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2022 Lifestyle-Friendly Culture Update
In late 2021 and early 2022, the rapid spread of the omicron variant drove an enormous worldwide surge in COVID-19 cases. Despite the ongoing public health crisis, our workforce continued to expand, with a net growth of over 15%.
In 2022, we onboarded more than 400 full-time staff and 140 interns, the most diverse group in the firm’s history (38% women and 49% nonwhite employees across the United States), with substantial increases in diverse hires in non-U.S. offices as well. We also improved our already industry-leading employee retention rate, lowering attrition for the second consecutive year.
To reinforce our commitment to diversity and employee well-being, we added four paid holidays to our permanent U.S. roster: Martin Luther King Jr. Day, added in 2022, and Juneteenth, Veterans Day and Indigenous Peoples’ Day, added in 2023.
Our existing flexible workplace policy remained in effect, along with health and safety measures initiated in 2020 and 2021, while we continued to develop strategies to support employees wishing to return to offices either full- or part-time as the pandemic began to abate.
In observation of World Menopause Week, 2022 also saw the introduction of our U.K. menopause policy, which established training to raise awareness of the physical, emotional and psychological challenges that can occur at this phase in women’s lives. The policy aims to foster an atmosphere in which employees can freely discuss issues associated with menopause and to provide options – such as work-schedule adjustments and access to counseling services – for staff coping with its effects on themselves or family members.
To add flexibility and reduce costs for single parents and couples without children, we introduced a new coverage tier to our U.S. medical-dental-vision coverage, separating them from our family coverage. The medical coverage now includes travel reimbursement for when a specialist is not locally available. And three new voluntary insurance programs – critical illness, accidental injury and hospital indemnity – now offer employees group rates and the convenience of benefit administration through our payroll department.
In 2022, 229 U.S. employees took advantage of our fitness-reimbursement program for gym memberships, aerobics, and other fitness classes. Our Walkingspree step challenges also continued, motivating employees to improve their health by digitally tracking their fitness activities.
Our corporate responsibility grants program funded wellness improvements for 18 offices, including blenders and fruit for making healthy breakfasts, golf lessons, ergonomic chairs, air purifiers, office vegetable gardens, well-being workshops, bike racks and bike repair supplies.