Blackrock orders staff to disclose personal relationships
Blackrock has ordered its 16,000 employees to disclose their personal relationships as the global investment firm seeks to bolster its reputation following two high-profile dismissals last year.
In an internal memo to staff, the world’s largest asset manager has outlined a new “relationships at work” policy, which forces employees to disclose information relating to all sexual, romantic and other relationships with people who have dealings with Blackrock.
Under the new policy, staff must report any relationship that might present a conflict of interest, even if it is with a person that works for a separate company.
The fresh guidelines state that employees must tell their managers “all personal relationships with other Blackrock employees or contingent workers, as well as personal relationships with employees of a service provider, vendor, or other third party (including a client), if the non-Blackrock employee is within a group that interacts with Blackrock”.
It comes after two male Blackrock executives were dismissed from the firm last year after they failed to report consensual relationships with staff.
Jeff Smith, who previously served as Blackrock’s global head of human resources was forced to leave for failing to disclose a personal relationship with a subordinate.
Mark Wiseman, who served as global head of active equities at Blackrock, was sacked after it was found he was having an affair with a colleague while his wife worked at the company.
A senior Blackrock executive told the NY Post the new policy amounts to the broadest dating disclosure requirement in the financial industry to date.
He said: “It takes the assessment of what is or is not a conflict out of the employees’ hands and puts it into the hands of HR and lawyers — which makes it eminently enforceable.”
Before the Open: Get the jump on the markets with our early morning newsletter