Emphasis on Growth

The organizational culture is very people-focused in regard to employees and clients. New York Life prides itself on long-term employees and relationships with clients. You are still considered a new or young employee until you have been with the company for 10 years, which is unusual in today’s job market where millennials are changing jobs every few years. The fact that people stay at the company for 20+ years says amazing things about the culture of the company. People love working for NYL because the cutthroat environment typical in finance is not present. People are hardworking and competent, but they do not walk over others to climb the corporate ladder, at least from the people I have talked to and the experience I have had thus far. Employees are expected to do their work to the best of their ability and they will be rewarded for their performance, like any other company. NYL emphasizes positive feedback rather than negative, which creates a more comfortable and healthy work environment. 

My manager Susie always makes time for questions during our check-ins to ensure that I have a full understanding of my assignment and if I do not understand a concept or task, she explains with great detail and no judgment. And this is not specific to Susie, all the employees and management personnel I have interacted with are the same way. They want me to learn and ask questions and won’t judge me for not knowing a concept. At the beginning of the internship, I was really nervous to speak up when I did not know things because I do not have an investment or finance background so I did not want to look stupid, but also I did not know what questions to ask. Once I realized that Susie did not expect me to know anything about investments, I was more comfortable speaking up and learning about the field.

New York Life investments’ values are long-term commitment, stability, diversity, compassion, and humanity. Throughout New York Life’s 175 year history, the company has been at the forefront of social movements like no longer insuring slaves’ lives and employing women well before socially acceptable. This history has instilled the values of diversity and acceptance at the company, which is evident from top to bottom. The CEO, Yie-Hsin Hung, is a Chinese-American woman that has been rated in the top 100 most influential women in finance. The balance between male and female employees is reassuring as well as women in the financial industry can be far and few between.