Our tone at the top promotes a culture of transparency, accountability, and ethical behavior. As a firm with just 65 employees as of December 31, 2021, Ladder's flat management structure and open-door policy provide all employees with daily access to our Executive Team. We strive to create an environment where employees are comfortable asking questions and raising concerns. With our casual attire policy, we also believe that when employees are physically comfortable, they may be more relaxed in interactions with one another, leading to better teamwork, increased productivity, improved morale, and less stress.
The Board maintains oversight of human capital management and corporate culture and gains insight at regular Board and committee meetings about specific human resources (HR) initiatives, including talent engagement, attraction, and retention.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
A diverse workplace benefits from a variety of experiences and points of view. We are committed to creating a workspace that incorporates diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) and ensures that all individuals are treated with mutual respect and dignity. All levels of personnel are held accountable for contributing to a professional atmosphere that promotes equal opportunity and nondiscriminatory practices. Our DEI efforts are overseen by HR, which reports to our CAO.
We are an equal opportunity employer and do not discriminate against any candidate or employee on the basis of race, national origin, marital status, gender or sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or veteran status. We do not tolerate harassment, discriminatory behavior, or any kind of retaliation for reporting suspected misconduct. In keeping with this commitment, we maintain an anti-discrimination, harassment, and retaliation policy that is reviewed and updated at least annually by HR, our CCO, and our CAO. We conduct annual anti-discrimination and anti-harassment employee training.100% of our employees completed our 2021 training. In our January 2022 anonymous employee survey, 100% of respondents agreed that discrimination is not tolerated at Ladder. The survey had an 89% participation rate.
Workforce Diversity
We assess diversity information as part of a broader effort to identify areas of continuous improvement to ensure that we are building and retaining a diverse workforce. We analyze this data to determine how best to attract and develop a pipeline of diverse and qualified candidates and promote an inclusive, anti-discriminatory environment of belonging that ensures equal access to opportunities.
With two female co-founders, gender diversity and equality have always been important to Ladder. As of December 31, 2021, 40% of our Executive Team is comprised of females. Over 20% of employees identify as females, and 50% of female employees are currently at the Director+ level, including our President, CAO, CCO, Controller, and Tax Director. One of our employees at the Director+ level identifies as LGBTQ+.
As of December 31, 2021, 63% of Ladder's employees identified as white, 8% indicated they are non-white, and 29% declined to disclose their race. We are in the process of evaluating how best to gather additional information to assess current and developing ethnic diversity metrics.
Ladder seeks employees who want to grow and learn with us. Over the last few years, we have gradually increased the diversity of our workforce with younger talent while maintaining a seasoned bench. As of December 31, 2021, one-third of our employees are under age 30, one-third are ages 30–39, and one-third are age 40 and over.
Talent Recruitment, Development, and Advancement
Attracting Talent
Our broad recruitment strategy is not limited to a pre-defined set of educational or work experiences. As stated above, we seek employees who want to grow and learn with us. We develop employees internally and seek internal candidates for promotions prior to hiring from the outside.
Our paid summer internship program provides our interns with exposure to all parts of our loan origination and closing process, with biweekly rotations through our Origination, Credit/Underwriting, Transaction Management, and Asset Management Teams. Previous interns have provided very positive feedback about the program, and several are now full-time employees. We also partner with St. John's University School of Law, providing chosen externs per semester with the opportunity to earn school credit via training experiences with our Legal and Compliance and Transaction Management Teams.
Contemporaneous Feedback
Ladder believes that our most important asset is our employees. We encourage an open dialogue and feedback between managers and other employees to allow for continued success. Our corporate culture encourages contemporaneous feedback to enable employees to refine their skills and expertise with each project. We believe that it is in the best interest of our employees to receive real-time feedback from their managers and direct guidance for professional development. All managers are trained on how to deliver effective and candid feedback to employees.
We also support our employees' mental health and aim to create an environment that provides for work-life balance. We encourage employees to be open with their managers about their workload, prioritization of projects, hours, and goals for advancement.
Talent Training, Development, and Advancement
Ladder is a dynamic company distinguished by the talent and dedication of our team. We hire for the long term and invest in professional and personal development, with an organizational structure that drives employee engagement. We reimburse employees for professional licenses, memberships, and subscriptions as well as training programs, conferences, and classes. Employees are encouraged to participate in cross-functional team projects to develop comprehensive business knowledge. We incorporate professional development into our ongoing performance discussions and goal-setting for each employee.
All employees receive at hire, and annually thereafter, training on anti-harassment and anti-discrimination, cybersecurity, and legal and compliance. At hire, employees also receive workplace success training, and we hold regular informational sessions, from market trends to department overviews to better define employee roles and responsibilities.
We seek to promote from within, developing a deep bench of experienced professionals ready to grow into more senior roles. Our department heads average over 10 years of tenure at Ladder, with the majority having been promoted to additional roles with increasing responsibilities over the years.
