Human capital

Our commitment

As an asset management firm, the long-term sustainability of our firm is heavily dependent on our people. We make a deliberate effort to foster a unifying culture, to encourage innovation, to ensure that we are developing, retaining and recruiting the best talent, to align employee incentives and risk taking with those of the firm, and to incorporate diversity, equity and inclusion into all levels of our business.

Each year, we set corporate objectives specifically related to human capital. We achieve these objectives through specific programs and initiatives related to culture, diversity, equity and inclusion and employee development, retention and recruiting. We listen to our employees and 79% of them participate in our annual employee opinion survey every year. This year, 91% of employees reported they are proud to work for BlackRock 84% would recommend BlackRock as a great place to work¹. We continue to strive to inspire and engage our talent by providing and enabling high performance and great careers, an inclusive and diverse culture, and great teams and people managers.

Strong firm culture

As we pursue our mission to create better financial futures for our clients, we are guided by our culture and our principles. Our principles define who we are and how we operate:

• We are a fiduciary to our clients
• We are passionate about performance
• We are one BlackRock
• We take emotional ownership
• We are committed to a better future

Employee development, retention and recruiting

It is the capabilities of our employees and our leaders that enable us to deliver for our clients, and we’re focused on providing them with career development and a total rewards program to meet their needs.

BlackRock provides ample opportunities for our employees to learn and develop, in both formal and informal settings. Annually (including for the most recent year), our employees average approximately 9 hours of formal training a year - with higher amounts for our Analyst program hires, promotion classes and those selected for our enterprise leadership programs. We spend approximately $828 per year, per employee.²

BlackRock takes a deliberate approach to succession planning by investing in the development of our talent and giving opportunities to current employees to enhance their careers at BlackRock. In 2020, there were 2101 internal promotions. An important element of our succession plan is a commitment to building leadership from within the organization.

We also understand that sometimes our employees require flexible work arrangements. BlackRock employees may be able to take advantage of a work arrangement that gives flexibility in balancing life and work schedules. As part of our commitment to attracting and retaining top talent, BlackRock will consider a number of flexible work arrangements, including part-time hourly, limited hour, flexible time, telework and job sharing.

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Human rights
and labor standards

Human rights are a fundamental concern for BlackRock in its relationship with employees and suppliers.

BlackRock is committed to protecting the human rights of our employees through implementing policies related to non-harassment, equal employment opportunity and overtime. These policies seek to provide applicants and employees equal treatment regardless of certain identified characteristics that have attracted historical stereotyping or bias in relation to employment. We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on forced and child labor and the rights of employees to organize a union.

We are also confident that our compensation practices ensure that all BlackRock employees receive compensation meeting or exceeding the amount for basic living needs, above the legal minimum and living wages in the countries in which we operate.

Each year, an independent third-party firm conducts an analysis of our compensation practices. The results show that our pay practices are based on a number of factors, such as experience, role, and impact – and that gender is not a driver of pay.

Our non-harassment policy details BlackRock’s commitment to providing equal employment opportunities and a workplace that is respectful, productive, and free from harassment, including, but not limited to, sexual harassment. This policy outlines clear procedures for reporting and responding to issues of concern. BlackRock investigates all complaints filed and any possible violation of the policy of which we are made aware. If BlackRock determines that an employee has engaged in activities that are in violation of, or inconsistent with the policy, the firm will take appropriate disciplinary action against the offending employee, up to and including termination of employment.

One example of combatting sexual harassment is our annual completion of mandatory compliance training. Each employee is required to complete our “Respect in the Workplace” training, which focuses on creating a respectful work environment and prevention of harassment and discrimination, specifically including sexual harassment. All employees are strongly encouraged to raise concerns regarding violations of our policy. Employees have numerous options for reporting concerns, including to their manager, HR Business Partner, Employee Relations Advisor, BlackRock’s EEO Officer, our internal contact HR resource or even anonymously through BlackRock’s Employee Complaint Hotline via our Intranet. BlackRock expressly prohibits retaliation against any individual who reports a concern or assists with an inquiry or investigation. We take complaints of discrimination, harassment and retaliation very seriously and do not require that an employee follow any formal chain of command when reporting their concerns. We place a premium on confidentiality in conducting any investigation (recognizing that some disclosure may be necessary to effectively investigate the complaint.)

Since our founding, BlackRock has been committed to equal employment opportunity for all applicants and existing employees. We are also committed to seeking ways in which affirmative actions can help reinforce this commitment. Our Affirmative Action Program (AAP) is developed and implemented to ensure that good faith efforts are made to provide equal employment opportunity to every employee and qualified potential employee. BlackRock also fully supports the Americans with Disabilities Act and responds to requests for reasonable job accommodations from qualified individuals with disabilities, as well as Protected Veterans.

Each employee is responsible for complying with BlackRock’s equal employment opportunity and non-harassment policies at all times. All managers share the responsibility of assuring compliance with and continued implementation of these policies and are required to report any concerns of discrimination, harassment or retaliation immediately, so the concerns can be promptly investigated. Any employee who is found to have violated any of these policies may be subject to disciplinary action, up to an including termination.

In 2021, 96.9% of BlackRock's staff were full time regular employees, with 0.2% interns and 3.0% contingent workers.
Employee turnover was 11.4% in 2021, including voluntary and involuntary turnover.