Data Speak

A general area of concern is a broad category that groups several specific issues together. It allows us to look at each issue on its own while keeping its wider context in view. The categories within this section organize what members of the ADB community raised with us in 2025. When multiple individuals raise the same concern, it may signal an emerging pattern that may need closer attention and deeper understanding.

Group climate and concerns regarding supervision were the two largest areas of concern in 2025, each making up 25% of all issues raised. Issues related to peer and colleague relationships followed at 19%. Together, the prevalence of these areas of concern points to broader strain in day-to-day workplace interactions, spanning team dynamics, supervisory effectiveness, and peer relationships. Issues rarely occur in isolation. Supervisory gaps, including conflict avoidance, inconsistent feedback, or unclear expectations, can allow interpersonal tensions to persist, contributing to strained peer relationships, reduced trust, and broader challenges within the team climate.

OOMP defines group climate as issues related to a group’s morale and capacity to function effectively as a team, capturing how teams operate on a day-to-day basis. Within this area of concern, individuals most frequently raised challenges related to team dynamics (29%), integration into organizational culture (18%), and workload (14%).

Similar to 2024, team dynamics remained a leading issue within group climate. This highlights the importance of healthy interpersonal relationships in shaping workplace experience. Additionally, the integration-related concerns have risen by 44% since 2024. In conversations, staff often described being assigned tasks without enough guidance on expectations or context, which suggests gaps in mentorship and onboarding.

The issue raised most often among concerns regarding supervision was conflict avoidance (27%), reflecting a tendency among supervisors to avoid difficult conversations, which in turn hinders timely course correction and support. Other supervision-related issues, such as trust (12%) and respect and/or treatment (12%), point to underlying gaps in core managerial competencies, particularly in setting expectations, managing workloads, and supporting more constructive conversations.

Concerns related to favoritism rose significantly, from 10 in 2024 to 39 issues in 2025. This increase suggests growing perceptions of unfair decision-making and highlights how patterns of informal influence may affect interpersonal relationships and team dynamics.

Respect and/or treatment among peers and colleagues accounted for approximately a third of the issues within this general area of concern. Other related issues included trust (18%), which has doubled since 2024, and communication (17%), which increased by 27%. Notably, issues related to bullying also doubled, while concerns around reputation and gossip more than tripled from the previous year. Taken together, these trends point to a weakening of day-to-day interpersonal dynamics, with growing challenges in trust, communication, and professional conduct across teams.

Tensions between colleagues have risen in recent years, often linked to miscommunication, differing perspectives, and lapses in everyday courtesy. When an exchange turns difficult, colleagues increasingly assume the worst about each other. That assumption erodes trust and makes the original problem harder to resolve.

Everyday behaviors, including demonstrating respect and communicating effectively, remain central to team health and inclusion. At the same time, ADB is both a multicultural and multigenerational organization. This adds complexity to workplace interactions. Differing expectations around pace of work, feedback, and how disagreements are handled are increasingly visible in daily frictions, underscoring the need for greater alignment around shared norms and practices.

Interestingly, the Ombuds team observed a pattern on when colleagues choose to visit the office. Many prefer in-person meetings on days when fewer staff are physically present, which allows them to avoid unwanted interactions and to meet with the Ombuds team with greater assurance of privacy.

OOMP defines safety, health, and physical environment concerns as those affecting physical safety and security, and physical and mental health.

Similar to previous years, work-related stress and work–life balance remained the dominant concerns, accounting for 80% of issues under this area. Although lower in frequency, issues related to safety (8%) and security (5%) increased notably in 2025 compared to the previous year. Some of these concerns are linked to domestic violence, while others reflect heightened perceptions of risk and unease arising from workplace tensions. These patterns suggest that both external pressures and internal dynamics are increasingly intersecting, with implications for staff well–being and sense of safety.

