SIFMA today announced its 2014 Diversity Leadership Awards Recipients: Prudential Financial, Inc. and Goldman Sachs & Co. The firms will be presented with the awards at a lunch ceremony at SIFMA's 2014 Diversity Conference in St. Louis.
- Sustained Diversity Leadership: Prudential Financial, Inc. - Prudential's Veterans Initiative
- Innovative Diversity Leadership: Goldman Sachs & Co. Emerging Leaders Program
Sustained Diversity Leadership: Prudential Financial, Inc. - Prudential's Veterans Initiative
The initiative selected is the "Veterans Initiative," a campaign launched by Prudential in 2008 when the company began collecting data on veterans hiring. This award is a recognition of Prudential's long-term, comprehensive commitment to promoting veterans transitioning back to the civilian workforce.
The "Veterans Initiative" coordinates company-wide efforts to create sustainable programs for transitioning veterans. The focus is on strengthening and building relationships with military veterans service organizations, as well as related government agencies. The elements which comprise this campaign include:
- Recruitment - Recruit high potential candidates who have or will soon separate from or are currently serving the military in a reserve status, by partnering with local high schools, colleges, youth organizations, government offices, local military bases, veterans support groups, and outplacement services;
- Training - Offer a fully-paid scholarship for a certification program at a major university and an internship where veterans learn to adapt their established skills to a corporate environment and learn skills specific to position using a unique monitored, controlled and supportive development approach;
- Employment - Successful completion of the program provides veterans with employment opportunities at the sponsoring corporation. Candidates become paid consultants while working at a sponsoring corporation. Corporations have the option to maintain the consultancy or extend full-time offers for employment based on business needs; and
- Philanthropy - Support for veterans' service organizations through philanthropic grants, employee volunteerism and by matching qualifying employee contributions. Prudential contributes approximately $3 million annually.
Innovative Diversity Leadership: Goldman Sachs & Co. Emerging Leaders Program
The initiative selected is the "Emerging Leaders Program," (ELP), a program launched in 2012 designed to enhance the progression and retention of strong-performing black and Latino/Hispanic vice presidents.
ELP is a six month program with four core objectives: provide participants with access to senior leadership; strengthen participants' relationships with managers and senior leaders; enhance the professional skills of all participants; and raise participants' professional profile and visibility at the firm.
Goldman Sachs used a multi-faceted approach to the needs analysis and program design: top-down (data-driven), bottom-up (employee feedback, surveys and reviews), and outside-in (research-driven). The elements which comprise this campaign include:
- Performance-Based Selection -ELP is a nomination-based program for strong-performing, mid-level vice presidents with a long-term career trajectory at the firm. The program is cross-divisional, encompassing all business lines. Participants are selected through a nomination process conducted by the Human Capital Management division, in conjunction with divisional and business leadership.
- Employee-Manager Coaching - A core component of ELP is a coaching session led by an external facilitator that focuses on strengthening the relationship between participants and their managers. In advance of this session, participants complete a questionnaire that assesses their workplace experience across several dimensions, including: opportunities for contribution, sense of recognition, teamwork and inclusion, organizational resources, open communication and organizational climate.
- Communication - ELP supports expanded one-on-one engagement and open communication between high-performing diverse employees and their managers. The program's intent is to discourage assumptions about one another and to foster honest and candid feedback between employees and their managers. Supported by survey results and the findings of ELP coaching sessions, this directed dialogue helps to increase the overall level of understanding, mutual respect, trust, and transparency in employee-manager relationships, enhancing communication also increases managerial effectiveness.
- Accountability Systems The program seeks to create accountability through direct engagement with managers. This includes one-on-one meetings with managers to discuss the program in-depth, allowing them to ask any questions and express potential concerns, and helping them understand their roles and responsibilities in strengthening Goldman Sachs' talent pipeline and promoting inclusion. Members of the diversity team act as strategic talent advisors and meet with the managers to incorporate the feedback into the long-term career development discussions about the participants. This "person by person" approach provides the diversity team with the ability to advise the managers and is an opportunity to further educate managers about diversity and empower them to provide the right level of feedback and career guidance to their reports.
Awards in the following two categories will be given out at SIFMA's 2014 Diversity Conference in St. Louis, MO on November 14th.
Award Categories:
Sustained Diversity Leadership - Consideration is given to firms demonstrating continued commitment and advancement of diversity strategies and efforts.
Innovative Diversity Leadership - Consideration is given to firms that develop or employ exceptionally unique and creative approaches to their diversity efforts.