wbg people strategy

The World Bank Group People Strategy FY17-19

IBRD | IDA | IFC | MIGA | ICSID — November 2016

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CROSS-CUTTING themes

SHAREDaccountability for

people management

BUILD & DEVELOPleadership

STRENGTHENperformance &

rewards

IMPROVEorganizational effectiveness

LEVERAGEglobal &

diverse talent

PROMOTEhealth, safety, &

well-being

OUREmployment

Value Proposition

Our People Strategy seeks to support the organization’s twin goals:

• To eliminate extreme poverty by 2030; and

• To boost shared prosperity for the bottom 40% of each country.

With the following vision:

• To build a workforce with the right skills, in the right place at the right time, who can offer the best development solutions to our clients; and

• To be the best place to work in development.

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Value Proposition

Our people are at the core of our success. They are the source of the solutions that seek to tackle the most pressing development challenges of our time. It is because of our people that the World

Bank Group is regarded as the world’s premier development organization.

What our clients seek from the World Bank Group is to harness the world-class talent that brings together technical, institutional and policy experience with innovation and commitment, dimensions that over the past 70 years have become the hallmarks of our workforce. Going forward, the World Bank Group’s degree of success in meeting the twin goals will hinge largely on how we leverage our most valuable resource — our people.

As we embarked on defining the three-year strategy, we reviewed the strategic context in which we operate on a number of key levels. The rapidly shifting and dynamic development landscape as reflected in the WBG’s Forward Look: A Vision for the World Bank Group in 2030, was the key driver. We also took into consideration other important external factors such as the emergence of new players in the development arena-and the resultant added competition for talent-and the fast-evolving world that is today’s modern workplace. In parallel, we looked at the internal context and assessed staff views on the organization as captured in surveys and other data sources.

Of equal importance, the Strategy was also informed by engagements with over 1000 staff and managers from across the Group, together with extensive benchmarking against other organizations.

https://hubs.worldbank.org/news/Announcement/Pages/Forward-Look-A-Vision-for-the-World-Bank-Group-in-2030-27092016-104201.aspx


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Value Proposition

Against a backdrop of increasing demand for our knowledge and financing, the Strategy sets out the five areas of focus that will inform and anchor HR’s work over the next three years. It also identifies three cross-cutting themes that will be embedded across all the themes and which are crucial for successful implementation.

The five Strategic areas of focus seek to:

1. Leverage the World Bank Group’s Global and Diverse Talent; 2. Build and Develop Managerial and Leadership Capacity; 3. Strengthen Performance and Rewards; 4. Promote the Health, Safety, and Well-being of our People; and5. Improve the World Bank Group’s Organizational Effectiveness.

The three cross-cutting themes seek to:

• Focus on and fix the HR fundamentals;• Strengthen WBG staffing for Fragile, Conflict, and Violent situations (FCV)• Advance Diversity and Inclusion.

The following pages set out the key themes in each of the five strategic areas of focus.

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Value Proposition

1. Leverage the WBG’s Global and Diverse Talent

To know, grow, and build global talent as our most important corporate resource and to deploy staff through a variety of means requires a shift from a “free market” approach, to more intentional career management with shared

accountability between management and staff. To achieve this will require:

(i) Knowing our people. Leveraging our talent means first understanding, at the unit and institutional level, what skills we have and where, and what interests and aspirations people have for their careers, including functional and geographic mobility considerations to better respond to global footprint demands, especially in FCV situations. (ii) Developing our talent. A clear understanding of the current and emerging business needs and what experiences and behaviors lead to success in critical roles will enable us to better customize career development by incorporating a mix of on-the-job learning with formal learning opportunities. (iii) Deploying our talent. Our staff are a corporate resource, and increasingly the expectation is that staff will be deployed in the interest of the World Bank Group in light of our mission to serve countries with significant development challenges. This may include relocation to another duty station or reassignments that serve either to meet an immediate business need or to prepare staff for a future role. The increased focus on IDA and FCV situations puts priority on deployment to those locations, underscoring the value of field experience.

(iv) Attracting high quality diverse talent. While most vacancies will be filled with internal candidates, we will always need to refresh and replenish our workforce with new talent and new skills. This need will be particularly acute as we align our workforce to deliver on the Forward Look, which demands technical skills that we can bring in through recruitment and grow internally, when possible.


