We recognize that our employees are critical to our success, and we take seriously our search for and retention of top talent.
To achieve our recruiting goals, we target our talent identification, sourcing methods and recruiting strategies to specific locations using a variety of channels including job boards, colleges, professional networks, associations and online social networks. We base hiring decisions on a variety of factors, including educational background, diversity, relevant experience, past accomplishments, professional licensing and strong evidence of integrity and ethical behavior.
Northern Trust's talent management department is led by the Chief Talent Officer, who reports directly to the Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO). This team is accountable for establishing policies, programs and practices focused on learning and development, talent planning and organizational effectiveness. This team also works closely with functional learning and development teams to deliver holistic training solutions.
Through the Northern Trust University portal, employees can easily access a customized portfolio of core professional, manager, sales and client-servicing training solutions.
In 2020, employees consumed more than 460,000 hours of training in self-paced, virtual, and instructor-led formats.
Our Future-Focused Skills Learning Center is designed to increase employees' proficiency in the skills needed to serve our clients in a digital economy. Programs launched in 2020 included data analytics, commercial acumen and digital acuity skills. Other enterprise-wide initiatives include an Enhanced Unconscious Bias Program and a Working and Growing Remotely Series (with a focus on Resilience and Wellness).
Northern Trust provides targeted development opportunities for employees transitioning into management and throughout their management career. Our interactive programs include curated content from external providers as well as internally developed content from our own thought leaders. All programs include opportunities for peer networking and direct access to well-known expert facilitators.
Northern Trust encourages our employees to pursue further education. Our U.S. Education Assistance Program, which provides tuition reimbursement for undergraduate and graduate degrees, enabled 268 participants to complete more than 930 courses. Through our Education Assistance Programs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) and the Asia-Pacific (APAC) regions, more than 400 employee participants attained various industry certifications.
Northern Trust continually assesses our talent pool to ensure we have the breadth, depth and diversity of technical and leadership skills to execute our business strategies today and in the future. Managers conduct talent assessments for more than 7,000 employees annually, and business and regional leadership teams hold regular talent review discussions focused on specific topics, such as workforce needs, diversity, top talent, readiness for promotion, readiness-to-move and succession plans. Each year, our Chief Talent Officer holds a talent review meeting with members of our senior management. A formal talent review is also conducted with our Board of Directors each year, led by our CEO and CHRO.
To help employees strengthen and build new skills and navigate their careers, we provide several resources and manage several programs to develop and equip a diverse pipeline of future leaders.
The Rotational Development Program helps employees at the entry-level build their technical and leadership skills in a specific career track—credit, finance, investments, asset servicing or technology. Rotations involve training, mentors, speakers, community service and a case challenge.
The Enterprise Talent Leadership Program prepares a diverse range of mid-career talent for leadership success. The program includes assessments, career and development planning, executive coaches, mentors, speakers, targeted development and exposure to senior leadership. More than 50 percent of the program's alumni have either achieved or are in the pipeline for key leadership roles.
For employees at the senior level, we establish clear expectations and conduct robust conversations around career development focused on accomplishments, experiences and aspirations. We also facilitate a Dialogue with Directors program that gives managers exposure to our Board of Directors and enables the Board to engage with talent throughout the organization.
Our Talent Management team also oversees strategic workforce planning, organizational design and effectiveness, performance management, engagement and recognition. Our internal center of excellence provides consultation, design and implementation support. Priorities are set by our CEO and communicated to each business, department, team and individual, and managers are encouraged to provide regular feedback and coaching to elicit performance and results.
Northern Trust remains committed to making all employees feel supported, connected, and heard.
We collect employee perspectives and ideas through our annual Engagement Survey and use this feedback to inform Northern Trust’s strategic priorities and measure progress of those efforts over time.
2020 was an extraordinary year with extraordinary circumstances, and our employees responded positively to our actions to support them. Nearly four out of five employees participated in the survey, and average engagement ratings were up 9.3 percent. Our most improved areas were associated with our employees’ ability to work remotely during the pandemic while obtaining the information and support needed to do their jobs. Scores relating to our commitment to diversity and inclusion and our practices to attract and retain diverse talent also significantly improved.
Northern Trust recognizes that the events of 2020 are accelerating change around expectations of how and where work will get done in the future. To assess the impact of those trends on our ability to continue to create value for all Northern Trust stakeholders, we established a global, cross-functional taskforce to develop a framework for the Future of Work at Northern Trust. The goals of the taskforce were to identify a framework and key enablers for a post-COVID-19 work environment that enhance client satisfaction, maintain our risk profile, strengthen our unique culture, improve employee engagement, and help us achieve our financial goals. Our approach will reflect our continuing commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DE&I) by integrating best practices and ensuring accountability.
