真是像人民日报社论那样，专业小秘或写手才能搞出来呀，太有才了。。。希望转贴在这里不算剽窃或泄漏机密。。。英文懒得看的筒子们可以直接跳过，因为俺的翻译水平肯定会让原味大打折扣。。。
[众人] 其实就是你懒得翻吧！=o=

Let the Games Begin

April 1, 2010 – Come July 1, it will be mandatory for all Bank staff to establish online avatars – a three-dimensional depiction of a computer user in a virtual world. Staff will use their avatars to play out development scenarios, test innovations, and experiment with new theories and policies so that every country and sector strategy and project design is fully tested before it hits the real world.

This initiative is part of the Bank Group’s ongoing internal reforms agenda, which is aimed at modernizing the Bank Group and positioning it for the 21^st century. “I am very excited by this idea. It will demonstrate that we are truly a cutting edge knowledge organization, and will help us deliver better results to our clients, whose needs are getting increasingly specific and demanding by the day,” said President Bob Zoellick.

Starting July 1 ISG will equip each staff member with a standard joystick to participate in the DevelopmentumXâ„¢ experience

A program called DevelopmentumX™ – specially created for the Bank by the makers of Second Life, the popular Internet-based virtual world – will house a fictitious global community of donors and borrowers, indigenous communities, elites and poor people, northern and southern NGOs, first world contractors, and other familiar players. While some of these entities will be pre-installed, most will develop spontaneously as Bank staff, consultants, and partners create and introduce their avatars, who will behave according to their individual originators’ experience, biases, and knowledge.

The idea for DevelopmentumX™ comes from the success of Evoke, an online game created by WBI to help empower youth around the world to come up with creative solutions to urgent social problems.

Through their interactions, transactions, and negotiations with the different players in this virtual space, Bank teams will be able to test their ideas for technical validity, development impact, political feasibility, and reputational implications. This is expected to result in the final operations becoming far more effective, while nullifying the need for actual consultations, thus saving a load of hassle, cost and time.

A working group comprising representatives of the Regions, ISG, EXT, Legal, WBI and the Knowledge Strategy Group is putting the finishing touches to the proposal, including the development of a training program. The first phase of training will target country directors and managers, sector managers, task team leaders, safeguards and communications staff, and ACS staff who support these groups. Eventually, the goal is to reach all staff.

“We are aware that many Bank staff have only a passing acquaintance with the online world and social media. Our initial research with staff focus groups has revealed that the two age categories most familiar with this world are, first, not surprisingly the under-30s, and second, ironically, the over-50s – possibly because they are parents of under-30s,” says a member of the working group. This poses a huge challenge since bulk of frontline staff are in that underexposed 30-50 age bracket.

Throughout the month of April staff can view the motion picture Avatar every Tuesday and Thursday at 9 am via webcast

To help overcome this hurdle, the current box office hit Avatar will be “force fed” to all staff. (In a nutshell, the film pits commercial exploiters against indigenous nature loving communities on a distant planet, and avatars play the starring role.)

Starting next week, the film will be webcast to all Bank computers on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 am. This will be accompanied by a road show, whereby members of the working group will trawl the Bank unit by unit to hold discussions (including webinars with country offices) on the film’s theme and technology as a precursor to the rollout of the training program.

Participation in the film discussion is a prerequisite for the training, which is mandatory. To check when your unit is scheduled to have this film discussion, click here.

然后是去年今日的首页头条，当时还真白痴般的心头暗喜了一下。。。-__-b

Power Reduction for Month of August at Bank Group Washington Offices

All buildings in the Bank Group will close for the month of August

April 1, 2009––Bob Zoellick presented a proposal yesterday at an informal meeting of the Board of Executive Directors calling for closure of the Washington, DC offices for the entire month of August 2009.