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OUREmployment

Value Proposition

2. Build and Develop Managerial and Leadership Capacity

Staff need leaders who motivate, energize, engage, and lead their teams for high impact. Selection into managerial and leadership roles has often been based on technical strengths rather than aptitude to manage people.

Going forward, in addition to investing in our current managerial cadre, we will prepare staff for managerial and leadership roles early on in their careers to ensure breadth and depth of experience, and more importantly, people management skills.

Given the adoption of a more consistent talent review process, and inclusion of increasing groups of staff in the process, talent reviews can be leveraged for early identification of potential leaders and managerial aptitude. This should be followed with adequate investment in their growth and development, while also focusing on strengthening the diversity of our leadership pipeline. Greater investment in high potential staff comes with an obligation for them to “give back” to the

institution, for example through coaching and mentoring, or taking on corporate initiatives aligned with strategic priorities.

Demand for leadership development solutions that go beyond supporting new managers is also growing, and given the significant

role both managers and leaders play in establishing team dynamics and enabling team performance, increasingly our offerings will include learning and development interventions with intact teams.

71%2016

Managerial Effectiveness Ind

ex

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Value Proposition

3. Strengthen Performance and Rewards

For many staff and managers alike, performance management remains a pain point. This is in part because the challenges of the platforms and processes used to record how objectives were met have tended to overshadow the behavioral

aspects of performance management. The frustration is also the result of two issues: (i) the inadequacy of tools to properly differentiate performance and (ii) the perceived challenges of exiting poor performers. As a number of organizations shift from rigid processes grounded in formal systems and compliance towards a performance culture--characterized by continuous candid feedback and improvement--that emphasizes teams over individuals, we will also be exploring these options, including the appropriateness of the current tools, both financial and non-financial, available to recognize and incentivize staff.

Incentives on their own cannot be implemented in isolation of other systems. Nor will incentives work without a compelling business case or business ownership. Incentives need to be made part

of the performance culture, leadership culture, and hard-wired in the evaluation and feedback processes. To support this, in some parts of the organization HR has worked with VPUs to implement specific incentives frameworks based on the achievement of VPU thematic objectives. These then drive behaviors consistent with organizational values and the priorities of each VPU.

The Forward Look articulates three specific incentive systems to improve the business model: (i) Cross GP and GP-Treasury Coordination; (ii) WBG Coordination to support

private sector investment; and (iii) WBG Coordination to strengthen mobilization. Efforts in these areas will be given priority.

In the area of compensation, the Engagement Survey demonstrated that staff,

as a whole, are largely satisfied with the pay and benefits package. However, this obscures challenges in this area for staff in markets where compensation

may be lagging. Special Compensation Measures will continue to be employed where needed to offset currency volatility, and a comprehensive review of the methodology of country office compensation will be undertaken to ensure the approach is still fit for purpose and that there is greater transparency around the process.

Work is also planned to expand support for staff in the area of financial

literacy, helping staff to manage their personal finances responsibly and to understand the options available for securing a more financially stable future.


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Value Proposition

4. Promote the Health, Safety, and Well-being of Our People

The new partnership with globally recognized centers of excellence is expected to improve personal health outcomes considerably by providing state-of-the-art health risk management support to staff and their families. As the

partnership gets underway for those in the US-based Medical Insurance Plan (MIP), it will be critical to expand this level and access of care to all staff and families if staff are to have trust and confidence in this core benefit. In the meantime, a review of the Medical Benefits Plan for Country Office staff will look at how best to strengthen the current plan.

A healthy and safe work environment is pivotal to staff welfare. The recently established Health and Safety Committee has been tasked with designing and implementing a framework that aligns with the Occupational Safety and Health Management standards in the UN system.

Wellness in today’s WBG requires that staff can reasonably integrate business and personal activities, fitting them

within a finite time, be it a day, week, month, or year. Flexible work arrangements are emerging as a key driver of both attraction and retention. Shifting to a modern management culture that embraces such tools fully is a strategic business imperative, with the added benefits of

reducing our environmental footprint and supporting business continuity in the event of disruptions in the

workplace.

