“Out at Work” – Interview with Arden Hoffman, GALN at Goldman Sachs
In response to recent reader requests, The Glass Hammer decided to publish an article on special issues that gay and lesbian people might face in the workplace. We wanted to find out what it’s like to be “out at work” at a major financial institution, and offer some advice to our readers about how to make the most of networks and affinity groups for gay and lesbian employees, as well as how to address sexual orientation issues at work.
To help us examine this topic, we interviewed Arden Hoffman, Vice President and Head of Learning and Development for the Technology division of Goldman Sachs, and former Co-Chair of GALN, Goldman’s gay and lesbian network of employees. Ms. Hoffman has been at Goldman for four and a half years, and was head of GALN for three and a half years.
Ms. Hoffman told the Glass Hammer that she has been involved in gay and lesbian organizations for a long time, and was head of the Wharton gay and lesbian student group when she attended business school there. She went on to work in consulting in a very gay-friendly environment. She came to Goldman Sachs comfortable being out, and soon assumed a leadership role in the community.
Gay and Lesbian Network at Goldman Sachs
According to Ms. Hoffman, being a member of a workplace gay and lesbian network has many benefits. For example, she explained that “networks in general offer the ability to connect with people outside of your immediate work circle, and it is otherwise hard to meet people outside of your division, unless you are working on a task force or other cross-divisional project.” In this way, being a member of any affinity group can be helpful at work, whether it is a women’s network, a minority or diversity-based affinity group, or a network organized around sexual orientation.
“If you are looking to build your career in company, and you want to expand your areas of interest, and create opportunities for yourself, networks support that,” Ms. Hoffman said. Networks like GALN help members learn about the business they are in from other angles, by exposing them to people at all levels of seniority in other divisions. For example, GALN members learn about how diversity is incorporated in other places in the world, and develop skills for building their careers internationally. They also help to educate other employees about sexual orientation diversity in the workplace.
At Goldman Sachs, GALN offers a wide range of networking and professional development activities for its members. For example, the organization hosts an annual day-long leadership conference within the firm. At the conference, participants work on developing leadership skills within the gay and lesbian network and beyond. Any employee can attend; participation is not limited to the gay and lesbian employees. The meeting includes break-out sessions for participants at different levels on how to build their careers at Goldman. Ms. Hoffman stated that the conference has provided many opportunities for network members, including helping people to come out and providing them with exposure to senior leaders at firm.
The network provides a unique mentoring opportunity as well. Called “reverse mentoring,” the program matches GALN members with more senior people in their division, so that the senior leaders can be mentored on gay and lesbian issues and diversity in general. Mentoring relationships between senior and junior GALN members are not formally organized, but develop on an individual basis. “Some people prefer mentors with different strengths, so that they can learn from them and increase their comfort level with people who are different from them. Most people want to be mentored by top performers in their division, regardless of their sexuality,” explained Ms. Hoffman.
GALN organizes other activities to connect participants at Goldman Sachs to the gay community. For example, the network hosts an annual Wall Street-wide conference call and meeting on the subject of diversity. The event brings together co-heads of gay and lesbian networks all across Wall Street to talk about best practices, networking events and leadership activities. The group also sponsors social events with a professional networking focus. Some recent events have included a party during Pride Week, a speech by tennis great Billy Jean King, and group outings to Broadway shows. Finally, Goldman has sponsored the annual Out and Equal study, and fundraising events with Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders (GLAD) and the Gay and Lesbian Support Network (GLSN).
GALN also plays a role in educating the wider Goldman Sachs community about sexual orientation diversity. GALN hosts lunches and breakfasts with senior leaders in each division at Goldman Sachs, where members sit down with upper-level management and talk about issues important to gay and lesbian people in each division. “Senior leaders take these meetings very seriously,” said Ms. Hoffman. “They want to learn about issues and make sure they include LGBT people in their understanding of diversity.”
LGBT Recruiting Efforts
Goldman also focuses on recruiting highly qualified people from the LGBT [Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender] community. The firm has a bi-annual employee survey in which it asks it employees to voluntarily declare their sexual orientation. The firm also provides all of the same benefits to gay and lesbian employees as it does to heterosexuals, including extra leave after marriage, adoption leave and equal health care and insurance coverage for same-sex domestic partners.