Citing the traditional exodus of many staff at this time of year, Zoellick pointed out the savings to be gained by complete closure of the DC offices, amounting to significant impact on the Bank’s overall energy consumption as well as positive benefits to the environment.

“There is no reason to keep the entire complex open when it’s only partially filled,” said Zoellick, “especially in this time of financial crisis. We need to demonstrate that we, too, can tighten our belts and adjust our energy consumption as good global citizens.”

Following separate statements by each ED, the Board endorsed the idea, noting that it would also positively impact the budget envelope for the coming fiscal year.

Work Arrangements

Essential staff will be notified of alternate work arrangements by their units. Non-essential staff will be placed on administrative leave.

Treasury operations will relocate to the Bank’s business continuity center in Virginia. Country offices will remain open for the month, and the relatively small number of August missions will continue as planned.

The Board normally takes a break for most of August, and so its operations will not be adversely affected.

Carlos Rossell, publisher, said “Our office continues to be busy throughout August with Annual Meetings publications, so we are investigating the relocation of pubs staff to a country with high-quality printing facilities, and with a mild climate so that we will not be contributing to high energy consumption. We’re very concerned about our collective carbon footprint.” Locations in the southern hemisphere are being investigated.

Van Pulley, director of GSD, said “our staff are extremely resourceful, and we will help identify office space wherever it’s needed—be it Virginia or Venezuela.”

Powering Down

The power in all buildings will be set to absolute minimum levels at close of business on Friday, July 31. In most buildings, lights will be completely turned off for the month, and staff will not be allowed access.

Kathy Sierra

Kathy Sierra, vice president of the Sustainable Development Network (SDN), said she wholeheartedly endorsed it on many levels. “This is a major turn-off,” Sierra said, “and it will have a maximum impact.”

She added that she hoped a portion of the savings could be donated to the newly-created Climate Investment Funds, because it would set a strong example for donor countries. “We can use this example to leverage cooperation among the many partners who have been on the fence about their donations. ‘We gave, now you give’ can be our motto going forward.”

Warren Evans, sector director for environment, said, “this is inspired, and it will do wonders for our carbon footprint. We may even make the Guinness Book of Records.”

Country Offices

Country offices are being asked to identify a month when they can also close offices––ideally a month in which the office consumes the most energy, and when the greatest number of staff are on leave, as is the case in Washington during August.

The essential business of project management and supervision will carry on as usual in our country offices, and project disbursements will not be affected.

Travel Services

AMEX will be ramping up its personal travel services to meet the increased demand from potential holiday travelers during the month.  It is also exploring group travel options where there is a critical mass of staff traveling to one location.

More information here

然后是前年的。。。稍微有点假。。。=,=

Get Ready to Work from Home in Fiscal 2009

Migration to virtual office brings benefits of closer family relationships, lower clothing expenses

April 1, 2008––The World Bank Group is making plans to go completely virtual in fiscal 2009, and is laying the groundwork for staff to work from home when not on mission. The move is expected to result in significant cost savings on office space and facilities.In a statement shortly after the Board approved this proposal,  Chief Financial Officer Vincenzo La Via said, “As you know, for the last few years, we have been in a situation of a flat budget, and have been looking at innovative ways to save costs. We are past the stage of trimming around the edges. This is a logical outcome of that approach. Since the budget constraint is real, we are forced to go virtual.”

All staff will be provided laptop computers to ensure business continuity. The Bank Group is working with Dell Computer to negotiate a bulk purchase price within ISG/IT budget constraints.

Apart from new revenues from leasing out Bank-owned space, and significant savings on currently rented office space, additional savings will be generated by terminating parking subsidies and the Metrochek system for HQ-based staff. “There will be no incentive for Bank staff to come into downtown Washington,” said Van Pulley, director, GSD. He added that the Bank’s carbon footprint will also be reduced by the new measures.

Phased Approach

The Virtual Office Program (VOP), to begin implementation July 1, 2008, will apply initially to HQ-based staff, with country offices following in a phased manner.