Elements of the group’s recommendations to be designed and implemented in 2021 include consideration of additional options for flexible work, enhanced technology, training and support for employees and managers working in a hybrid environment, as well as refined purpose for our physical offices, focusing on client service, collaboration, connection, and community.
Northern Trust’s core values of service, expertise and integrity are foundational to our commitment to an inclusive culture in which all individuals must be welcomed, respected, supported and valued so that they can fully participate in and contribute to our success. Our focus on DE&I helps us provide unrivaled service to clients and creates a healthy, thriving work environment for employees from diverse demographic groups, leadership styles and skill sets.
Our vision for DE&I is embedded at all levels of the organization, with women and ethnic minorities representing more than half the members of our Board of Directors as well our U.S. Executive Vice President population. Reflecting the importance of DE&I, our Head of Corporate Social Responsibility and Global DE&I serves as an Executive Vice President and reports directly to our Chairman, President and CEO. Two Chief DE&I Officers are responsible for the design and execution of topic-relevant programs across North America, EMEA and APAC. Our Board, through its Corporate Governance Committee, also engages in active oversight of our DE&I strategies, programs and principles.
Our strategy is driven by three priorities: Drive Accountability, Enhance Development Programs and Placement, and Advance Culture.
As part of our enhanced governance model, senior leaders report progress to senior management through our DE&I Executive Council. Our Business Unit leadership, Regional Councils and Business Resource Councils facilitate the development of an inclusive culture that values and leverages DE&I to achieve and sustain superior business results. Our strategy is driven by three priorities: Drive Accountability, Enhance Development Programs and Placement and Advance Culture. These strategies enhance our focus on the hiring, development and advancement of women and people of color at every level.
We use a DE&I dashboard as a mechanism to increase representation at all levels through continued measurement of hiring, promotion and retention. To ensure diversity, we require recruiters to present diverse candidate slates. We have also implemented diverse interview panels and decision-makers in the interview process.
Our Global Internal Mobility Program enhances the professional development and growth of our employees. Through our robust job-listing system, employees have transparency into available positions, can set up job alerts, and can find and apply for roles that match their career aspirations. The system supports Northern Trust’s global framework and allows us to engage a deep and diverse pool of internal talent to enable future growth. To further identify and develop a deep pipeline of diverse talent at various levels across the globe, our employees have access to a variety of external and internal programs.
Through our robust job system, employees have transparency into available positions, can set up job alerts, and can easily find and apply for roles that match their career aspirations.
In September 2020, we invited more than 150 Black Northern Trust employees in the U.S. to participate in the McKinsey Black Leadership Academy. This Academy is focused on accelerating Black leaders on a global scale and is comprised of two programs: A Black Executive Leadership Program targeting executives and a Management Accelerator Program targeting early-to-mid-career leaders. These programs are focused on building leadership capabilities and giving our employees critical skills to grow personally and professionally.
In India, we host development programs targeted for high-potential women across various levels of the organization. The first program focuses on women at both the individual contributor and junior management levels. Its modules explore personal power, assertive influencing and building and leveraging a powerful network for success. Our second program focuses on women at the middle-management level with a focus on mindful leadership. This program utilizes individual assessments, one-on-one coaching and group and individual activities. We also conducted three workshops on “women and ambition” for high-potential employees at the early-career level. Since the program’s inception in 2018, 93 percent of participants have been promoted and our current retention across both cohorts is 94 percent.
In a year that brought extraordinary challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial injustices experienced by Black people in the U.S., 2020 was a year focused on compassion, communication and support.
With a focus on advancing Northern Trust culture to create a more diverse and inclusive environment, we introduced the following in 2020:
We launched a global unconscious bias training module course for all employees as well as a three-part Unconscious Bias & Inclusive Leadership training designed specifically for managers. The trainings help our employees recognize their own biases, understand how these biases affect their decisions and interactions, and develop skills and strategies to mitigate them. To enhance our inclusion efforts, we added inclusive leadership language to many of our manager training courses.
To support a culture of respect and belonging, we introduced the option for employees to add pronouns in their email signatures. As part of this global initiative, we conducted Pronouns & Gender-Inclusive Language training to promote inclusion of gender identity and expression at Northern Trust.
In a year that brought extraordinary challenges, including the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial injustices experienced by Black people in the U.S., 2020 was a year focused on compassion, communication and support. Northern Trust openly engaged in conversations around racial inequity and action in support of DE&I and developed resources to support the positive mental health of our employees.
