More employees opt to quit IMF than expected

29 April 2008

Employee morale seems to be running low at the International Monetary Fund what with more employees opting for a voluntary retirement plan than was earlier predicted.

Officials at the Washington DC-based international organization said yesterday that around 600 employees have requested buyouts under a plan aimed at cutting 380 jobs. The estimates range from a minimum of 585 to a maximum of 620, with the higher figure representing more than 25 per cent of the body's 2400 full-time staff.

The current job buyout plan is part of a bigger strategy to attract new staff to expand its oversight of global financial and capital markets, while also downsizing and cutting costs.

IMF spokesman Masood Ahmed confirmed that the number of employees that have requested buyouts was "somewhat in excess" of the 380 jobs that needed to be pruned, and said that the final results of the offer would be announced late Tuesday. He also tried to put a positive spin to the scenario by saying that the better-than-expected response indicates that there would be no forced lay-offs.

Domenico Lombardi, president of the Oxford Institute for Economic Policy and a former IMF board member, said IMF staff morale has run low for several years, as the fund has undergone internal changes amid a shifting global economic environment. He cited the declining importance of the fund in international affairs as one of the major reasons.

"Certainly, the most relevant factor is that the IMF is seen as less central, less important, and therefore people have less incentive to stay," he added.