Blackberries will further facilitate virtual office set-ups

The model for the initiative grew out of the recent establishment of the group’s Emergency Management Team structure. “We already have a drill in place that enables staff to shelter at home in case of emergencies,” said Pulley. “My understanding is that this qualifies as an emergency.”

The US federal government and DC administration are said to have welcomed the WBG move, both because of the reduction in traffic and because there will be one less security headache in the capital. “What I’m really pleased about,” said an officer in a police cruiser when asked for his reaction, “is that there will be greater discipline on Pennsylvania Avenue, and 18th and 19th Streets during the peak hours. World Bank staff are the some of the most impossible road-crossers, in my experience.”

Results of Working Group

A working group comprising representatives from the various VPUs, IFC, and MIGA, and headed by Praful Patel, South Asia regional vice president, developed the proposal. Patel said, “We calculated that on any given day, 50 percent of staff are on mission, and 20 percent on some form of leave. The 30 percent in office spend 80 percent of their time on email, telephone or videoconferences, and the rest of the day in meetings or in the Atrium, where they continue to be active on their Blackberries. So by asking people to go 100 percent virtual, we are only formalizing what is already the practice. Staff will work from home when they are not in airport lounges or hotels.”

Patel added in a somewhat pained voice: “Why, the other day, I was having a one-on-one meeting with my operations director, and all the while he was sending messages on his Blackberry to my chief economist in the next room.”

Videoconferences—already widely in use across the Bank and in country offices—will substitute for any face-to-face meetings that now take place. Patel added that the cost savings will release fresh resources for the six strategic themes.

Aishwarya Rai, new Bank ambassador for Global Public Goods

Further Functions to be Outsourced

As a corollary to the virtualizing of HQ, more functions will be outsourced to India as well as, possibly, Brazil, Russia, China, Mexico, and South Africa.

“This fits well with the MIC strategy we are developing as part of the six themes,” said La Via, who is one of the co-leads of the MICs working group. Patel added, “In recent weeks, the Indians have felt that we’ve played DIRty with them, so this is a way of making up.” He disclosed that the Bank has also offered to appoint Bollywood star Aishwarya Rai as its ambassador for the Global Public Goods theme.

The President’s office is among those shortlisted to be outsourced to Chennai. A final decision will be taken after a study, currently underway, on whether it would be more cost-effective to base the President himself in Chennai, or negotiate with the IMF—itself under immense budgetary strain, and therefore bargaining hard—to lease him an office suite.

Consensus by the Board

The Board has agreed to a similar arrangement for itself, except that in this case, the Executive Directors and their staff will be outsourced to their own capitals. It was learned that during the Board discussion, there was a brief split on this issue between Part 1 and Part 2 EDs.

Initially, the Part 1s favored this refreshing approach to cost-cutting, while some Part 2s felt the arrangement would deny them voice and representation. Then the Part 2s coalesced around the view that everyone would be equally unrepresented, which, looked at another way, meant they were equally represented. This briefly confused the Part 1s, but in the end, all agreed it was a good thing.

Virtual office will make maternity/paternity leaves obsolete

Zoellick Concurs

In a press statement at the end of the day, Bob Zoellick said: “I am very pleased with this decision. I have always believed in iterative feedback loops through networks of conversations.

“This virtual arrangement does just that. I knew that there was a lot of efficiency to be squeezed out of this organization within the existing resources. It shows we are an organization that is now ready—not only for the 21st, but also for the 22nd century.

“We can focus our energies on what we do best, which is contribute to an inclusive, sustainable globalization, without getting distracted by non-productive activities like commuting and deciding where to go for lunch.”

Staff Association Response

The only pessimistic note has come from the Staff Association. “What will happen to ACS staff? And why have country office staff concerns not been taken into account? There has been no consultation. This is a very non-transparent decision,” said SA Chair Prasad Mohan. He promised to hold a town hall meeting in the atrium next week on the matter.

