Employees at Northern Trust Asset Management praise the company's integrity and charity work, but many also appreciate how the firm engages with them.
“I have been at Northern for over 15 years (over half of my career), and I have earned new job opportunities here that my peers at other companies don't,” one employee said. Another employee feels “challenged when I come to work every day” and appreciates “having supervisors that genuinely care about me and where I'm headed in the company,” while another praised the company's “genuine culture of serving clients, community and one another.”
The money manager, as well as parent Northern Trust Corp., makes a conscious effort to focus on employees' growth opportunities, said Dawn Romei, senior vice president, human resources. Ms. Romei is a 32-year veteran of Northern Trust; her first job was a teller at the bank.
“Asset management has great people managers,” Ms. Romei said, praising the efforts of Stephen N. Potter, NTAM president, for “keeping his finger on the pulse” of Northern Trust Corp.'s money management unit by creating a culture of respect in which managers get to know the people who work for them.
One particular effort at Northern Trust — its diversity and inclusion advisory committee — helps Mr. Potter and other senior managers “do a better job of collaboration” with NTAM employees at all levels. “It's all-around inclusion,” Mr. Potter said of the committee's work. “I believe it's important to send the right signals to our employees. The lower levels advise us, they let us know the issues on the "shop floor.' It lets us know what they want and makes our jobs (as managers) easier.”
Along with engagement, employees and managers at NTAM combine charity work with a little fun. In a fundraiser for the United Way in 2014, coin banks were placed in the office's reception area to choose an executive to wear a bolo tie.
Ms. Romei said each penny donated was worth a vote. In the end, Jason Tyler, senior vice president and global head of client solutions, got the nod. “He looked pretty good, too,” said Ms. Romei.
Engagement has been a hallmark at NTAM parent Northern Trust since the bank was founded 125 years ago, said Frederick H. Waddell, Northern Trust chairman and CEO, and a 40-year employee. In a survey last year, 83% of employees said they were engaged, “and we'd like to get to 85%. We're very good, but we want to get better,” Mr. Waddell said. “Everyone here has the opportunity to eventually succeed Steve Potter as head of a $1 trillion asset management business,” he said.
