Staff members at the World Bank are not happy.
Results of the latest employee engagement survey — which come after a contentious reorganization and a controversial investigation of an outspoken World Bank staffer over the leaking of a draft safeguards document — point to a level of discontent with senior management that current and former bankers say is unprecedented.
“In all my years at the bank I have never seen such a lack of trust and such a deterioration of trust between staff and senior management,” said Jean-Louis Sarbib, a former World Bank vice president and senior vice president who worked at the institution for 26 years. “I’ve never seen such a climate of fear in the bank. People are afraid to speak out.”