Pensions & Investments awards 25 firms the Best Places to Work in Money Management title

CHICAGO, Dec. 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Twenty-five organizations — including 11 repeat honorees — have been named to Pensions & Investments' second annual list of the Best Places to Work in Money Management.

The winners, divided by number of employees, are:

Fewer than 100 employees
1. Baird Asset Management, Milwaukee, Wis.
2. Dana Investment Advisors, Brookfield, Wis.
3. SunTrust Institutional Investments, Atlanta
4. Perkins Investment Management, Chicago
5. INTECH, West Palm Beach, Fla.

100 to fewer than 500 employees
1. ClearBridge Investments LLC, New York, NY
2. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio
3. William Blair Investment Management, Chicago
4. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC, Philadelphia
5. California State Teachers' Retirement System, West Sacramento, Calif.

500 to fewer than 1,000 employees
1. Principal Financial Group, Des Moines, Iowa
2. Northern Trust Asset Management, Chicago
3. Babson Capital Management, Boston

More than 1,000 employees
1. Invesco Ltd., Atlanta
2. Transamerica Retirement Solutions, Harrison, NY
3. Neuberger Berman Group LLC, New York
4. SEI Investments Co., Oaks, Pa.
5. Mesirow Financial Holdings Inc., Chicago

Top 5 alternative investment managers regardless of size
1. The Blackstone Group LP, New York
2. Hamilton Lane Advisors LLC, Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
3. Abbott Capital Management LLC, New York
4. TIE: AEW Capital Management LP, Boston
    L&B Realty Advisors LLP, Dallas
5. TIE: LaSalle Investment Management, Chicago
    Heitman LLC, Chicago

Among the highlights of this year's rankings:

• CalSTRS is the first pension fund to make the grade.
• Categories were changed this year, including adding one for alternatives investment managers because of a marked increase in participation from alts firms.
• Some firms that made the rankings both years changed positions. Most notably, Invesco jumped to first from fifth among organizations with 1,000 or more employees.
• In addition to Invesco, P&I's repeat honorees are: Transamerica; SEI, Principal; Hamilton Lane; AEW; ClearBridge; William Blair; Baird; Dana; and Perkins.
• This is the second year Pensions & Investments has undertaken this project.

P&I once again partnered with the San Francisco-based survey group of Buck Consultants to undertake Best Places to Work in Money Management. To participate, money managers and organizations with investment and investment-related operations had to register, complete an employer survey and provide employee e-mail addresses for an employee survey.

Buck crunched the resulting data, with employee survey responses accounting for 60% of an organization's score and employer survey responses, 40%.

Most of the organizations that participated in Best Places to Work this year shared some common attributes.

Buck's analysis of responses to the employer survey showed that most used many tools to communicate the corporate culture; they had multiple programs to promote work-life balance; they placed a high value on community service; and they offered a number of special perks.

The areas that produced the most "best-thing-about-working-here" comments from employees were work-life balance, community service and people — both management and co-workers.

More than half provide on-site fitness facilities and a few, including Transamerica, Principal, SEI, Blackstone and Fort Washington, have recreational facilities like basketball courts.

A few are offering, or planning to offer, backup child care and, in some cases, adult care.

Some Best Places firms pay as much as 100% of health-insurance premiums. Many provide adoption assistance. One — Fort Washington — has an on-site medical center.

Several offer concierge services that can include dry cleaning, shoe repair, discounted event tickets, on-site grocery or convenience or drug stores, full-service banking and the like.

And one — Transamerica — makes available college admission coaching for parents.

For additional information on the 2013 P&I Best Places to Work in Money Management contact Nancy K. Webman, editor, at [email protected] or (312) 649-5284.

About Pensions & Investments
Since 1973, P&I has been the leading resource for industry investment data, analysis and news. With unmatched integrity and professionalism, Pensions & Investments consistently delivers news, research and analysis to the executives who manage the flow of funds in the institutional investment market. Written for pension, portfolio and investment management executives at the hub of this market, Pensions & Investments provides its audience with timely and incisive coverage of events affecting the money management business. Written by a worldwide network of reporters and correspondents, Pensions & Investments' coverage includes business and financial news, legislative reports, global investments, product development, portfolio management, risk management, technology, investment performance, executive changes, corporate governance and other topics crucial to the people who drive the world of professional money. Pensions & Investments is celebrating 40 years of publishing in 2013.

SOURCE Pensions & Investments