66771 RWA Network News and Views Respectful Workplace Advisors (RWA) Program Help Create a Respectful Work Environment in the World Bank Group Vol. 7 | August 2011 In ThIS ISSue HR Policy Revisions during FY11 1 HR Policy Revisions during FY11 Deborah J. Wright, Sr. Policy Officer, Employment Policy, HRSEP S 2 Ombuds Services and RWA everal changes in the probation, performance management Program Annual Report 2010 and ending employment policies were announced by HR in January 2011. Over 25 changes to the text of the rules 4 RWAs Reach Out (See Kiosk Announcement and details in Staff Manual Announce- to New Staff ment) were made after more than a year of consultations with fo- cus groups, managers, staff, HR and the Staff Association. The 4 Tips for Asking Open-Ended goal was to simplify and clarify perceived policy constraints to al- Questions low sensible separations. The change directly impacts a minority of staff who are poor performers and their managers. Several key principles remain the same including the importance of ongoing oral and written feedback, giving 5 Value of Mid-Term Training as staff reasonable time and opportunity to improve, and that decisions must be rea- an RWA sonable and supported with a documented record. Summary of Changes SR 4.02 Probation • Removed requirement for “6 month interim� OPE but retained ongoing verbal and written feedback and due process to support decisions to confirm, extend probation or terminate for non-confirmation • Probationary period for both open and term appointments set to one year, ex- tendable by up to one year, maximum probation remains 2 years • If manager recommends termination for non-confirmation, must be supported by written record, and staff member is given opportunity to comment to deci- sion maker. Decision maker is manager’s manager—at GI or above in consulta- tion with Manager, HR Team, and notice to staff member’s VP. SR 5.03 Performance Management • Explicit recognition that “performance� includes professional behaviors • Elimination of time limits for PIP (e.g., 6 month PIP with 14 days for evaluation, 30 days for VP decision). • PIP replaced with “Opportunity to Improve�—discussion and documentation be- tween manager and staff. Manager must advise WHAT the deficiency is, guide HOW to improve and provide a WARNING of consequences of failure. Must provide “reasonable� time to improve. • If staff member fails to achieve or sustain performance, manager may recom- mend further actions (in writing) to manager’s manager. Staff member has at least 14 days to comment. Decision maker is manager’s manager, at GI or above, with concurrence of Director, HR, and concurrence of line VP, taking into account staff member comments if any. Continues on page 2 2 RWA Network News and Views HR Policy Revisions during FY11 Continued from page 1 SR 7.01 ending employment Please also see the Staff Manual “tab� at the top of the Bank’s Home • Decisions moved to line VP with Announcement detailing changes Page concurrence or consultation from to Staff Rule 6.01 Compensation • HR Service Center: for queries, com- HR (depending on nature of ending that were just announced August ments, actions – hrservicecenter@ employment decision)—makes line 15, 2011. worldbank.org or X 32222 management more accountable • HR Kiosk: for staff to initiate certain • Redundancy (section 8)—clarified Please note actions and view customized infor- “skills mix� redundancy for cases * All changes to staff rules are an- mation on payroll, pensions, some of staff where their skills no longer nounced online through a Staff Man- benefits, insurances, emergency meet an evolving business need ual Announcement and/or Kiosk An- contact info • Developed Online support tool “Un- nouncement. • HR Actions/Hr Actions Help: for derstanding Separations from Bank * The new online face of HR “myHR� actions initiated by managers and Service� for both staff and managers contains clarified checklists, policy ex- some actions by staff to clarify policies and procedures planations, forms and links to tools to • LARS (http://lars): for leave re- • Standardized HR forms for decision implement actions. quests but also for Flexwork re- support * Don’t forget the Flexwork Toolkit – the quests for AWS and Home Based online support tool for guidance and Work Other Technical Revisions in FY11 links to implementation tools released • HR Employment Policy (HRSEP) — in FY10, developed in partnership with Manager: Christopher Lerner SR 4.01 Appointment (revised July 1, the Staff Association. • HR Compensation/Benefits Policy 2010) – Manager: Massimo Vicini • Remove one year “cooling off� pe- Contacts/Tools • Questions about this document – riod for reappointments of former • MyHR: for self service information Deborah Wright, HRSEP, dwright2@ staff who resigned voluntarily or and actions. Also accessible as a worldbank.org n whose appointments expired. If the Bank provides resettlement benefits (SR 7.02), the two year waiting pe- riod remains before a former staff member can be rehired. • Introduced an option for pre-employ- Ombuds Services and RWA Program ment security clearance for Open or term appointments to be completed Annual Report 2010 concurrent with the start of employ- Connie Bernard, Ombudsman ment (see AMS 6.52) • Clarified the criteria for former staff Highlights from the 2010 Annual Report released in August include: to be appointed on STT/STC ap- pointments for up to 190 days per Respectful Workplace Advisors (RWA) Program year • The number of RWA contacts increased by about 23% in CY10 • “Non Fee� STC appointments may reaching 423. be offered up to 150 days per year, • The majority of RWA contacts (86%) are country office staff. provided certain criteria are met • For CO-based