pathway for professional opportunities to advance high-performing GD level staff--and remove quotas of GDs per unit (GC staff have zero hope for promotion!); and (f) fire the VP of HR--a fish rots from the head down. Consider Grade GE as the last grade for the ACS. Well performing ACS (SRI [NUMBER] and above) in Grade GD who have been in that same grade for over [NUMBER] plus years should be promoted to GE. Promotions or progression of staff in higher grades (GE and above) seem automatic (or is a matter of time) but for the Administrative Staff there is a concrete ceiling which is not good for the image of the WBG as a development institutions. This change will boost morale and make the WBG the BEST place to work. Theme: Sub Theme: Systems and technology No. of Comments: General ICT 26 No. of Sub Theme Comments: 14 Significant change needed in - HR and RM to replace a control mindset with a support function mindset. Substantial competency weaknesses exist as well. Most importantly the staff in these functions have absolutely no idea about operations, the realities of life in country offices and client demands. It is ridiculous to expect people who do not travel to set the travel policies. The ill will prevalent in the institution would be greatly addressed if we did not daily have to spend more time dealing with ops portal and other internal policy matters than actually addressing client needs which is what we were hired for and enjoy doing. Easing of the complicated procedures; the support staff is becoming indispensable to solve bureaucratic issues . The RM are not supportive and sometime touches the integrity of the operational staff. - 159 - The current environment s one of very low morale where staff feel like they are asked to work with two hands tied behind our backs. Decisions about staffing, budgets, management, etc are painfully slow or not forthcoming. There is little confidence that decisions are made in transparent and fair ways. Administrative services like HR in particular and RM and the portal are completely broken. improve HR, IT, and ACS Assign [NUMBER] dedicated RM person to each GP in each Region. Stop cutting the RM staff. This leaves the PM with no RM support. Administrative burdens overload TTLs and task teams. I feel I spend [NUMBER]% of my time praying to Kafka's ghost on time-consuming administrative work, much of it financial, IT or duplicative -- instead of working with our client (I am an intl staff assigned to a country office in Africa). For example RM has transferred SAP entry responsibility to TTLs, country directors, etc based in country offices. Every month I have to pay my home security firm, and this now requires [NUMBER] minutes for going into SAP and enter all sorts of details like receipt number and other minute: hardly efficient or cost-effective for international or other technical client-facing staff. Internet is slow and often down even in the country office. A client-facing hire of mine was refused a laptop after much back and forth; instead he has to return to his desktop whenever he needs to look up a file or send an e-mail. [Duty City] AFR IT said they are more interested in inventory. Convert term contracts to open ended. If it's partial conversion, evaluate open ended staff as well. If some of them are not competent enough, convert to term contract. Standardize benefits. No exception to [EDS] and those joined before [NUMBER]. effective and efficient internal systems, procedures and better ICT platforms bureaucracy is very bad and negatively affects delivery. need to reform the IT, HR, RM , OPCS more. Improve back office and support services efficiency (finance, procurement, IT, etc.) More use of mobile technology Better career advancement opportunities to ALL staff. Getting to REALLY know the rich skills mix the Bank possesses and does not take advantage of. ACS with masters that speak [NUMBER] languages and have great people skills should be working in HR or ECR to deal with the public rather than sitting behind computers and answering phones. HR should have a group within the VP that deals with job allocation/placement and abolish the expensive, lengthy and time consuming job world advertising/interviewing process. More powerful computers Technology. Sub Theme: IT Software, Systems and Information Management No. of Sub Theme Comments: 12 "Rotation" assignments for mid-level staff to expose them to other GPs/areas of work in order to avoid being boxed into one sector only. After a few years in one sector, it may be hard to get hired in another for a new full-time assignment, even though the staff may be eager to do so and have a lot of cross-applicable skills. The new global practices made it difficult to work smoothly, GPs supposed to facilitate our work and guide us clearly to what and where and with whom we should work, unfortunately, the contrast has happened, my live becomes difficult with the GPs, I prefer to go back to our normal system Address the problem of competition and turf battles among GPs Turn off access to email during local hours of [NUMBER]:[NUMBER] PM and [NUMBER]:[NUMBER] AM. We no longer are able to disconnect, ever! Clearly define the roles of PLs with regards TTL informing and reporting requirements. They are an added layer of "accountability" and their level of technical competence on the various GPs vary greatly. Information flows within GPs better aligningment of work across GPs Encourage and reward those doing actual work rather than those who consider Bank a Power Point/BBL Bank. T Because of the time difference, sometimes we are in the office from [NUMBER]a until [NUMBER]p because of VCs. Understand it's difficult to get on upper management time schedule but in the future, might be helpful if those in [Duty City] can give more consideration to respective field offices' time zones especially since internet access isn't good at home and we need to be at the office. Removing the silos that are currently created with the GPs - 160 - Re-think the new structure. The global reference for macroeconomics and fiscal policy is the IMF. Separating the micro/institutional foundations of growth and fiscal policy to different GPs weakened the comparative advantage of the WB in economics, which was structural, long-term issues and having the micro, on-the-ground sectoral perspective. Reduce the number of GPs and CCSAs; eliminate thr GPVP level and their entire front office; stop micromanaging everything. Theme: Others No. of Comments: 70 Find a way where we are not so dependent on lending. How can we change our culture when we have an MD who is so focused on it? Improve financial services Involvement in few projects or works outside the country office to get better exposure and become global Do not marginalise certain