Scotland’s commitment to the “younger generation” has been a critical factor in the growth of one of the largest employers in Glasgow’s financial services sector, according to one of its senior executives.
Susan Reid, global head of talent at Morgan Stanley, said the investment banking giant is “borrowing the great ideas” coming out of Glasgow and taking them back to its headquarters in New York and its network of offices throughout 40 countries. One example is the 400-strong “young professionals network” supported by the Glasgow HR team headed by Margaret Johnson.
Speaking recently on her first visit to Glasgow, Ms Reid said issues around workforce diversity are “universal”. Though there are differences from country to country, solutions from one site can be tailored and transferred elsewhere.
“In Glasgow, like in New York, we are very focused on gender as one example, and making sure that we have strong gender representation,” she said. “In Glasgow, like in New York, we are looking at diversity in other aspects – ethnic diversity and cultural diversity.”
Ms Reid also highlighted efforts backed by the Scottish Government to create different pathways for young professionals to join the workforce. Morgan Stanley expects to welcome 200 graduates and trainees to the Glasgow operation in the coming year.
“We are focused on that in the US but I think the commitment around it seems really significant here,” she said. “I love that.”
Morgan Stanley set up its Scottish office in 2000 with just six people in Cumbernauld as part of a strategy to find additional talent outside of London. The operation moved to Glasgow’s city centre in 2002 with staff working in one division providing back-end support for investment trading.
Now consolidated into a single office within the international financial services district, Morgan Stanley Glasgow has 2,200 employees working across the group’s technology, finance, fund services, legal and compliance, HR, corporate services and internal audit divisions. Ms Johnsons said growth has been fed by the large supply of skilled graduates coming out of the city’s universities.
READ MORE: Morgan Stanley in Glasgow hiring spree
“If you look at the Glasgow statistics around the number of people who stay in the city post-university, it’s as high as London,” she said. “The two cities are the strongest in the UK for those numbers, so that gave the firm confidence that there would always be that talent pool available.”
Originally from Jamaica, Ms Reid immigrated to the United States as a young child with her family who were in search of a better life. After graduating from university she spent a decade in a number of recruitment and human resources roles before she "found her way" into investment banking at the onset of the financial crisis in 2008, working in different parts of Morgan Stanley before taking the role of global head of diversity and inclusion (D&I) in 2013.
She organised a "raw and honest" online session with colleagues following the 2020 murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis. More than 5,000 of Morgan Stanley's 80,000 employees took part.
"It was not only meaningful for colleagues in the US," Ms Reid said. "I had tons of inbound emails from colleagues in Hong Kong and Japan and London who said that resonates with me.”
READ MORE: US banking giant reinforces its commitment to Scotland
She added: “We have to think of the D&I work as evergreen. You are literally not done, you are never done.”
About 45 per cent of staff in Glasgow are female. While the ethnic diversity numbers are less precise, Ms Reid said indications are that representation "is at least on par if not better" than the general population.
“The Glasgow office has a tremendous amount going on from a talent and a D&I perspective, so I was really eager to come and spend some time with the leadership team and members of our employee networks," she said.
“As part of my remit I like to ensure that I get out into offices around the world and get close to what is happening on the ground. One of the benefits is that you get to see the issues from both sides, so you’re not sitting in a silo in New York making decisions that may or may not work locally.”
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