Our employee promotion process seeks to ensure opportunities for internal advancement and mobility and provides a mechanism whereby employees can be recognized and rewarded for successful performance and professional development. 26% of Ladder employees were promoted in 2021.
Collaborative Culture
At Ladder, we like to collaborate. We work in both formal and ad hoc teams and, to encourage the free flow of thoughts and information, use an open-floor seating plan in the office. We have a flat management structure and an open-door policy and take pride in helping train the Company's future generations of leaders. When people join the Ladder family, we seek to take steps to ensure that new hires understand and feel comfortable in our workforce environment, which is based upon our Four Rs:
Employee Teambuilding
Ladder's CEO and President host town hall and fireside chat meetings to provide a forum for direct engagement with our employees and senior leadership. Ladder also sponsors both formal and informal after-work teambuilding events, ranging from cocktail hours to paintball games to virtual movie nights. At least annually, we distribute corporate gifts such as reusable tumblers, tote bags, and fleeces.
We offer various programs to develop and build field expertise and leadership skills. Our mentoring program pairs junior employees with senior employees in other departments to foster cross-departmental connections and allow junior employees to expand their industry knowledge beyond their respective teams. In addition to being available to answer any questions and provide guidance in the office, mentors are asked to take their mentees to lunch or dinner periodically. HR actively monitors the program and encourages feedback to ensure a valuable experience for all participants.
Unique to the Company is our Ladder Climbers Program enables our junior staff to bond together and develop leadership skills. Managed by the junior employees, participating Climbers engage in after-work activities, on-site learning, and informational sessions.
Retaining Talent
We believe our strong corporate culture, opportunities for advancement, and competitive compensation and benefits make Ladder a desirable place to work. The average tenure for all employees was nearly six years as of December 31, 2021, and that includes our 17 new hires during the year. In fact, over 40% of employees have been with Ladder for more than seven years, and over 20% have been with Ladder for more than 10 years. We provide severance pay for involuntary terminations and conduct exit interviews for every employee departure to understand the reasons and to determine ways we can improve employee retention and our working environment and culture going forward.
We use anonymous employee experience surveys to solicit real-time feedback on topics such as job satisfaction and employee activities. Our January 2022 employee survey had an 89% participation rate. 95% of respondents were enthusiastic about working at Ladder, with 98% agreeing that Ladder provides opportunities for learning and development. 91% of respondents felt comfortable raising issues with their managers. We use the information from these surveys to guide management engagement, decision-making, and strategy.
Competitive Compensation and Benefits
Our compensation program attracts and rewards talented individuals with the skills necessary to support our business objectives and create long-term value for our shareholders. We offer competitive pay at all levels — including base salaries, annual incentive awards, and stock awards — and frequently evaluate industry pay practices, including by the Board’s compensation consultant. The Company does not inquire about applicants’ prior wages, benefits, bonuses, or other compensation (together, the salary history) when determining whether to hire or what amount of compensation to offer.
All employees are compensated based on Ladder’s profitability, and we grant stock awards with both time- and performance-based vesting components to promote employee retention and alignment. The stock awards that vest based on Company performance further align employee interests with long-term shareholder value creation.
We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including corporate payment of up to 90% of the premiums for our standard medical plan and 100% of the premiums for dental, vision, disability and life insurance for full-time employees and their families.
Our benefits program provides the following:
- Both in-network and out-of-network medical and prescription coverage
- Mental health, gender transition, and fertility services
- Critical illness, supplemental long-term disability, and term life insurance
- Flexible spending accounts, dependent care accounts, commuter benefits plan, and 401(k) retirement savings plan
- Reimbursement for daily employee lunches as well as late-night meals and transportation
Ladder also provides the following paid leave:
- Holidays and generous paid time off
- Leave for the service of others, including blood, organ, and bone marrow donation leave and military leave
- Bereavement leave
- Parental leave for all employees and a private lactation room
- Sick days and time off to care for family members or get a COVID-19 vaccine
Employee Health and Safety
Health and Wellness Programs
Through our healthcare provider, we offer programs designed to help improve employee health, such as reducing stress and quitting smoking. We provide discounted gym memberships and encourage healthy eating by maintaining low-calorie baked snacks in the office pantry at no cost and further employee health and wellness through in-office flu shots every year.
COVID-19
All employees began working remotely in mid-March 2020, with a limited return to the office during 2021. Ladder is very focused on the health and safety of our employees, and we continue to monitor the fluid COVID-19 situation and react in real time to federal, state, and local laws and guidance regarding remote arrangements. Further, our headquarters building installed a hospital-grade air filtration system, and, when employees began voluntarily returning to the office, we provided masks and hand sanitizer and enforced social distancing, as required.
Work-Related Hazards and Responses
We maintain internal emergency procedures for circumstances that require medical attention and/or building evacuation. Any employee with emergency training is encouraged to inform the CCO or HR and to participate in assisting in an emergency. Employees are also required to participate in any fire or other emergency drills conducted by the buildings in which their offices are located and to know where all emergency exits are located.