Stress remains a significant issue across the organization. Our conversations with colleagues suggest the need for targeted interventions, particularly in clarifying priorities and improving workload distribution. The organization’s initiatives on providing access to wellness and counseling supports are commendable and should continue to be enhanced to respond effectively to the evolving needs of the ADB community.

We continue to observe that issues at home have a disproportionate impact on women in the workplace. Women carry a greater share of caregiving duties outside work, often in ways that may not be visible to colleagues. We are witnessing a growing number of concerns related to elder care, as well as the increasing need to support children, spouses, and partners facing psychological, medical, or other significant challenges. These demands place strain on the staff carrying these responsibilities, especially women, with consequences for their well–being and for ADB, which relies on these colleagues being able to do their work.

Analyzing the aggregated demographic data of individuals who sought support from OOMP helps identify trends and patterns among different groups within the organization. This analysis informs our understanding of the various issues affecting members of the ADB community and enables us to provide tailored insights that may address the specific needs of different groups.

As in previous years, most cases originated from the ADB headquarters (76%), while field offices made up 20% of all cases in 2025. The remaining 4% of cases were initiated anonymously or by external parties.

When compared with the overall ADB workforce (excluding consultants and contractors), headquarters-based staff have consistently accessed OOMP services at a higher rate than their representation within the organization. While the number of field office-based colleagues seeking support has gradually increased over time, their share of OOMP visitors remains lower than their proportion of the overall field office workforce.

Differences in local contexts and operating environments across field offices underscore the need for more tailored and context-sensitive responses. At the same time, concerns from field-based colleagues are likely underreported. We have observed that case numbers appear to increase when the ombudsperson is physically present and able to engage in person, suggesting that accessibility and trust play a critical role in discussing workplace concerns. This highlights the importance of strengthening and sustaining targeted outreach efforts to field offices.

While women comprise 59% of ADB’s staff population, they accounted for 66% of OOMP visitors in 2025. This suggests that women sought support from OOMP at a higher rate than their representation within the organization. In contrast, men accessed OOMP’s services at a lower rate than their proportion of the overall ADB staff population.

It is worth noting that many women in ADB are more likely to come forward and seek support. At the same time, however, the number of cases raised by men has shown a consistent downward trend in recent years. This observation may require further reflection to better understand how different groups engage with informal conflict resolution services.

Among the women who sought support from OOMP, many described the challenges of balancing work with significant caregiving responsibilities, including elder care and broader family obligations. They also shared concerns about personal and often “undiscussable” issues, meaning matters that are sensitive, difficult to raise, and not easily addressed through formal workplace conversations. Together, these responsibilities and concerns were described as placing sustained pressure on their well–being, work–life balance, and overall engagement at work. We also continued to hear from women colleagues about perceived gender biases within the organization, including instances where well-intentioned policies and practices were applied or interpreted in ways they felt placed them at a disadvantage.

ADB implemented a new job grading structure in 2025, introducing a distinction between the managerial job structure, which applies to internationally recruited staff, and the technical job structure. The technical job structure is further classified as international hires (technical international) and local hires (technical local). The employment categories used in this report reflect this updated framework.

Overall, cases initiated by technical local staff accounted for 43% of all cases, followed by technical international staff at 33%, while staff in managerial positions represented 15% of total cases in 2025. The remaining 9% of total cases were initiated by consultants, contractors, external parties, and those who reached out anonymously.

When compared with the overall staff population by employment category, technical local staff appear to make less use of OOMP’s services relative to their representation within the workforce, while staff in managerial positions access the office at a higher rate. Again, this pattern may require better understanding of how different groups engage with informal conflict resolution services and whether there are barriers affecting access or utilization among certain staff categories.

A notable share of those who approached OOMP were new staff or those with less than 5 years of tenure, accounting for the largest proportion of cases in 2025 at 36%. This trend has remained consistent in previous years, suggesting that early stages of tenure continue to present adjustment and integration challenges. Staff with 6—10 years of tenure accounted for 26% of cases, indicating that workplace concerns are not limited to entry periods but may also emerge as roles evolve and expectations become more complex.