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Money managers who ranked in Pensions & Investments' Best Places to Work in Money Management survey emphasize training and development opportunities to ensure they remain best places to work well into the future.
Training and development loom large in these firms' priorities, beginning with the first day new hires walk into their offices, with some firms offering 80 or more hours of new employee orientation.
Jim Ward, Irvine, Calif.-based senior consultant, talent & rewards-global financial services at Willis Towers Watson, said in a telephone interview that cultural assimilation should be the No. 1 priority for new employees. That includes learning structural and operating procedures as well as the history of the organization and cultural nuances.
"You can hire a very seasoned professional with lots of experience and expertise, but if they don't understand the culture in which they're operating, they will fail," Mr. Ward said. "That's a pretty well-known fact. I think a lot of people don't appreciate the importance and fine points of cultural assimilation."
Mr. Ward added that while it is a top priority for companies to embrace the idea of integrating the new hire fully into their culture, "the individual really has to embrace it for themselves."
"Do they operate in this organization from a cultural and operating-style perspective? I see that as pretty key and No. 1 on my list," Mr. Ward said.
120 hours of orientation
Fiduciary Investment Advisors LLC, Hartford, Conn., emphasizes that new hires understand the company culture as...