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New York Life: diverse
employees & opportunities
Even with national unemployment rates high,
the company is actively recruiting. “It’s a testament
to our strength,” declares the diversity VP
 New York Life Insurance Co has weathered the economic storm well, says Lance A. LaVergne, VP and chief diversity officer. In fact, the company expects plenty of opportunity in the coming year, with openings from new grads to seasoned professionals with years in the industry.
“It’s a testament to our strength that the company is actively recruiting at a time when national unemployment rates hover close to 10 percent,” LaVergne observes.
Diverse job hunters will find newly implemented programs to boost their careers at New York Life. The company formalized its office of diversity and inclusion
in 2006. The office addresses the needs of four groups: people of varied ethnicities, women, people with disabilities and members of the LGBT community. According to LaVergne, these diversity initiatives mirror what New York Life is all about: collaboration.
“The office of diversity and inclusion and its programs are a microcosm of what employees, new and seasoned, enjoy in a working environment,” he says. “Diversity is encouraged and recognized as a strategic strength.”
Rosemary Albergo is an AVP in HR for the corporate information department, which includes some 1,200 IT employees. She’s always looking for good techies to fill roles in architecture
and engineering (A&E) and service delivery.
“A&E pros at the company work in areas like enterprise, business and technical architecture, technology domain engineering, system and software design and solutions, database design and warehousing, information and content management, level 3 production support and security,” Albergo says.
Service delivery employees can work in a wide range of areas. “They support the day-to-day performance of the corporate technology infrastructure, which includes ongoing maintenance, service restoration and technology upgrades for both the hardware and software environments.”
Albergo and her team are also on the lookout for people skilled in Java, .Net +, J2EE, EJB, JSP, HTML/XML, OO, SQL and Web-based development.
Outside the IT department, New York Life is also interested in engineers to join its “well-evolved risk management and actuarial function,” LaVergne says. “We manage assets to enable us to meet the insurance obligation we undertake, whether it’s six months or forty years from now.
“When you get down to the hardcore math and analytics of managing exposure,” he explains, “it is similar to the math you would use in electrical or materials engineering. An engineer who is really into business is a great profile for us.”
To recruit diverse candidates, New York Life works with several professional development groups, including BDPA, NSBE and SHPE. “Our enterprise recruiting system also draws from
a number of diversity-focused websites,” says Albergo.
LaVergne is new to New York Life, and very much impressed with the company’s diversity efforts and the many recognitions it has received. “But New York Life will never rest on its laurels,” he declares. “I look forward to expanding and enhancing our initiatives to meet the changing needs of our diverse employee population.”
Senior execs guide and direct diversity efforts through an executive diversity council. There are also five employee network groups: the African American Network, Asian Employee Network, Latino Connection, NY Life Pride, for LGBT folks, and the Women’s Leadership Program, which was the first employee network group at the company. The groups focus on professional development and mentoring for their members, and advise company leaders about outreach to their communities.
“We’re encouraged by the rate of participation and level of activity of these groups,” LaVergne says. “They’ve already created a sense of community among their members, and we hope they will raise awareness within the broader community.”
New York Life values community contribution. Since its start in 1979, the New York Life Foundation has provided more than $120 million in charitable contributions to national and local nonprofit organizations.
The foundation supports programs that benefit young people, particularly in areas of mentoring, the establishment of safe places to learn and grow, educational enhancement opportunities and childhood bereavement.
The foundation recently gave a three-year, $326,000 grant to Coro New York Leadership to support development of civic leadership programs for New York, NY youth and adults. The funding supported Coro’s capacity-building campaign, including application and infrastructure improvement projects. The grant includes expertise to help Coro adopt more sophisticated technology tools to improve communication with its constituents.
New York Life also strongly supports volunteer efforts among employees and agents. Volunteers are creative in their projects, from participating in park beautification efforts and lunchtime knitting circles that benefit various charities, to mentoring children at local schools.
The company offers benefits that foster a productive work/life balance including wellness programs and talks on health issues. Some of the larger locations have backup childcare centers, onsite health facilities, fitness centers and cafeterias.
New York Life HQ is located in Manhattan. There’s also a campus in Westchester, NY, as well
as smaller offices in Parsippany and Clinton, NJ, and Alpharetta, GA.
There are many benefits to working for New York Life, LaVergne says. For New York employees the experience of living in the metro area is an added perk. “The arts in New
York are unparalleled, and people can find something to satisfy any interest.”
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