LGBT Great Careers Partner: Northern Trust

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and what you do at Northern Trust?

I have the privilege to lead the Talent Acquisition team for Northern Trust International, encompassing all locations outside of North America. Our team spans India, Philippines, Australia, UK, and Ireland supporting 19 offices across 16 countries.

In 2021, I became the first person to hold the role of Global DE&I Lead for Talent Acquisition. This involves partnering with our DE&I team, wider HR, employee Business Resource Groups and senior leadership to design and drive a holistic approach to our inclusive hiring strategy.

Collectively, we work to remove barriers to employment for underrepresented and marginalised groups across our organisation and wider industry.

Why is establishing a partnership with LGBT Great Careers important to Northern Trust?

Part of our diverse hiring strategy is to build partnerships with external DE&I focused organisations who share our values and support our mission to be intentionally inclusive in all that we do. As one of the founding members of LGBT Great, Northern Trust is excited to support this new dimension to the LGBT Great offering.

We believe that engaging with job boards like LGBT Great Careers gives us an opportunity to share our story, allow our employee voices to be heard and ensure that we can reach talent who because of their trust in LGBT Great’s reputation, feel assured to consider a Northern Trust as an employer of choice.

How does Northern Trust foster an inclusive culture for LGBTQ+ employees?

Northern Trust has a long term commitment to the LGBTQ+ community. For example, in 1998 we became only the second US bank to offer domestic partner benefits to both same sex and opposite sex couples. Additionally, in 2018, we enhanced our competitive policies and launched a global gender identity and expression guide, which includes added health benefits for transgender and gender non-conforming employees (e.g. mental health counseling, hormone replacement therapy, medical visits, gender affirmation and related surgeries, etc.).

From a recruitment lens, I am guided by the premise that the candidate’s experience speaks volumes. Even if someone is unsuccessful in their application, they should feel that the process was positive and inclusive and be encouraged to consider re-applying in the future.

We try to look at our entire employee journey. Starting with recruitment, ensuring that any potential barriers in our application process are removed. This flows through from our website to our application questionnaires, our screening and selection process, and hiring and onboarding.

We work with trusted partners such as LGBT Great and other firms who represent the groups and communities we want to attract. These partners advise us on how we can create a truly equitable hiring process and a sense of belonging for everyone who goes through the interview process at Northern. It is important that we listen to people and don’t make assumptions about what might be important to a particular group.

Can you share something about Northern Trust that may surprise our members?

Around the world, Northern Trust employees give freely of their time and talent to work for the greater good of their communities. To help empower these efforts, Northern Trust offers two paid days off to volunteer for charities of their choice, in addition to connecting employees with not-for-profit organizations that can benefit from their unique talent.

Last year, Achieving Greater Together, our dedicated month of service in October, was a stellar success. Northern Trust employees across the globe set new records with 52,700+ hours of volunteering recorded. For each hour volunteered, we donated 50 meals to organizations fighting hunger worldwide.