AUM: $5.98 trillion
Employees: 7,026
Career opportunities, culture and a focus on growth and innovation have made BlackRock Inc. a great place to work for new recruits and seasoned executives alike.
"It's a very mobile workforce. There's constant opportunity," said Sarah Melvin, managing director, head of BlackRock's institutional client business for the U.S. and Canada. "You'd be very hard-pressed to find someone here who's been in the same role for a long time."
Jeffery A. Smith, a senior managing director at BlackRock and head of global human resources, said the clarity and focus of BlackRock's mission is another "huge source of pride and purpose" for its employees. That pride has resulted in four consecutive appearances on Pensions & Investments' Best Places to Work in Money Management list.
"Helping people prepare for their financial futures is an enormous responsibility," he said. "Our people recognize and embrace the importance of the work we do for our clients. Each day, they come to work focused on fulfilling that promise."
Despite its massive size, BlackRock, the world's largest money manager with more than 7,000 employees in the U.S. alone, aims to make employees feel included and valued, officials said.
For example, in 2016, the firm launched its leadership excellence and development program, LEAD, to help build its leadership pipeline, and to engage and retain talent in underrepresented populations.
Being philanthropically active is also ingrained in BlackRock's culture. For International Women's Day this year, BlackRock supported Kiva, a non-profit organization that allows people to lend money to low-income entrepreneurs and students globally.
In the week leading up to International Women's Day, Kiva was aiming to fund $3 million in loans to female entrepreneurs. Because of one-to-one matches from BlackRock, the organization ultimately doubled its goal, raising $6 million that week.
That support continued with an internal campaign in which BlackRock employees were encouraged to support any entrepreneur they choose on the Kiva platform. More than 10,000 BlackRock employees made a $25 loan that the firm also matched.
One employee in the BPTW survey praised the firm for having "a well-defined culture and principles that are clearly communicated and reinforced by senior and line management, most especially the focus on thinking and acting as a fiduciary."
