WORLD BANK: Play the ‘cello and toe the line, warns new governor

By Pratap Chatterjee Reprint | | Print |

Pratap Chatterjee

WASHINGTON, Jun 18 1995 (IPS) - World Bank staff who criticise their employer to outsiders will be expected to quit, says Jim Wolfensohn, the new Bank president, in a letter to employees on his first day of work.

“I expect loyalty to the institution and to each other … criticisms must be internal and constructive, accompanied by initiatives to solve the problems. I will regard externally-voiced criticism of the Bank as an indication of a desire to find alternative employment,” he wrote.

Wolfensohn, who set up his own investment bank on Wall Street in 1981, was appointed president of the Bank shortly before Lewis Preston, his predecessor, died of cancer last month.

The media has dubbed Wolfensohn a “Renaissance Man” because of his diverse abilities — he once represented Australia in fencing at the Olympics and took up the violincello at the age of 40.

Wolfensohn is using this image to advantage within the Bank where he has suggested to staff that they, too, still have time to learn to play the cello and, more importantly, asking them how they would like to see the Bank evolve.

But by including a veiled threat in his first memo to staff, “Wolfie,” as he has become popularly known, has raised a few hackles.

“It’s not really appropriate to tell people to keep their mouths shut at a time when we are being criticised by outsiders for being secretive,” one senior Bank staffer told IPS.

Whether or not staff choose to remain silent, many will have to look for new jobs anyway. When Wolfensohn joined the Bank he was told to implement a five-percent budget cut ordered by Preston last year.

As of March this year, the Bank had already laid off 161 employees in an effort to reduce administrative costs which amounted to 1.4 billion dollars last year for its 7,500-person staff.

As many as 900 employees could be laid off, say Bank sources. In order to allay staff worries, Wolfensohn has said that he wants to “right-size” the Bank, not “down-size” it.

“He is very informal, engaging and with a good sense of humour … but he is quick to go on the offensive when he thinks that his motives are challenged or he is misinterpreted. He is a tough cookie,” says one Bank staff member who was invited to meet Wolfensohn before he took office.