Toxic Culture Driven by Poor Leadership - Anonymous employee World Economic Forum Employee Review

- A lot of colleagues have been discrimated or bullied by their toxic managers, but this seems to be part of a broader culture where management is protected at the expense of employee wellbeing. - There is a pattern of teams justifying frequent business trips using broad explanations such as "joint events" or "relationship building", yet these trips rarely produce measurable outcomes. The lack of accountability or performance evaluation around travel results in repeated expenses without meaningful impact. Employees who engage in this practice face no consequences, which reinforces a culture where resources are used inefficiently and results are secondary. - Many regional teams are based in the Geneva HQ despite the Forum operating multiple regional offices. Staff hired in Geneva frequently travel back to the regions, often without a clear assessment of whether this structure is cost-effective. Travel is approved routinely, with limited transparency around budgeting or impact. This raises questions about how partner contributions are used, as significant resources are spent on travel that does not always generate measurable regional outcomes. Stronger oversight and clearer budget responsibility would greatly improve accountability. - Employees, particularly within industry or centre teams, attend a large number of external events with minimal oversight or clear criteria for participation. This creates the perception that some staff use these events more for personal networking than for generating organizational value. Without a structured approval process or follow-up on outcomes, event attendance can feel more like individual career positioning than strategic engagement for the Forum. Stronger guidelines and accountability would help ensure that resources are being used in a way that aligns with the organization’s goals.