contacts, the most frequently raised issue was again interpersonal conflicts. SR 6.06 Leave (revised July 1, 2010 • There have been increased demands for RWAs both in COs and and July 1, 2011) at HQ. • Clarified types of leave applicable • The total number of RWAs increased by 7% compared to last year. for staff on ETT/ETC appointments • The launch of the e-learning course in 2010 helped improve the effectiveness of • Revised Leave Without Pay (LWOP) training. provisions for Bank/Bank couples Continues on page 3 Back to Top Vol. 7 • August 2011 3 Ombuds Services and RWA Program Annual Report 2010 Continued from page 2 Ombuds Services: numbers and guidelines for determining and Characteristics giving appropriate credit to • Ombuds Services had the highest staff that fairly reflect each in- caseload in the history of the office dividual’s contribution. in 2010 with 458 new visitors to the office—a 33% increase compared to Non-confirmation and proba- 2009. tion policies. The non-confir- • A significant portion of the increase mation policy for term staff in usage in 2010 came from un- prevents any individual who is der-represented groups including non-confirmed from ever work- CO-based staff, IFC staff and term ing for the Bank again. This staff. policy has the effect of forcing • The single most frequently raised is- staff, particularly those early in 2 0 1 0 sue was again management skills their careers, faced with pos- OMBUDS SERVICES and and behaviors, followed again by sible non-confirmation (due to R E S P E C T F U L WO R K P L AC E A DV I S O R S P RO G R A M performance evaluation. a bad fit, change in manage- • Ombuds Services has just recruit- ment/strategic direction, etc.) Annual Report ed a third Ombudsman, David Wil- into resignation. In doing so, burn Talbot, to be based in Bangkok, staff effectively forfeit their THE WORLD BANK GROUP 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA Confidential, Impartial, Independent, Informal Explore Solutions… who will help manage the increasing chance to successfully utilize T: 202.458.1056 E: Ombudsman@worldbank.org caseload and be available to country the IJS. office staff. click to view report updates on issues from 2009: The report looked at three recently Budget and Workload. Leading to unfair identified institutional issues and pro- treatment of some staff as well as nega- Recruitment, Reassignment and Pro- vided updates on several issues from the tively impacting work-life balance. OMB motion Processes. Broad distrust in 2009 report. casework over the last year points to a the fairness and transparency of re- particular burden being borne on ACS cruitment, reassignment and promotion new issues: staff who are expected to work overtime processes as well as confusion around Trust fund and partnership governance. with no overtime pay. Other staff have the role of the Sector Boards. Recent Trust Fund management is a complex also been negatively affected by pres- issues include extension of closing practice from which many problems sure to reduce travel costs by lengthen- dates for job advertisements without a have arisen including different expecta- ing missions. general notification, selection criteria tions among partners on how staff are that change during the review process, selected and managed, conflicts among Contractor employees. Issues surround- lack of feedback from Interview Panel governing board members on strategic ing vulnerabilities of contractor employ- to unsuccessful short-listed applicants, direction, uneven applications of qual- ees, particularly in countries with weak and varying practices and lack of clarity ity control mechanisms to project selec- or unenforced labor laws and high un- around reference checking. tion and development, and lack of clar- employment. The main issues arise from ity around conflict resolution processes inadequacies in contract supervision, Term Contracts. Many staff face difficul- pertaining to Trust Fund decisions. compensation and benefits packages, ty getting a mortgage, particularly in the and the lack of a safe feedback mecha- country offices. The instability it creates Authorship and attribution. Issues sur- nism for contractor employees who feel for families moving from abroad is also rounding proper credit for work, either they are being treated unfairly either by quite challenging for staff. Hiring man- in the form of authorship or acknowl- WBG employees or by the contractor. agers need to be aware of the risks peo- edgement have been observed. OMB Potential reputational risk for the Bank ple are taking and clarify possible down- recommends that the WBG adopt Group. sides. n Back to Top 4 RWA Network News and Views RWAs Reach Out Another initia- tive started by the to New Staff RWAs in the Chen- nai, India office—KJ, Roxana and Sukan- R WAs are asked to ya—is to meet with meet with each new all new staff that staff to brief them are recruited each on the RWA Program. month at the end of However, it can be time the month. Since on- consuming in larger offic- boarding sessions es to meet with new staff Keziah in Chennai are held Muthoni individually as they come only once every 6 Muthembwa, in. The Nairobi, Kenya Nairobi RWA months, this allows Sukanya Mohan, KJ Venkatesh and Roxana Xavier, Chennai RWAs RWAs have taken the ini- them to inform new tiative to be involved in the on-boarding staff about the CRS sessions for new staff in order to inform sooner than they would if they waited to need it. In addition to the resources larger groups of incoming staff about the take part in the formal on-boarding pro- available on the RWA website, other RWA Program and the Conflict Resolu- cess. presentation material can be provided tion System (CRS). Keziah Muthoni Met- Depending on