At top universities where Goldman recruits, the firm hosts dinners on campus and talks to LGBT students about working at Goldman on both the revenue and non-revenue sides of the business. The firm sponsors the annual “Reaching Out” for business school students, and corresponding undergrad conferences. The firm also sponsors gay community events throughout New York, including charity fundraisers and activities during Pride Week. Ms. Hoffman explained that, while the firm has not yet tapped experienced hire recruiting channels to the same degree, they are looking into it.
One Glass Hammer reader recently asked us, “How can you tell if a professional environment will be welcoming to people of different sexual orientations, without necessarily identifying yourself as gay in the interview process?” We posed this question to Ms. Hoffman, who had some great suggestions.
First, she suggested looking at external measures, like the Human Rights Committee (HRC) index. This survey ranks employers based on their diversity and inclusion efforts, including domestic partnership benefits, diversity training, and number of employees who self-identify as gay or lesbian, among other factors. “If a company scores high on that list, that should tell you something about what it’s like to work there,” she said. “If it scores low or isn’t even on the list, that should tell you something as well.” This is something you can research about prospective employers before you even apply.
During the interview, you can ask about diversity training opportunities, and this might give you an idea about how committed the firm is to diversity efforts. For example, at Goldman, sexual orientation training is mandatory, and new employees have a minimum number of hours of diversity training that they are required to participate in. Also, the approach taken to that training is important. “Goldman conducts [diversity] trainings based on education and learning, not on fear. It’s about being a better team player,” said Hoffman.
If the people you are interviewing with seem well-informed on diversity initiatives at the firm, that’s a good sign. You can often learn a lot by the language that people use when they answer questions about diversity. If they seem comfortable with the topic and use the correct terminology, you can bet that these topics are openly discussed in the workplace. For instance, GALN members educate senior leaders at Goldman Sachs about the importance of language in incorporating diversity efforts.
Additionally, what kind of things can you learn about firm’s culture, beyond diversity? Do you get the sense that they care about people, and the opinions of their employees? For example, Ms. Hoffman explains that Goldman Sachs is known as a team-oriented, consensus driven culture, “which makes it easier to be yourself, use your voice and know that your opinion counts.”
Advice to Young Gay and Lesbian People in Finance
When asked what kind of advice she would offer to young gay and lesbian people in finance, Ms. Hoffman explained, “My big thing is that you should come to work ‘out.’” Instead of struggling with your sexual orientation and dealing with the stress of hiding things, lying about your weekends and trying to remember to use opposite gender pronouns to describe your partner, Ms. Hoffman explained that, in her opinion, “if you come to work already out, people will trust you and not think you are hiding anything, and then you can be yourself and focus on your work.”
Ms. Hoffman explained that an added benefit of being out at work is that senior leadership will always want to identify high-potential employees and consider their needs. So, if you are a high-performing employee, then it is advantageous to be out at work so that senior managers can consider your interest in having benefits like health insurance for same-sex partners, maternity/paternity leave for adoptive parents and equal funding for gay and lesbian groups. Ms. Hoffman said that this function of highly visible gay and lesbian employees was especially important. “When companies don’t do the right thing, it’s often not because they don’t want to, but because they don’t know about it.” She therefore sees an important role for gay and lesbian people to play in educating senior management about equitable and appropriate policies. “People are not going to speak up and tell them [managers] about these policies unless they feel comfortable being out,” said Ms. Hoffman.
Ms. Hoffman offered a more tips for making the most of being out at work. First, if you have taken on leadership roles in gay and lesbian organizations in school or in your community, it’s important to highlight your role. Smart managers will view this as information about your leadership skills, not your sexual orientation.
Second, ask about domestic partnership benefits and let people know if you have a partner who might use them. It’s important for managers to know how many people take advantage of these benefits. If more people voice a need for them, than the company will have a greater incentive to offer and expand these services.
Finally, something about your personal life will probably come up in the context of interviewing or when you first start your new job that reveals your sexual identity, i.e., “where did you go on your last vacation,” or “what kind of activities were you involved in at business school?” Be prepared to handle these types of questions, and consider bringing up your sexual orientation in a way that shows your unique interests, public service, or leadership experience. For example, if you organized a student conference on LGBT issues or volunteered as a mentor for gay youth, let people know!
We hope that with these excellent tips, Glass Hammer readers of all sexual orientations will improve their awareness of this important diversity issue in the workplace.
