AUM: $198 billion
Employees: 621
Being named in Pensions & Investments' Best Places to Work in Money Management for the fifth time doesn't mean TCW Group Inc. is resting on its laurels.
Employee culture "is one of the main things I work on as CEO," said David Lippman, president and chief executive of the Los Angeles-based active equity, fixed-income and alternatives manager.
One point of pride at TCW is the "good mix" of relatively new employees and those that have been with the firm for 35 years or more. Employees said in comments on the survey that the company "recognizes achievement at every level."
"Whether it's millennials, Generation X or long-term employees, there's an intermingling of ideas," Mr. Lippman said. "Five years down the road, they all sound a lot like each other; that's mentorship at its best. Older people will talk about automation, questioning what they do. That's the voice of the millennial."
Employees also commented on the camaraderie at the firm, which Cheryl Marzano, group managing director and head of human resources, said is enhanced by community involvement. Earlier this year, TCW conducted a fundraiser for Together We Rise, an organization promoting foster care. Along with raising $50,000 for the organization, employees bought duffel bags and stuffed them with toys, teddy bears and blankets, and decorated them. The duffel bags are "given to foster children because sometimes they don't have anything with them when they move to a foster home," Ms. Marzano said. With the duffel bags, "they'll have something of their own to bring with them."
Mr. Lippman said TCW's employee culture is an outgrowth of "the real owners of TCW" — the firm's clients. Although the company is co-owned by employees, private equity firm Carlyle Group LP and Nippon Life Insurance Co., he said, "in reality, the owners of the company are our investors. It keeps us honest and focused on what we do."