We launched our DE&I Knowledge Center to help our employees gain deeper understanding and insight into the root causes of racism, as well as educate and engage our employees on ways to feel empowered, seek solutions and take action. The Knowledge Center supports our culture of engagement, in which we share external and internal DE&I messages to create transparency and elicit action.
To further support our culture of engagement, we strengthened our DE&I employee communications, including messages from our executives and senior leaders. We conducted a series of panel discussions, small group discussions and individual conversations to create a structured dialogue about racial inequities and to empower employees to share their experiences.
Northern Trust closed its U.S. offices early on June 19, in honor of Juneteenth, the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Employees were encouraged to take this time for reflection and to serve their communities, re-commit to DE&I and learn about the significance of Juneteenth.
Our virtual forum, "Connect in the Cloud," allowed our employees across the globe to connect with each other in a more casual way by responding to weekly prompts and sharing pictures and thoughts.
With the health of our employees across the globe at the forefront, we developed a dedicated Mental Health and Well-Being site. Containing internal and external resources, the site supports our employees in areas including Protecting Health During COVID-19 and Personal Resiliency Tips. With the objective of engaging employees in something fun in a remote work environment, the Human Resources team launched “Connect in the Cloud.” This virtual forum allowed our employees across the globe to connect with each other in a more casual way by responding to weekly prompts by sharing pictures and thoughts.
Northern Trust offers a series of Business Resource Councils (BRCs), employee-initiated and governed groups that increase education and awareness through engagement-based activities. BRC participation is voluntary and open to all employees who are interested in the mission of the group. Each BRC is sponsored by an executive leader who advocates for the group internally and externally. The groups work with our DE&I team to align initiatives to the BRC pillar framework, DE&I strategies, and corporate priorities.
Our BRCs support our culture of engagement through programs and initiatives centered around professional development, assisting in attracting diverse talent, providing diverse insights to the business through focus groups, and enhancing cultural understanding across our employee population.
In 2020, with most of our employee population working remotely, the BRCs’ programming and initiatives shifted to a virtual setting, allowing for expanded employee participation as well as opportunities for BRC collaboration across the regions.
A few key programs and initiatives included:
Observed annually on December 3rd, this day promotes the rights and well-being of people with disabilities. Led by the Disability BRC chapters globally, we marked the date across our Northern Trust offices with a number of programs including a global disability inclusion panel event in partnership with Disability:IN Chicagoland, educational seminars with Humanity and Inclusion in Manila, and a session on the power of storytelling with international disability rights advocate Joanne O’Riordan.
The Pride BRC chapters across the globe commemorated the month of June with initiatives focused on allyship, awareness and advocacy. Highlights include our India and Ireland locations winning the Global Ally Gamification challenge sponsored by Pride Circle; North America hosting a month-long learning series focused on “Breaking Down the Acronym;” and offices across the APAC region hosting LGBTQ+ 101 workshops for managers. To show virtual support for our internal and external communities, many of our employees, including our CEO and members of senior management, inserted a Pride flag filter over their Northern Trust profile pictures. Additionally, employees participated in the Rainbow Around the World virtual Pride Parade.
The impact of COVID-19 on the mental health of millions of people globally gave 2020’s World Mental Health Day on October 10th particular significance. Recognizing the importance of mental health to the well-being of our employees, we encouraged our employees to support their own well-being, practice self-care and learn where they can access help and support when they need it. Programming included workshops on stress management and mindfulness, virtual yoga sessions and a global broadcast featuring a mental health expert and psychologist discussing the pandemic’s impact on mental well-being and where to get expert help.
Northern Trust's human rights and workforce principles apply to all global operations and clearly signify our support for the rights of minority groups, women and workers. Our principles expressly reference our conformance with public policies including the International Labour Organization's (ILO) standards and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) guidelines for multinational enterprises. Employees worldwide may exercise freedom of association regarding collective bargaining and trade agreements as permitted by applicable regional laws.
We apply these standards to our suppliers and vendors as well as our employees, who receive training on anti-discrimination, DE&I, and the prevention of sexual harassment. We also provide training on cultural change, which is especially helpful for expatriates and employees serving short-term assignments abroad or experiencing global relocation. Several senior-level company officers are responsible for overseeing the execution of our human rights and workforce standards. These standards commit us to providing fair and equal wages to employees regardless of gender and offering competitive compensation and benefits to our workforce.
Northern Trust's human rights and workforce principles apply to all global operations and clearly signify our support for the rights of minority groups, women and workers.
