Our philosophy
Our philosophy of working as One BlackRock is at the core of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. We’ve made building a more diverse workforce a top priority and we foster a collaborative culture based on trust, respect and integrity. We know that a diverse workforce is indispensable to our creativity and success. It’s how we answer the biggest questions and solve the toughest problems. An inclusive, equitable environment makes us thrive. It enables us to draw on expertise and unique experiences from across the firm and bring out the best in each other.
As part of our long-term commitment, we have instituted a multi-year DEI strategy that we believe is actionable, measurable and designed to be relevant and applicable in different parts of the world. We review the strategy regularly, along with the corporate policies and programs that support it, so the strategy remains aligned with our firm’s business priorities and long-term objectives. Our DEI strategy centers on three key pillars:
Our Talent and Culture across the Globe
Our Role as a Fiduciary on Behalf of Clients
Our Policies and Social Impact in Underserved Communities
Another focus of our DEI strategy is to cultivate an inclusive, equitable work environment in which employees feel connected to the culture and supported in pursuit of their goals. Every single employee plays a critical role. We learn from one another and encourage each other to develop, grow and make an impact. We are one team aligned around a shared sense of purpose and strive to make every employee feel like they belong here at BlackRock.
Without inclusion, diversity means nothing, so our focus is on creating an inclusive environment for all employees, covering the whole spectrum of diversity.
-Robert
Associate, Corporate Strategy – Hong Kong
Our approach to hiring
We seek to hire diverse teams because we believe they lead to better decision-making, especially in complex, changing environments. To do that, we regularly review job postings for biased language, champion diverse candidate slates and use a competency-based approach to interviewing to help us diversify our teams.
Our employee networks
Our employee networks provide an opportunity for employees with a diverse range of backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives to connect with one another and help shape BlackRock’s culture. Employee networks are sponsored by senior leaders and are proudly designed by employees, for employees.
Employee Networks are over 14 years old at BlackRock, with the Women’s Initiative & Allies Network (WIN) first established in 2006. Today, we have 15 employee, professional, and social impact networks which come together in a forum called Mosaic to identify and explore shared interests and common challenges across all networks and the firm. We continue to add new networks to support its employees. For example, our Ability Network, which supports the 2% of our global population that self-identifies as having a disability, has expanded its number of chapters; and in March 2021, we launched the Asian, Middle-Eastern & Allies Professional Network.
Employee Networks
Professional Networks
Impact Networks
Our programs
We sponsor several initiatives designed to attract, connect and inspire diverse employees. You can learn more about our programs focused on developing, mentoring and educating our diverse talent in the learning and development section.
BlackRock Founders Scholarship – US
BlackRock Founders Scholarship – US
In the US, the BlackRock Founders Scholarship is an accelerated Summer Analyst internship interview process and scholarship program for diverse students who have demonstrated leadership while exemplifying the BlackRock Principles in their communities. In addition to a summer internship, candidates may also receive a merit award of $17,500. This program is designed for undergraduate or master’s students who self-identify as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Native American, LGBTQ+ or disabled.
Find Your Future Forum
Find Your Future Forum
Find Your Future Forum is a one day program for diverse sophomores to learn more about BlackRock and our recruitment process. We offer Find Your Future Forum events in New York City, San Francisco and Atlanta. This opportunity is designed for undergraduate sophomores who self-identify as female, Black or African-American, Latino or Hispanic, Native-American, LGBTQ+ or disabled.
Contextual Recruiting – UK
Contextual Recruiting – UK
We believe that diversity is vital to BlackRock’s success and everyone, no matter their background, deserves an equal chance at employment opportunities. To break down the barriers that may deter talented candidates from applying to BlackRock, we use the Rare Contextual Recruitment System for early career recruitment in the United Kingdom.
We understand that not every candidate’s achievements look the same on paper. Using the Rare Contextual Recruitment System allows us to see beyond an online application to better understand the circumstances in which each applicant’s achievements have been gained. This process enables us to identify the best talent from all backgrounds and is entirely voluntary for candidates to participate in.
Key diversity partners
Our active approach
Our people
Our people
We are committed to cultivating and advancing diversity in all forms because we believe a wide range of perspectives and talent is crucial to creating a richer experience for our employees and better outcomes for our diversified global client base.
Senior business leaders make it a priority to ensure that all employees in their groups understand why diversity is important for success and equip them with tools and knowledge to foster inclusion.
Since 2015, more than 2,500 managers and leaders globally have participated in. This initiative helps leaders and managers understand how unconscious bias works and, most importantly, provides concrete tools and guidance on how to take action to mitigate bias in business decisions. As part of this program, we’ve redesigned key human resources processes to minimize the potential for bias and foster diversity.
We hold our businesses accountable for progress in diversity, equity, and inclusion. During our Quarterly Business Reviews, we have focused conversations with each business about their plans and progress. We also report our progress against our DEI initiatives regularly to our Board of Directors.
