World Bank Group reviews

4.1

83% would recommend to a friend

(2,935 total reviews)

Ajay Banga

84% approve of CEO

74% positive business outlook

World Bank Group has an employee rating of 4.1 out of 5 stars, based on 2,935 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have an excellent working experience there. The World Bank Group employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Finanzas industry (3.7 stars).

Reviews by job title

3K reviews
2.0
Apr 6, 2014

Don't join unless you are a political animal

Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

You feel you're a part of a greater mission and making a difference in the world. You feel proud to work with so many MBAs and PhDs. Salary and benefits used to be very competitive. Recent changes were for worse but they're still good.

Cons

HR is pre-historical and does not practice what they preach. As a general, appointments are biased by relations and hidden agendas, with managers manipulating normal recruiting processes to appoint preferred candidates. Very little opportunities to young staff, better join at a later point in the career, as it becomes stagnant.

2.0
Sep 3, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Mandate and unique role in the global development. Benefits International travel Potential resources for individual projects Potential to affect large scale impact. In various countries, the bank has enormous influence and often have a seat at the table. Some incredibly interesting and talented people. Some incredibly insights that few people in the world are privy to.

Cons

Culture: at it's worse -hierarchical, politics dominates, cronyism, rent seeking behavior, and even bullying, sexicism and racial insensitivity. Institutional behavior: top down, top heavy and not open to change, nor dissent. Incentives encourage individualistic behavior to the extent where development and country objectives become secondary to the priorities of furthering the individual's own interests - particularly persistent amongst those who have made being 'a banker' their career objectives vs development. Particularly noxious when these people get promoted to or are in high levels of the organization. Professional development: non existent in the substance - flows from the persistence of individualistic behavior. No incentives for mentoring and team work, and the environment can get close to predatory - people stealing ideas, taking projects, blocking projects, creating obstacles or using other people's work in their name to further their own careers. Lack of strategic forethought as to how to manage and develop teams, people and resources. Reverts to cronynism, reputational effects and gossip. Opportunities given along those factors (vs merit or skills). Inflexible and bureaucratic: In reality, being able to process product through the institution takes more precedence than developing the project idea. Lots of paper pushing. Some incredibly incompetent, and unprofessional people: Some, just plainly there for the benefits and taking the bank for a ride. Lots of talking and not enough doing. Accepting the Status Quo: having to accept: 'this is just the way it is', the wasted opportunities, the waste of resources, the misuse of people's skills and talents, the departure of talented people, the irrationality and the frustration in a non-merit based world, the potential to be better faster more dynamic in fulfilling the mission - and not doing it. If your heart is in the right place to do development, the institution may well break that heart.

1.0
Jan 29, 2013
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Good salary, good vacation and benefits

Cons

Competitive, workaholic culture, perverse incentives for performance and un-transparent decision-making.

Viewing 91 - 93 of 2,935 Reviews

Glassdoor has 5,054 World Bank Group reviews submitted anonymously by World Bank Group employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if World Bank Group is right for you.