Mergers & Acquisitions Names its 2024 Best Places to Work in Private Equity

Mergers & Acquisitions has named eight firms as the 2024 Best Places to Work in Private Equity. The PE firms honored excel in demonstrating innovative policies and acknowledging ever-changing workplace demands.

To determine the winners of our second annual award, we asked nominees to explain how they differentiate themselves from competitors in areas such as talent retention, work-life balance, training, compensation, benefits and career advancement. 

This year’s honorees range in size from 22 to 750 employees and were founded as early as 1968 to as recently as 2009. What they all have in common is well established policies and programs that promote and nurture career mobility, and ongoing education and development.

Some offer less common employee perks than typically found at PE firms. For example, Prospect Capital provides a private nap room and a pet-friendly space.

At The Riverside Company, employees receive a month-long paid sabbatical after reaching 15 years of tenure.

Other employee perks are family friendly. TA Associates grants free memberships and access to programs which offer family-forming services and treatments like egg freezing, IVF, adoption and surrogacy and a breastmilk shipping and storage service. 

Vista Equity Partners also offers employees IVF and fertility services, surrogacy and adoption fee coverage, as well as coaching and educational services such as doulas, nutritionists, and a lactation consultant. In addition, the firm offers all employees 20 weeks of parental leave for birthing and non-birthing parents. 

We also asked nominees to outline their strategies for implementing and enhancing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) policies and programs. All of this year’s winners demonstrate an ongoing commitment to ESG and DEI. 

This includes participation in industrywide initiatives such as the ESG Data Convergence Initiative (EDCI) and the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

Efforts also extend to portfolio companies. There has been a growing trend among PE firms in the last few years to grant ownership stakes to employees at portfolio companies. Two of this year’s honorees, Riverside and TA Associates, have partnered with Ownership Works, a non-profit that works with companies and investors to provide employees with the opportunity to build wealth at work. Founded in 2021, Ownership Works anticipates that by 2030, the so-called shared ownership movement will generate at least $20 billion in wealth for lower-income and diverse workers.

Many of this year’s honorees also strive to have diverse board members at portfolio companies.

The 2024 Best Places to Work in PE honorees are listed below with links to Q&As of each.

An additional nine firms received honorable mentions, who can be found in a table below the winners list.

American Securities continues to advance diversity initiatives. 

GTCR maintains a strong culture of collaboration and mentorship.

Prospect Capital operates as a meritocracy without bureaucratic and hierarchical structures.

TA Associates made significant progress in formalizing its approach to portfolio employee ownership over the last year.

The Green Cities Company works to build team members and their competencies through a performance equity management process.

The Riverside Company recognizes each career path is unique and is committed to nurturing professional growth.

Vestar Capital Partners has a 35-plus year track record of investing in and retaining top talent and also strongly believes in promoting from within.

Vista Equity Partners looks beyond the traditional pipeline of investment banks and the schools they recruit from when considering job candidates.