BlackRock has been a long-standing signatory of HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter, which seeks to build a more balanced and diverse financial services industry. Sarah Melvin (Head of UK) is BlackRock’s Accountable Executive and is a member of the Women in Finance Charter Accountable Executive Task Force. In 2021, we revised our goal of achieving 30% women in senior management roles to 32.5% by 2024, to reinforce our commitment to continue to grow our representation of senior women globally.
Lastly, in 2020 we also announced an action plan to advance racial equity and inclusion, while also holding firm leaders and managers accountable for continued progress against the firm’s goals. We set goals for increasing the overall workplace representation of Black and Latinx employees by 30% in the U.S. and to double the number of U.S. Black and Latinx senior leaders by 2024.
Clients and business partners
Clients and business partners
We conduct an annual People & Money insights survey to understand people’s financial needs and priorities. We take a comprehensive financial pulse to assess their attitudes towards savings and investments. From this survey, we learn about people’s relationship with money, and how that impacts their saving and investing habits, in order to anticipate trends and build better solutions for our clients. At the request of our OUT & Allies network, we include an LGBTQ demographic question in our US and UK surveys, that enables us to analyze the results and share not only savings and investment habits, but also business opportunities, that are unique to the LGBTQ community.
We have a dedicated “Diverse Broker” program aimed at increasing connectivity and engagement with minority, women and disabled-veteran owned firms while helping them grow their businesses. The program looks to 1) Identify new brokers and strengthen current relationships by aligning Diverse Brokers’ core competencies with our trading businesses; and 2) Continue to identify ways in which Diverse Brokers can engage in competitive business and introduce new means for them to become more competitive in the broader marketplace.
The Diverse Manager Program’s objectives fall into three overarching themes: 1) Transparency through Data, 2) Empowering an Ecosystem and 3) Advancing Measurable Commitment. We currently have $7bn allocated to 30 diverse external managers. We see the Diverse Manager Program as an important initiative to empower a more diverse investment community but also as aligned with our role as a fiduciary to our clients.
Beyond our walls
Beyond our walls
We are focused on supporting diversity, equity, and inclusion inside and outside the firm. We have strategic partnerships with several organizations to help us attract and develop top talent from diverse backgrounds, and to support DEI beyond our workplace.
Some examples of our involvement include:
- We supported the Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders’ Defense of Marriage Actamicus brief and were honored by Open Finance for the leadership that BlackRock demonstrated in signing the brief.
- We committed to the MLT Black Equity at Work Certification, a comprehensive standard for: Black representation at every level of an organization; inclusive, anti-racist work environment; pay equity; racially-just business practices; and racial justice contributions and investments.
- We signed the Hispanic Promise, a national pledge to hire, promote, retain and celebrate Hispanics in the workplace and create a more inclusive work environment for them.
- We continued to advance the industry with our diversity disclosures as shown through our inclusion in the Bloomberg 2021 Gender-Equality Index, reflecting our commitment to these principles and the important role of transparency in driving action and accountability.
- We were awarded a perfect score, for the 9th consecutive year, in the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, which demonstrates the commitment to advocacy and programming of our Out & Allies Network (OUT) and other teams – a true One BlackRock effort.
- We joined the World Economic Forum (WEF) Partnering for Racial Justice in Business Initiative as a founding member to drive systemic change and set new global standards for racial equity in business.
- Leveraging the reach of our employee networks and the resources of our Social Impact team, employees can direct BlackRock’s support to external organizations via grants and volunteering. For example, championed by our employees in the OUT Network, BlackRock has supported several HIV/AIDS charities across the globe including Action for AIDS Singapore; San Francisco AIDS Foundation; Body and Soul, London and New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.
Our commitment in action
43%
Female Employees
47%
Female New Hires in 2020
30%
Female Senior Leaders
26%
Female Senior Leader New Hires in 2020
31%
Female Board of Directors
40%
Ethnic Minority Employees (US)
50%
Ethnic Minority New Hires in 2020 (US)
Representation as of January 1, 2021.
Senior leaders include Senior Managing Directors, Managing Directors and Directors.
Senior leaders include the Executive and Non-Executive Management categories that are included in BlackRock’s SASB disclosure. For a more detailed breakdown, please see BlackRock’s SASB disclosure.
In the UK, we disclose what the government calls a “gender pay gap.” All organizations with 250 or more employees in the region must report their gender pay data. In our report, we outline the steps we are taking to increase the number of women in our senior-most ranks, and across the firm in general. View our reports here.
As a global investment manager and fiduciary to our clients, our purpose at BlackRock is to help everyone experience financial well-being. Since 1999, we've been a leading provider of financial technology, and our clients turn to us for the solutions they need when planning for their most important goals.