The World Bank’s 'shadow workforce’

CONTRACTORS at the World Bank say they fear that failing to comply with additional work requests will jeopardise their contract renewal and could affect their visa status, particularly in the US. The Staff Association delivered a statement during a meeting of the bank’s human resources committee recently that said that “literally none” of the long-standing issues regarding contractor structure were addressed in a recent analysis of the short-term workforce.

The statement, which was seen by Devex, described short-term contractors as highly vulnerable. Staff surveys taken before the pandemic showed that 41 per cent of short-term contractors said they were asked by a manager to work more than their contracted hours and more than half reported working more hours than they billed.

“We continue to hear that these issues persist,” association chair Talib Esmail said in the statement. Esmail did not respond to repeated requests for comment on behalf of the association.

The bank utilises several categories of contractors, with short-term contractors limited to working 150 days in a calendar year. They are not eligible for health insurance, vacation, or sick leave. Extended-term contractors can work full time, receive a salary, have 24 days of leave, access a staff health plan, and get severance payment when their contract ends. Neither category has access to pension benefits.

A World Bank contractor who has worked on both types of contracts spoke to Devex on condition of anonymity out of fear for their job and said it was common knowledge inside the bank that shortterm contractors worked much more than their billable 150 days to complete their workload and remain in good standing. “I’ve never been told that I needed to work more,” the person said. “But of course, I work way more. And you don’t claim it because you can’t. … You just do it.”

Complaints over the use of consultants at the bank are not new, and in fact go back decades, leading to reforms in the 1990s. Yet those who work at the bank remain frustrated that nothing has changed in recent years.

According to the staff association, as of fiscal year 2022 there were about 23,000 short-term contractors at the World Bank — equalling the working hours of 7,200 full-time staff. Although the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Development Association commitments have grown 64 per cent between fiscal year 2014 and 2022, fulltime staff have only grown by just three per cent.

“Contractors are necessary. I understand that. You need a study done, you need a survey done, you need communications — there’s a thousand reasons why you may need [a short-term contractor],” the contractor said.

“But there are a bunch of us working at the bank that are performing functions. We are not [a short-term contractor] by the definition. We are people that the bank is using not to open a staff position because they don’t want to pay for the full amount.”

A bank spokesperson said the institution “highly values our shortterm consultant colleagues” and their contributions. “Given the large range of seasonal and temporary projects we invest in around the globe, our short-term employees enhance our overall capacity to deliver on strategic priorities for the people we serve,” the spokesperson told Devex.

“We care about all of our employees — both short-term and full-time — and acknowledge concerns raised by the Staff Association and consultants. We will continue to consider ways to deliver better support while respecting the integrity of our contracts and recognising our evolving business requirements and resources,” the spokesperson wrote to Devex.

The contractor said they had worked in the same position at the bank on a that perpetuated differences between the employee classes: Contractors are excluded from institutional email distribution lists so they do not receive important internal communications. They are not invited to unit meetings, relying instead on colleagues to informally fill them in on anything that may impact their work.

“It is absurd,” said the contractor. “It’s very demeaning.”

The Staff Association decried the fact that the last time they were able to discuss the contractor issue with management was 2019, and it remains “deeply disappointed that literally none of the issues we raised short-term contract for five years but had never been offered a full-time role. The person was told there was a cap on head count, and the department did not want to fill a position with someone without topical expertise in the practice area. This happened often, the contractor said, leaving them performing core bank functions rather than focusing on limitedtime projects.

Every year around April and May contractors discuss renewals for the bank’s next fiscal year, which begins in July, the contractor explained. Performance is considered during contract renewal, and the person said they felt that not working the additional hours could be used against them.

Foreign nationals working at the World Bank headquarters in Washington, D.C., hold G-4 visas meant for employees of international institutions. If someone does not have their short-term contract renewed, they lose their ability to remain in the US.

Employing contractors inside the institution was so pervasive, the contractor said, that people assumed their colleagues were full-time staff, not contractors. But the person said it was the little things then have been addressed” in a recent analysis of the short-term workforce. Esmail described the analysis as shortsighted and cold.

It cites data from the bank’s ethics and internal justice system, which found that contractors are reluctant to use the institution’s conflict resolution system because they fear retaliation for speaking out; no explanation is required for nonrenewal of contracts.

The statement on behalf of the Staff Association also questioned why the analysis does not address the difficulties in accessing health care that affects many short-term staffers, although it does note that the bank provided access to Covid-19related medical benefits for contractors. “We understand that with staffing, budget must be part of the conversation, but it is not supposed to be the only consideration,” Esmail wrote in the Staff Association statement.

“We can only surmise that when the [World Bank Group] says it is committed to an inclusive, respectful workplace that does not include our contingent workforce whose cheap source of labour is the ugly reality behind ‘delivering more with less.’”