Firms change the rules to help workers meet new challenges

Money managers loosened corporate policies and enhanced existing benefits to look out for the physical and mental health of employees during an extremely challenging year, said executives of firms placing in Pensions & Investments Best Places to Work in Money Management program.

Firms that placed among the 94 winners in 2020 specifically took steps to bolster their support of employees during the pandemic and amid a global outcry over police brutality and racial inequality.

In response to the unprecedented events of 2020, Los Angeles-based Capital Group Cos., which had 7,013 U.S. employees and $1.9 trillion in assets under management as of June 30, provided three paid days off this year for employees to use for either COVID-19 testing or time off for mental health. Capital Group ranked first among companies with 1,000 or more employees in the Best Places program.

Employees also received 10 paid days off if they are diagnosed with COVID-19, and six paid days off for “family care,” or family needs that came up as a result of the pandemic, said Sally-Ann Tschanz, senior vice president and co-head of human resources.

Ms. Tschanz, who is based in Geneva, said Capital Group initially gave employees three paid days off in March for family care, and then added an additional three days in September.

“We got a positive response (from employees) for that,” she said, noting that many employees with child-care responsibilities as well as responsibilities for elderly family members in assisted living facilities needed the additional time off.

Regarding the three paid days off for mental health, Ms. Tschanz said the employees could have used it for a host of reasons, even if they were “struggling with just being locked down” this year.

“Everybody’s experience of lockdown has been so different. It’s been important to meet people where they are with that. This was a way to help people take days if they need it, that didn’t come out of their sick bank … and without them having to provide medical documentation,” Ms. Tschanz said.

At New York-based Ninety One North America Inc., which is a newcomer to the Best Places program, the firm focused on providing flexibility for employees.

Philip Anker, CEO of the Americas at Ninety One, said that there hasn’t been any one policy or benefit that was most well-received by employees, just overall flexibility and the firm “trusting employees to make decisions for themselves.”

“(Employees know) we are very willing to cut everybody slack to make decisions for themselves. For instance, if they want to leave their apartment in New York City because they will be happier living with family in Vermont, they can do that. And a number of employees have done that. And they should know that won’t hurt their career,” Mr. Anker said.

“Whether these people have permanently or temporarily (relocated), I don’t know yet,” Mr. Anker said of staff in New York.

“It’s important to me for people to know that there is no expectation to come into work with no vaccine,” he added.

Ninety One reported 47 U.S.-based employees and $145.4 billion in AUM as of June 30.

Executives at other firms also noted that enhanced benefits, such as additional sick days or the ability to roll over more unused vacation time, earned a positive response from employees.

At Bala Cynwyd, Pa.-based Hamilton Lane Advisors Inc., one policy change that was most appreciated by employees this year was simply allowing everyone to collectively unplug from work, its top executive said.

After COVID-19 struck this year, CEO Mario Giannini said the firm made an existing summer perk, closing early on Fridays, a year-round offering.

Additionally, on Dec. 4, the company had its first “unplug day,” in which the firm closed for the entire day, Mr. Giannini said, noting it was a way to encourage employees who might not take paid time off to unplug.

Hamilton Lane had 308 U.S.-based employees and $516 billion in AUM as June 30. The firm has been named a Best Place every year since the P&I program began in 2012.

Joseph Borgmann, principal and chief financial officer at AAM Insurance Investment Management, Chicago, said that the firm’s flexibility related to individuals’ work schedule and remote work, along with added sick days, has driven the most positive feedback from employees. AAM is a four-time winner in the Best Places program.

The firm provided an additional 10 sick days annually to employees, the firm said in its survey responses. AAM had $28 billion in AUM as of June 30 and reported 47 U.S.-based employees.

At PineBridge Investments, another newcomer to the Best Places program this year, employees now are able to roll over up to 10 days of unused vacation time to be used anytime during 2021, regardless of their years of service. This was enhanced from up to five days of unused vacation days being permitted to be rolled over, said Jennifer Motz, a New York-based managing director and global head of human resources.

PineBridge also doubled the number of allowable 2020 vacation days for staff, the firm said in its survey responses.
PineBridge had 272 U.S.-based employees and $104.4 billion in AUM as of June 30.

The year’s events — including global protests after the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor — also pushed money managers to improve workplace support for Black employees and offer educational programs on race for the entire workforce.

Amid repeated instances of police brutality, the pandemic itself exposed glaring racial disparities in the country, such as the COVID-19 death toll disproportionately impacting Black and Latino communities.

To address these concerns, Capital Group introduced this year a 3-to-1 charitable matching contribution for employee donations up to $1,500 for organizations working to advance racial equity, Ms. Tschanz said. This was in addition to the firm’s existing 2-to-1 charitable matching contribution for gifts up to $5,000.

The money manager pledged this summer that it would contribute up to $2 million to organizations promoting social justice and racial equity, which can include gifts made through its new matching program.

Ms. Tschanz noted that Capital Group, through its employee assistance program, provided small group and one-on-one healing sessions for its Black employees during October and November, which were led by a Black therapist in a confidential environment. Twelve small group sessions were held with 225 employees that participated, while 53 employees participated in the one-on-one sessions facilitated by the therapist, she added.

“The take-up rate on that was unbelievable,” Ms. Tschanz said.

Capital Group also hosted “Conversation Cafes” on race that were open to all employees, and sessions for managers focused on how to have conversations about race, according to Ms. Tschanz.

New York-based Neuberger Berman Group LLC, which had 1,646 employees in the U.S. and $357 billion in AUM as of June 30, held a three-part racial equity training series for employees this summer, said Sean Williamson, head of employee platform at the company.

The company ranked No. 2 among the largest employers, and is an eight-time winner in the Best Places program.

In addition, the firm’s Black Experience employee resource group, which was created a few years ago, served as a “critical voice broadly to employees, but also as we were thinking about communications to the workforce” related to racial inequality, Mr. Williamson said.

Before 2020, Neuberger Berman had “already laid the groundwork” to have conversations around racial injustice through discussions led by Chairman and CEO George H. Walker IV, focus groups and mandatory bias training, the firm said in its Best Places survey responses.

Heather Zuckerman, chief of staff at Neuberger Berman, said it was to the firm’s benefit that it had already started on a path to addressing these issues and wasn’t “starting from ground zero.”

“One of the most important things was the support that our Black employees got around the globe … and also from the (employee resource groups). I feel like we already had a bit of credibility, otherwise (the thought) would have been, ‘It took this for you to care?’” Ms. Zuckerman said.