Shifting demographic trends are a further key consideration in today’s work environment as the traditional notion of family changes- from the rise in dual career couples, to women having children later, to the growth of single-parent, same-sex, and multi-generational households, with families facing childcare and

elder care issues simultaneously. These changes call for modern tools and policies to support a broader range of families and work in this

area will form a central part of the Strategy’s work on benefits.

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people management



rewards


LEVERAGEglobal &

diverse talent


well-being

OUREmployment

Value Proposition

5. Improve the WBG’s Organizational Effectiveness

The Forward Look sets out a long-term strategic direction for the World Bank Group, emphasizing key areas of focus and growth. The People Strategy should guide decision-making on the allocation of resources, including human capital,

enabling a proactive approach to ensure that we have the required levels and skills mix, and can deploy staff when and where they are needed most.

Annual strategic staffing, launched in FY15, is at the core of aligning skills to business priorities, and the process will continue to be enhanced year-on-year moving forward. To meet its goals, the WBG must also have the right organizational structure and related processes in place to be able to deploy our talent with agility. The goal is to ensure that the people we have on board can reflect evolving client demands, business needs, and funding availability. By moving from a reactive approach to staff planning to a more proactive workforce planning methodology, the World Bank Group has positioned itself to be better prepared to minimize the impact of external and internal changes on staff by understanding talent gaps, forecasting recruitment needs, better leveraging internal capacity, and managing attrition. While great strides have been achieved by rolling out the strategic staffing process as a core corporate and annual process, the exercise has not been without challenges. Moving forward, workforce planning will be significantly improved through enhanced tools to support the process, ongoing communication and training, and strengthening the linkages to other core people management and budgeting processes.

Over the past several years, the World Bank Group has experienced significantorganizational change, including the introduction of a different operating model; a deepening decentralized footprint; and the integration of some units across the WBG (such as HR and ITS). These efforts — which proved demanding for both staff and managers — have been accompanied by a comprehensive review of the business strategy and repositioning of the WBG;the financial sustainability of the WBG; our processes andworkflows; and structures and reporting lines. Lookingahead, the WBG could benefit from a more holistic approach toorganizational effectiveness and from building its own internalcapacity in this area. The Agile Bank initiative, a set of efforts to improve our responsiveness to our clients’ needs—across a number of areas--is an example of such an approach.


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Value Proposition

Cross Cutting Themes

T he three cross cutting themes emerged from our consultation and our review of the previous HR strategy and the WBG business strategy. First, we must fix the HR fundamentals – our policies, processes, platforms, and support, which

underpin everything that HR does. Without this effort to address the basics, the success of the Strategy will be significantly hampered. Second, the need to ensure that our people working in those challenging environments that most need our help – the FCV situations – are given the utmost priority as we begin implementation of the Strategy. Third, that we operationalize our institutional commitment to Diversity and Inclusion in all that we do.

To address the HR Fundamentals, HR is partnering with business units and the Staff Association to conduct a thorough review of HR policies, processes, platforms, and HR Support to develop an implementation plan, with a mix of quick-wins, mid-term, and long term solutions. This will be undertaken in coordination with other initiatives already under way that touch on HR areas such as the Agile Bank, Administrative Simplification initiative, HRD Business Review etc.

A number of recent recommendations have emerged to strengthen the FCV staffing model and footprint, as well as the employment value proposition (EVP) for staff in FCV, framed around the following principles:

• The WBG’s commitment to achieving and sustaining a more adequate footprint and skills mix in FCV.• The WBG’s commitment to strengthen the EVP for staff working in/on FCV through: (i) ensuring that the FCV experience is recognized and valued for WBG careers; (ii) investing in the learning, development, and careers of CO staff; (iii) adequately compensating and

rewarding all staff working in/on FCV, with a particular focus on CO staff; and (iv) investing in the safety, security, and wellbeing of all our staff and families and

contingent workforce in FCV locations. The Strategy envisages operationalizing these recommendations.

In advancing diversity and inclusion, gender balance and career development for women remain two of our main challenges and areas of focus. To address this, we will be increasing targeted recruitment and career development through early identification of high-potential women. In addition, we will be focusing on the dimension of disability, which continues to be one of the

most challenging aspects for organizations, and on the LGBTQ community, addressing discrimination and harassment, career development, and job safety, among others.

What’s in it for me?

