our weeks into her new position at Lehman Bros., Melissa Eisenstat received an
e-mail she will never forget. It told her of a lecture presented by Lehman’s networking
program for women employees, Women’s Initiatives Leading Lehman, or WILL. The speaker
was an infertility specialist from New York University Hospital.
"I called my friend and said, ‘You aren’t going to believe what I just got,’
" she recalls. She joked with her friend that some companies would take the list
of women who signed up "and then show them the door."
Eisenstat, who had been a head equity analyst at CIBC, had just re-entered the
workforce after a two-year break, during which she turned her hobby, playing the
cello, into a full-time career. (Eisenstat still plays the cello during her free
time and believes it helps her work in a team environment and hones her sense of
discipline in the business world.)
Even though Eisenstat had participated in Lehman’s Encore program, which was
set up to assist women re-entering the workforce, the e-mail proved to her that
all the talk about the company wanting to be female-friendly wasn’t just lip service,
she says.
"Women’s networks" are usually HR’s way of making sure companies appear sensitive
to women’s needs, experts say. But at New York-based Lehman, it was former chief
administrative officer and current president Joseph Gregory who set the mandate
for WILL. He was concerned that Lehman wasn’t doing enough to attract and retain
women.
Anne Erni, managing director and chief diversity officer at Lehman, recalls the
conference call five years ago in which Gregory set the mandate for the program.
"I remember him pounding his fist on the desk and saying, ‘Men run in packs; women
don’t. Go create your pack.’ "
One of the purposes of the pack Erni helped create is to bring women together
and support them in their careers, she says. That can be tough at a company like
Lehman, which has U.S. offices spread across 40 locations.
Nevertheless, Erni and her colleagues set to work, and on June 11, 2002, WILL
debuted with an event at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall. It drew 1,200 women
from Lehman’s various offices and marked the first time the company brought together
its female employees from throughout the country, Erni says.
With 3,000 members today, WILL has been broken into three groups: recruiting,
networking and personal development. The recruiting group includes women who return
to their alma maters to recruit young women to the company. In the summers they
hold events for interns. The second group specializes in networking with female
clients. And the third group puts together personal development events for women
employees, such as hosting speakers like New York Times writer Lisa Belkin, who
covers work/life issues. Altogether last year, WILL’s groups put on 166 events.
The network is so popular that subgroups have popped up, Erni says. "Women felt
that they wanted to get to know other women within their divisions," she says. There
is now a junior WILL in each of Lehman’s six divisions.
To gauge the success of the program, Lehman surveys its members, Erni says. In
the most recent survey, 97 percent of respondents said WILL helps them build relationships
internally, while 87 percent say it helps increase their understanding of the company.
But what has made the program such a success is the management buy-in, Erni says.
"That’s very unique," she says.
The challenge for Lehman and other big firms that have established networks for
minorities and women is avoiding a "silo effect," says Janet Hanson, who worked
with Lehman to recruit and retain women and is also founder of 85 Broads, a network
of 17,000 Wall Street women.
It’s great to give women a venue to come together, but companies need to be careful
that in creating networks, they aren’t making minorities and women feel removed
from the leadership within the company, Hanson says. "It’s like I asked Joe Gregory:
‘Where is the white guys’ network? Why can’t I be part of that?’ "
Workforce Management, April 9, 2007, p. 24
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