Goldman Sachs 2015 Annual Report Download - page 9

Goldman Sachs 2015 Annual Report 7
staff to build and adapt software and to automate such
processes, which would have otherwise been highly
manual and substantially more time intensive. Once
we have fully embedded technology solutions for our
regulatory needs, we should be able to reduce or redirect
resources to support other areas of our firm.
Finally, the technology we create or develop inside of
Goldman Sachs can be a stand-alone product. We have
a successful track record in this regard, with Tradeweb,
DirectEdge and Markit as examples of platforms we
developed or participated in creating, and then monetized.
Today, new platforms such as Symphony and Marquee
are helping our clients communicate, manage risk and
better analyze their investments. Symphony is an
independent company built around core technology
developed and contributed by Goldman Sachs. For
Marquee, we built a common application development
platform, allowing our businesses to create sophisticated
tools that deliver cutting-edge capabilities to our
institutional investing clients.
Our People
In a rapidly evolving and highly competitive industry
like ours, technology is clearly a critical differentiator.
Yet the quality of our talent remains a vital competitive
advantage for us — if not the vital competitive advantage
we maintain.
Ours is a business of relationships. This is the case
not only in our work with clients, but also here within
the firm. To that end, Goldman Sachs goes to great
lengths to employ the best people with a wide range
of experience and backgrounds. In 2015, we extended
offers to 4 percent of applicants for open positions,
and more than 80 percent of those offered roles chose
to join the firm.
As we compete for talent not only with other financial
firms, but also across other industries, particularly in
technology, we strive to remain a place where top talent
aspires to work. We believe our time-tested culture of
client service, teamwork and excellence sets us
apart in this regard, and we find that people come
to Goldman Sachs because the nature of our work is
fundamentally consequential to the world around them.
By helping to allocate capital, manage risk and provide
products, services and advice to a broad array of clients,
Goldman Sachs plays a vital role in the economy
across industries and regions, something that is
inherently appealing to people who want to affect
positive outcomes.
With this in mind, we are proud that we were once
again recognized as an employer of choice across
a wide variety of metrics on Fortune magazine’s
“100 Best Companies to Work For” and “Most
Admired Companies.” We were also pleased to again
be named as one of Working Mother magazine’s
“100 Best Companies” and “Best Companies for
Multicultural Women.”
Attracting and retaining the highest-caliber talent also
means that we must invest in our people early on in
their careers — the best of whom will become the next
generation of leadership at the firm. Building off the
learnings of our biennial People Survey, last year we
unveiled a set of new initiatives designed to support
junior employees, giving them more flexibility and
greater exposure to our client franchise. In 2015, we
also selected our newest class of managing directors.
In addition to hailing from more than 40 countries,
40 percent of the class of 2015 started at the firm as
analysts, a testament to our emphasis on talent
development and retention for the long haul.
Looking Ahead
As we look ahead, the question that is top of mind not
only to our clients, but also to Goldman Sachs, is: how
do we think about navigating these uncertain times?
Since the second half of 2015, concerns about global
economic growth, investor sentiment, and regulatory
and monetary policy — in tandem with other