groups (ACS / Africans). Remove the Global Practices No more global practice... Facilitation for physical exercises Huge difference between local and international staff Make arrangements so that all staff have the necessary and adequate academic qualifications for the job employed Stop differentiating between [Duty City] and field personnel Smaller, more nimble WBG that is focused on a few key areas. We cant solve all problems. In our bid to solve all problems, we end up not solving any. I will seek to provide my skills and expertise beyond my water GP such as participation to field missions or supervisions across GP. We need to retrench people who do not deliver over time. We have a number of people who are more a liability to the World Bank Group than an asset. It is extraordinary that we keep a large number of people who should not be in this institution at all. eliminate crazy deadlines that lead to nowhere draw lessons from the last three years and learn from them Make a coherent ladder between consultants and staff. After [NUMBER] years dedicated to a project, I'm tired of feeling like a second-class worker with no real standing. The systems are too slow most of the time, which is a serious hurdle to my timely delivery of work. Action needs to be take to improve this problem. reduce activities that promote form over substance Don't fix something that works well. Our counterparts (countries that I work) like to work with us much much more than EU, EIB, EBRD, KFW. The changes still need to answer the doubts and fears that are thick in the air. Start operating in a more business like manner - development is a business, it needs to get done. We are a profit making institution and those that do not contribute to profit making, must make way for others who can do so. For the avoidance of doubt - profit making does not mean profit maximizing in this context. I am not saying that we need to work like a commercial/investment bank, but we should start behaving and operating like a bank. We want back the happy place in WBG with the happy faces. Take some tips from Bloomberg now considered the happiest place to work in - Why? Hope this help for work improvement for the Staff and a better help to the Poor Focus on the TTL. The TTL is the face of the WBG. If we focus on how to help them become more efficient and effective, the whole institution wins. We need to figure out if we're a disbursing organization or a development organization. Things needs to be more decentralized. It is not necessary to receive a lot of information every day. Either make the cuts quickly or don't make them. Action not words are required. - 161 - English speaking should not be the only language of the WBG. In most cases, presentations are made to French speaking countries in English. That is unacceptable. the GPVPs Understanding and demonstration of the fact that the most valuable asset of the WBG are its people. Not marginalize ACS and include them in the dialogue towards development. The balance between push for disbursement and quality. The balance between the race for TTL ships and quality. we don't need CM , Cd is enough to cover the country. Increase commercialization of advisory services. Proportionate assignment of work. Increase understanding and time spend with the very people we are suppose to be helping dONE Improve the Internal Justice System of the Bank which is flawed. Promoting a culture and identity of placing service before self There is not much I would change but the manner in which ACS staff is allow to develop professionally. Let us continue doing this important work for the poor people in this world. We need to be conscious of over attending to concerns of NGOs, which is making our delivery of program inefficient and ineffective. The difference between LRS and IRS does not make sense. The Bank should keep a limited number of qualified staff with one uniformed status. Do away with OPCS LRS vs IRS Focus on operations hmm Reduce the scope of work for the sake of quality. Very often we need to deal with many tasks per day/ week. I have a fear that the quality of my work may be affected just because we have to do several tasks simultaneously. Realism Less academic and theoretical instead with greater focus on what works and in answering the 'how to' question I would revisit projects to ensure preparation and implementation is backed by solid analytical work that reflects the results chains. Since commencing work with the WBG, work situation is completely different, that is [NUMBER] degrees. WBG to me is non stop action [NUMBER]/[NUMBER], even if some holiday time is taken. There is NO ONE THING I can say to improve the WBG as a place to work. Except to say it is THE PLACE TO WORK. To see a truly WBG and to make the WB the best place to work, I would like the difference between CO and HQ based staff removed. knowledge exchange more often especially operation practices from different countries Would build stronger relationships with counterparts and demand their full commitment to the projects. Integrate all available systems that we are currently using it and make one comprehensive system with different access levels. IRS vs LRS divide Focus the mandate of the institution. At the moment it does too many things and many of them not too effectively. Don't drag on the changes. Making effective use of in house human power. Particularly capable ACS and analysts who can do a better job with their experience in the Bank. More result oriented approach THe newly instituted Global Practice system-it is not working effectively. Overhaul the Inspection panel. It is a disincentive to work in an environment of risk taking. - 162 - Introduce telecommuting on regular basis. Focus on knowledge and be coherent in terms of discourse and actions. Discourse emphasizes knowledge, actions emphasize business. Job sustainability needs to be improved. Institute uniform/equitable policy in terms of work contracts and tenure. Make everyone over age [NUMBER] who has been at the Bank for [NUMBER]+ years re-apply for their jobs in a genuinely competitive environment. Elitism - it is almost impossible for people from non elite universities to enter the WBG More balance focus on lending and knowledge, instead of primarily focus on lending. Theme: Nothing/ Dont Know/ Everything/ Refused No. of Comments: 29 NA I can think of no answer to this simplistic question. Nothing will change No comment No comments I am comfortable with what exist. . NA No comments. NA No comment N/a n/a n/a no comments No No .l NA N/A n/a . Not sure... [NUMBER] I could not decide the "one" thing to change, among the several things I would propose to change in order to improve the WBG as a place to work Nothing needs to be changed none Don't know None - 163 -