Section head
Lehman Brothers
Overview
Lehman Brothers, an innovator in global finance, serves the financial needs of corporations, governments and municipalities, institutional clients, and high net worth individuals worldwide. Founded in 1850, Lehman Brothers maintains leadership positions in investment banking, equity and fixed income sales, trading and research, private investment management, asset management and private equity. The Firm is headquartered in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Tokyo, and operates in a network of offices around the world.
Motivation
Lehman Brothers recognises that the Firm has a role in the communities in which it operates as both an employer and a provider of services. In order to succeed the Firm brings together people with varied backgrounds, perspectives and ideas – this is the only way Lehman Brothers can identify better and more creative solutions for our clients. A strategic focus on diversity and inclusion has become increasingly important given the tremendous competition for business and talent. The Firm’s efforts have undeniably increased brand awareness with clients and potential hires.
Success in action
Lehman Brothers is honoured to be the first investment bank to offer an ‘on-ramp’ programme in response to research conducted by the New York-based Center for Work-Life Policy private sector taskforce entitled ‘The Hidden Brain Drain’. Their brief was to research the problem of retaining top people, particularly women and ethnic minorities. The first survey, which was co-sponsored by Lehman Brothers, aimed to investigate why female professionals ‘off-ramped’ from their career to spend time with families, pursue outside interests or assume caring responsibilities and how easily they found it to return (‘on-ramp’) to the work force. Of the most highly qualified women currently out of the work force who were surveyed, 93% wanted to return to their career but only 74% managed to do so.
The Firm launched its ‘on-ramp’ programme Lehman Brothers Encore, a pioneering lateral recruiting programme, to tap in to a pool of highly talented candidates and to identify opportunities matching their skill-sets to support efforts to ensure that a diverse range of talent is considered at the point of recruitment.
The initial London half-day professional development and networking event in February 2006 hosted 49 ‘off-ramped’ women interested in returning to work. The event, part of a global effort, was comprised of:
- A panel Q&A on recent trends and developments in financial services
- A motivational workshop on ‘making your story work for you’
- The opportunity to network with fellow participants and Lehman Brothers managers
Through Lehman Brothers Encore, the Firm has:
- Facilitated a more direct way to reach a pool of talent from which the Firm can recruit in the context of its existing recruitment efforts;
- Enhanced efforts to hire those who are looking to re-enter the workforce but who have specific needs in terms of alternative work arrangements
- Enhanced its use of flexibility as a recruiting and retention tool