During a year in which so much of day-to-day office life was anything but business as usual, a record number of firms — 94 — earned a spot on the 2020 Best Places to Work in Money Management list produced by Pensions & Investments and its research partner.
In its ninth annual program, P&I worked with Best Companies Group, Harrisburg, Pa., to collect and analyze survey data to identify companies that stood out for their efforts to create a culture that supports employees and fosters their best work.
"In this very unusual year, we learned again that employers that consider the overall well-being of their employees are regarded well," said P&I Editor Amy B. Resnick, New York. "The best employers in 2020 are those that have stepped up with policies and practices to support and protect employees' physical and emotional health, while continuing to keep the focus on clients' needs. Our surveys found that the employers on the list were likely to work hard to sustain their corporate cultures, even during times of pandemic lockdowns and continuing to work from home in many cases."
In this year's special report, a variety of firms provided insights into how they build and maintain a healthy corporate culture in a virtual world as the global COVID-19 pandemic disrupted long-standing practices such as daily in-person meetings, strategy retreats, chitchats around the water cooler, holiday parties and in-office birthday celebrations.
How to keep morale high and mitigate the stress of lockdown weighed heavily on employers' minds, judging by survey responses. Employers stepped in with enhancements to health and wellness policies, ways to virtually share accomplishments and praise, and extra days off to combat stress and burnout.
At New York-based PineBridge Investments LLC, a newcomer this year to the Best Places program, the company doubled the number of allowable 2020 vacation days and extended the carryover timeline so that the days can be used at any point during 2021. It also launched a "Work from Home Diaries" that encouraged employees to share their experiences and journeys during COVID-19.
Employers also stepped up when it came to ensuring that employees had the technology and tools to continue to work remotely. Among the responses in the survey, Chicago-based GCM Grosvenor Inc., another newcomer to the Best Places program, offered employees reimbursement of up to $500 for the cost of technology equipment used while working remotely. ClearBridge Investments LLC noted that its employees also received a $250 stipend for working from home-related expenses. And Palladium Equity Partners LLC, another newcomer, noted that meal stipends remain in place while team members are working at home and that any office equipment required for remote working is reimbursed by the firm.
And as always, there were plenty of fun perks to make employees feel valued. Chicago-based Cardinal Investment Advisors LLC, a six-time winner in the Best Places program since it launched in 2012, thanked employees for their hard work and flexibility by hand-delivering ice cream to their homes. Each delivery had a note attached giving everyone an extra Friday off to "chill out."
Five-time winner Income Research & Management, Boston, provided a "Night In'' on the firm in the form of $150 that could be expensed for anything employees chose.
A number of winners also spoke about their efforts to talk about race and create opportunities for employees to discuss the impact of the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.
For example, New York-based Neuberger Berman Group LLC, which had 1,646 employees in the U.S., held a racial equity training series for employees this summer, said Sean Williamson, head of employee platform at Neuberger Berman.
The company ranked No. 2 among the largest employers and is an eight-time winner in the Best Places program.
Many other firms also are repeat winners. But only five have been named every year since the program launched in 2012:
To be named to P&I's Best Places list, all firms met Best Companies' high threshold for inclusion and were evaluated against others of similar size. Individual firm profiles, which were compiled based on survey results, reflect U.S. employment numbers and were confirmed by Best Companies in the summer. Company and employee comments were edited for space, style and clarity.
Assets under management or advisement are as of June 30, unless otherwise noted. To participate, companies had to have at least 20 employees in the U.S., at least $100 million of discretionary assets under management or advisement and be in business for at least one year. An anonymous employee survey, which aimed to evaluate employee engagement and satisfaction, accounted for 75% of a firm's score; an employer survey, which evaluated workplace policies, practices, benefits and demographics, made up 25%.
To learn more about the program and register for notification when the 2021 program opens, visit https://ift.tt/38ewor7.
"best" - Google News
December 14, 2020 at 12:00PM
https://ift.tt/3qUwZYo
94 firms cited as best of bunch - Pensions & Investments
"best" - Google News
https://ift.tt/34IFv0S
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "94 firms cited as best of bunch - Pensions & Investments"
Post a Comment