PEOPLE and Great Place to Work® Name Baird One of the 2022 PEOPLE 100 Companies That Care®
Global Financial Services Firm Ranks No. 48
MILWAUKEE, Aug. 31, 2022 – Baird has been honored by PEOPLE magazine and Great Place to Work as one of the 2022 PEOPLE 100 Companies that Care, ranking No. 48. The list highlights U.S. companies that have succeeded in business while also demonstrating outstanding respect, care and concern for their employees, their communities, and the environment. This is the second time the employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets and private equity firm has been honored on the list.
Hear from several Baird associates about what they feel makes Baird a great place to work.
We are honored to be recognized by PEOPLE and Great Place to Work as a company that cares. This recognition is a tribute to our tremendous associates who go above and beyond to care for each other, our clients, and our communities every day. We are extremely proud of their efforts.
Steve Booth, Baird Chairman & CEO
Here is PEOPLE’s description of Baird:
Founded in 1919, Baird is an international financial services firm based in Milwaukee. In honor of Paul Purcell, the company's former chairman, president and CEO, who died in February 2020, the company recently launched an initiative he would most certainly approve of.
The Paul Purcell “Kids Win!” Annual Baird Education Grant speaks directly to Purcell’s primary criterion when evaluating charitable causes: Do the kids win? The firm-wide effort raised more than $8.8 million for outstanding nonprofits across the country, specializing in tutoring, workforce training and more. With continued enthusiasm and fundraising, the grants will only grow in the future.
“Through small acts of kindness, we brighten someone else’s world,” says Mary Ellen Stanek, Baird’s chief investment officer.
The 100 Companies that Care list is highly competitive. Great Place to Work, the global authority on workplace culture, selected the list using rigorous analytics and confidential employee feedback. Companies were only considered if they are a Great Place to Work-Certified™ organization.
Caring isn't about being ‘nice’. It’s about understanding the real needs of your people, of your community and of the world—and showing up in ways that make a meaningful impact. These companies make that kind of caring for people, and even the environment, part of their daily fabric.
Sarah Lewis-Kulin, Vice President of Global Recognition at Great Place to Work
Baird has a long tradition of giving back to the communities where its associates live and work. Baird Foundation provides support to many charitable organizations supported by Baird associates, and in 2021 contributed $5.4 million to qualified nonprofits, including more than $1.5 million to match associates’ charitable donations. Through the Baird Cares program, associates receive two paid days off each year to volunteer for the charity of their choice. Associates also organize Baird Gives Back Week annually. In 2022, more than 1,800 associates and family members volunteered nearly 6,000 hours.
In 2022, Baird has also been recognized as one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® and one of the Fortune Best Workplaces for Millennials.
To read more about Baird’s workplace, see the Great Place to Work Institute’s review of Baird.
About Baird
Putting clients first since 1919, Baird is an employee-owned, international wealth management, asset management, investment banking/capital markets, and private equity firm with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Baird has approximately 4,800 associates serving the needs of individual, corporate, institutional and municipal clients and more than $415 billion in client assets as of Dec. 31, 2021. Baird is the marketing name of Baird Financial Group. Baird’s principal operating subsidiaries are Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated and Baird Trust Company in the United States and Robert W. Baird Group Ltd. in Europe. Baird also has an operating subsidiary in Asia supporting Baird’s investment banking and private equity operations. For more information, please visit Baird’s website at www.rwbaird.com.
About the PEOPLE 100 Companies that Care®
PEOPLE teamed up with Great Place to Work® to produce the ranking using the research firm's extensive database and inside knowledge of outstanding workplaces around the globe. Rankings are based on surveys representing over 4.5 million employees’ experiences of how their workplaces have made a difference in their lives and in their communities. Rankings also reflect Great Place to Work's assessment of the generosity of each organization's benefits, philanthropic and community support, with particular focus on activities occurring in the last year.
About Great Place to Work®
Great Place to Work is the global authority on workplace culture. Since 1992, it has surveyed more than 100 million employees worldwide and used those deep insights to define what makes a great workplace: trust. Its employee survey platform empowers leaders with the feedback, real-time reporting and insights they need to make data-driven people decisions. Everything it does is driven by the mission to build a better world by helping every organization become a great place to work For All™.
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Warren Pierson, co-chief investment officer with Baird, shares how the company thinks about improving its hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in this interview featured on Great Place to Work.