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Value Proposition

Caliber of staffCulture of teamworkDiverse & inclusiveLeadershipPeople management

What’s the "deal?" — Our Employment Value PropositionTo be the best place to work in development, the World Bank Group needs an EVP that attracts, motivates, and retains staff with the critical skills, mindsets, and behaviors to help fulfill our mission. At its essence, the EVP is “the deal” we offer to our staff. Our deal, which reflects the extensive feedback received in the course of developing the Strategy, is centered around five core elements: (i) people; (ii) organization, (iii) work, (iv) opportunity, and (v) rewards.

While there are common themes that resonate with all staff, different elements of the EVP may appeal to different groups of people at different points in their careers or life stages. A millennial may be less focused, for example, on the pension than his or her mid-career professional counterpart. Every staff member will have a different mix of what they value and to what degree and this will evolve over the course of a career. Similarly, expectations of staff may vary depending on career stream or talent segment. Increasingly, companies are finding that a segmented value proposition that speaks to the needs of different talent segments or demographics can provide a competitive advantage in attracting and retaining top talent for critical roles.

Rewards Wo

rk Opportunity

O

rga

niza

tion

Pe

ople

WBG Employment

Value Proposition

Intellectually challengingLevel of impactPurposefulRecognitionTravelWork-life integration

SalaryHealth benefitsPaid time-offPensionLife insurance

Career opportunitiesGlobal mobilityLearning opportunitiesStability

Compelling missionCulture, ethics, and valuesGlobal reachHealthy and safe environmentReputation and brandRisk takingSocial responsibility


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people management



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LEVERAGEglobal &

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OUREmployment

Value Proposition


WBG Staff

WBG Managers

Clear career pathsFamily-friendly

policies & benefits

Increased efficiency & transparency of recruitment processes

Strengthened Country Office compensation

On-the job learning opportunities through

rotations and corporate assignments

Real-time feedback on performance

Most vacancies internally filled

Emphasis on collaboration

Health risk management

Stronger support for staff working in or on FCV situations

Investment in safety, security, & well-being

Early identification of & investment in emerging

leaders

Better development opportunities

Peer-to-peer learning

Gender balance in pay and career development

Continuous communications & engagement on People Strategy

Diverse and inclusive work environment

The diagram below is a subset of envisaged outcomes of actions identified in the People Strategy.

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Value Proposition

For people management to be successful, it must be a shared responsibility. Executive Leadership, Managers, HR, and staff all play a role in creating the kind of culture and work environment where everyone’s best talents are brought to bear.

Shared Accountability for People Management

HUMAN RESOURCESprovides leading-edge products and services to a globally dispersed workforce, while reinforcing line managers’ responsibility for people management.

• Develop, implement, and provide guidance and advice to all staff and managers on HR policies, practices, programs, processes, training and tools.• Provide accessible platforms that facilitate timely sharing of this information with managers and staff.• Equip managers with the relevant data and analysis to support evidence-based decision-making.• Develop an understanding of the current work environment, business strategies and priorities, staff needs, and emerging issues that impact ability of

managers and staff to perform their roles and/or develop adequately.• Anticipate the staff impact of management decisions and organizational changes.• Implement decisions made by managers on individual staff members (e.g., process transaction) in line with policy and procedures framework.• Seek ongoing input from managers and staff on HR programs and processes.

OUR MANAGERSown people management roles in terms of engaging and motivating people, supporting well-being and getting the most out of their staff.

• Manage and support staff on a day-to-day basis to reach their potential.• Develop an understanding of and consistently apply policies, practices,

procedures and staff rules that impact staff and the work environment.• Make, communicate, and follow-up on evidence based decisions affecting

staff and on issues that arise on an ongoing and timely basis.• Make sure staff understand what is expected and in return make sure

managers know what staff value.• Take ownership for implementing organizational changes, ensure staff

understand the reasons for changes and how those changes are likely to impact them, and assist staff in transitioning to change.

• Commit to peer-to-peer manager learning for on-boarding and skill building.• Create an environment that fosters open, two-way, and timely

communications.• Provide input to and feedback on the development of HR policies, programs,

practices, tools and training.

OUR PEOPLEunderstand and deliver on expectations and constructively contribute to a values based culture.

• Maintain personal high performance and contribute/ collaborate to deliver on team objectives.

• Embrace career development opportunities aligned to both personal aspirations and organizational needs.