the size of each of- by the RWA Team to help support the hembwa, RWA in the Nairobi office, re- fice and amount of new hires, RWAs RWAs in this outreach effort. RWAs cently gave a 10 minute presentation are encouraged to adopt whichever may still have to reach out on an in- at a Nairobi on-boarding session us- practice works best for them to help dividual basis in smaller offices and to ing a ready-made presentation from the ensure that new staff are aware of the STCs and some ETCs who aren’t eli- RWA Program Team. “It was very well re- RWA(s) in their office and know where gible for new staff orientation or on- ceived,� Keziah told us. they can go for assistance should they boarding sessions. n Tips for Asking Open-Ended Questions ber to avoid close-ended questions that stop a colleague from opening up. Odile Rheaume, RWA Program Coordinator Early to middle stage of conversation: • How are you feeling? O ne of the most important services be able to get to the underlying issues to • How did this situation start? an RWA provides for colleagues help the colleague. As we say in training, • Tell me more who come to them for assistance you should spend 70% of the conversa- • What are the challenges? is to actively listen to the problem they tion engaging in active listening—validat- • Can you give me examples? are facing. Active listening helps the lis- ing feelings, probing, clarifying, and sum- • Has this happened before and what tener dig beneath the surface of a con- marizing before you can begin to look is different now? versation and really hear and understand at possible options for the colleague to • What makes you say that? what the other person is saying. In addi- help solve a workplace issue. • What makes you feel this way? tion, it helps draw out the underlying feel- Asking open-ended questions is an • What might have changed? ings and reasons for these feelings, and effective way to achieve greater under- • Have you talk to anyone else about clarify any assumptions the listener may standing of the problem a staff member this? What does he/she think? be making. Too often, we want to pro- is facing. However, coming up with open- • What are your expectations? vide solutions prematurely—we think we ended questions in the moment can be • What might be her/his expectations? understand but fail to check our percep- challenging. RWAs at the Annapolis • What makes you think that he/she is tions with the person experiencing the mid-term training in April 2011 created retaliating? problem. Unless the listener takes time the following list of open-ended ques- • Do you have any reasons to think to explore the complete story, he/she tions that may be applied in many situ- this? may miss something important and not ations to enrich understanding. Remem- Continues on page 5 Back to Top Vol. 7 • August 2011 5 Value of Mid-Term Training as an RWA Khawar Saeed Ansari, Operations Officer & RWA, IFC Islamabad W e had a fantastic time at the We’ve all come to ap- mid-term training in Annapolis. preciate the sanctity of the The learning was fun and action RWA environment. It is a packed. safe haven free from judg- The evenings were re- ment and bound by our laxing, enjoyable and at bond of complete confi- times hilarious adding to dentiality. We didn’t feel at the team building that is all conscious about being essential for learning. put on the spot to practice After serving as an our skills in front of our col- RWA for the last 2 years, leagues. We found it easy the mid-term training was a great oppor- to connect because of our tunity to refresh skills, ask the facilita- unconditional respect for tors specific questions that have come each other’s space. We up, and take learning and practice to the felt free to give undiluted RWAs use case studies to practice their role at mid-term training in next level. The format of the sessions has feedback to each other Annapolis Spring 2011 really evolved since our original training. and to the RWA Team. This training was all about engaging on Three days of train- real issues as individuals and in teams. ing were full of activities Power point was put on the back burner. but we didn’t seem to no- The smallness of our group must have tice because time flew by had something to do with the success of and the learning never this event—the facilitators joined in the stopped. I feel even better group activities to really take advantage equipped to perform my of the opportunity for more personalized role as RWA successful- learning. ly to continue to help my Being able to share experiences colleague’s and promote (without discussing specific cases) with a respectful work envi- the group of RWAs was invigorating and ronment. I hope all RWAs renewed my commitment and passion to have the opportunity to at- RWAs at the Annapolis 2011 basic training practice their helping the mission of the RWA Program. tend this training. n skills by role playing Tips for Asking Open-Ended Questions Continued from page 4 Thank you to all of our contributors. Produced and Middle to late stage of conversation: • Where do you think you’ll go from edited by: Katie Wood • Is there anything more you’d like to here? share with me? • What kind of support would you For more information on the • What would success look like to need to achieve this or to get there? RWA Program please visit our you? website at: http://rwa • What would you like to see happen? If you have great open-ended ques- Questions or comments? Contact • What could be an option? tions you would like to share, please us: phone: (202) 458-1058 ~ • What other opportunities do you send them to rwa@worldbank.org. email: rwa@worldbank.org have both in the WBG and exter- We’ll be happy to add then to our web- nally? site. n Back to Top