For the schedule of your unit’s migration to the virtual office program, go here.

By Sumir Lal, Internal Communications

然后就是大前年的。。。（转贴得好累啊！=o=）

Budget Accord Reached

Chief Financial Officer Vincenzo La Via

April 1, 2007––Capping extended and intensive negotiations this past week, the Board of Executive Directors has agreed to an approach put forward by senior management to ensure that Bank resources for fiscal 2008 can be reallocated with input from those closest to the business plans––both clients and staff.Three coalitions of VPUs are being formed for a two-day budget planning exercise. Each VPU will be represented  by its vice president and its senior resource management officer.

Chief Economist François Bourguignon

The first group comprises all the Operational units, including all Regions. The second team is made up of a coalition of Financial and Administrative Units––led by Human Resources (HR), the Information Solutions Group (ISG), General Services Department (GSD), and External Affairs (EXT). Development Economics(DEC) is leading the third group, which includes the World Bank Institute (WBI) and all the Network VPUs.

The meeting to determine the Bank’s resource allocation for the next fiscal year will be held off site, on the island state of Vanuatu next week. “The objective of the island meeting is simple––to allow a natural self-selection process to take place,” explained Chief Financial Officer Vincenzo La Via. “This will greatly simplify budget planning for the Managing Directors.”

Partnership and Competitiveness

Each of the coalitions will compete in a series of development exercises, to be evaluated on the basis of how well they apply their group’s comparative advantage to the problems put forth. A global audience of staff and stakeholders will vote hour-by-hour on who deserves to stay in the competition. The BBC World Service has agreed to broadcast the proceedings, in partnership with the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).

The team with the greatest number of surviving vice presidents at the end of the 48-hour marathon will receive 10 percent budget increases for all their VPUs, including 10 percent SRIs and a double complement of H-level staff positions.The losing VPUs will receive a full 10 percent cut for the next three years, as well as loss of all H and I level slots and Blackberry devices. Also, their international staff will all be converted to local hire status.

Review Process

President Wolfowitz announced that international activist and actress Angelina Jolie and renowned investor Warren Buffett will co-chair a special group of outside judges on the island.

Angelina Jolie meets with President Wolfowitz

“Angelina has visited more IDA countries than I have, and has seen many of our projects in the field. She has an excellent head on her shoulders about money, and she has certainly made a lot of it. Warren Buffett’s wisdom is well known. We are grateful to both of them for agreeing to lend their objective, outside perspective to the reallocation exercise. They will guarantee fair play,” said Wolfowitz.

Going Forward

Today interviewed the leaders of each coalition. The Operational Units––dubbed the ‘Road Warriors’––are being led by Jim “Don’t mess with me” Adams of EAP. He said, “We figure that with Shigeo, we’ve got a strong competitor; Pam’s learned a lot from LAC’s strong military tradition that will come in handy; and I’ve gotten our Asian clients to agree to flood Western financial capitals with sell orders if the situation gets tight. We fully intend to go all the way with this.”

The administrative units, recently renamed DFU (Don’t FAC with Us), said they will not be intimidated, and that they can pull the plug on the air conditioning of the other units if push comes to shove. Team leader Guy-Pierre De Poerck of ISG added, “Everyone needs to remember that we gave you connectivity, and we can take it away.”

Warren Buffet

Chief Economist François “I know a recession when I see it” Bourguignon, leading the Wonks for Global Justice coalition of Bank Networks, said ominously, “Information is power, and we have the data. We will not hesitate to use it, either. Consider yourselves warned.”Today will keep staff posted on this story as it develops. “We are relieved, to tell the truth, “said Sumir Lal from Internal Communications. “The budget stories usually pull our readership numbers way down during sweeps week, so this unexpected initiative is very welcome.”

For more information, go here.

然后。。。然后就没有了。。。-__-bbb