• Take ownership of own performance and skills development, knowledge, and expertise.

• Be open to and embrace change.• Raise ethical or other issues without fear of retaliation.• Avail themselves of opportunities to sustain personal health and

wellbeing in and out of the workplace.• Support and contribute to staff management dialogue to

ensure staff perspectives continue to feed the People Strategy throughout its design and implementation.

• Represent the WBG brand in a positive way.

EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP champions the people agenda and is ultimately accountable for implementing the strategy

• Emphasize and demonstrate that people are our most valuable resource• Create environment for strong people management; empower and hold management accountable• Role model core values and expected behaviors

People Strategy

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Next StepsMonitoring Progress, Mitigating Risk and Measuring Success To assess the effectiveness of the People Strategy, we must be able to measure and monitor its impact. HR will be responsible for monitoring progress, for developing a data and reporting strategy, and for shaping decision-making through evidence based analytics. Engagement Surveys, other organizational and functional surveys, as well as a results framework with key select indicators, will measure how well implementation is proceeding. HR will also develop a series of VPU-level reports to monitor progress across the areas of focus, to equip managers with specific insights for their units. How we identify, mitigate, and manage risks will be pivotal to the success of the Strategy. Some of the risks identified that could hamper the Strategy’s implementation include: (i) external volatility and the organization’s ability to respond in an agile way; (ii) failure to achieve shared accountability for people management between executiveleadership, management, staff and HR; (iii) insufficient investments in adequate resources; (iv) unrealistic expectations to deliver everything at once; (v) inability to effectively prioritize and sequence; and (vi) the absorption capacity of business units. Given that the ultimate accountability for delivering on the People Strategy rests with the Executive Leadership, it is critical that, while making decisions regarding budget and prioritization, these risks are taken into account. HR will engage regularly with the various stakeholders to clearly and openly communicate decisions made, progress, challenges, as well as articulate trade-offs and implications in the short, medium, and long-term.

Next Steps

In December, a complementary piece of work to the People Strategy--an implementation plan--will be socialized with key stakeholders. The plan will set out the all-important sequencing of the many initiatives highlighted in the Strategy, as well as timelines, indicators, milestones and, where required, additional resource requirements. There are multiple interdependencies involved in delivering the three-year strategy, both within HR and with other units. Experience from the earlier strategy has also underscored the importance of building in “buffer” capacity, in order to be agile enough to meet unforeseen needs.

The successful execution of the WBG People Strategy will be largely driven by the result of decisions made every day by managers and staff, acting together according to the information that is available to them. A transparent approach in communicating major milestones reached and key challenges, coupled with readily and widely available staffing data, will be pivotal to ensuring that staff and managers are aware of progress. Strategy is neither a destination nor a solution. It is an effort designed to support the mission of the organization-with agility and flexibility-through a series of interventions that are continuously informed by evolving business needs. The FY17-19 People Strategy seeks to put our most valuable resource-our people-front and center of the challenging and important development agenda for the World Bank Group.

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people management



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LEVERAGEglobal &

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OUREmployment

Value Proposition

Progress on D & I Targets, FY14-FY16

Full Time Staff, FY14-16Global Workforce At-A-Glance

• 15,000+ full-time staff as of FY16, 50% open-ended

• 44% of WBG staff are based outside the US• Contingent workforce represents 26.7% of

the total workforce

A Diverse Workforce

• Among full-time staff, 52% are women, 62% Part II, 14% SSA/CR

• Progress on D&I corporate targets for GF+ staff

• Multi-generational workforce

Global Presence & Diverse Expertise41

%41

%43

%50

%

36%

37%

37%

50%

43%

44%

44%

50%

11%

11%

12%

12.5

%

FY14 Index .84

FY15 Index .84

FY16 Index .87

WBG Target

Part IIManagers

WomenManagers

Women GF+Technical

SSA/CRGF+

Workforce by Age Group

Age 55+14%

Age <3517%

Age 45-5433% Age 35-44

36%

16,43815,847

15,395152

1,202

7,815

7,269

1611,054

7,821

6,811

14719

7,530

7,699

Open Term ETC/ETT SPAS

Go to http://PeopleStrategy for a complete copy of the People Strategy or to download a copy of this brochure.

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wbg people strategy

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