TradingScreen

TradingScreen

Location: 30 Irving Place, New York, NY

Number of employees: 200

Number of years in business: 12

What they do: TradingScreen is an independent provider of liquidity, trading, and investment technology via SaaS to the financial community.

Why they are great: While many companies strive to get their employees to think like owners, TradingScreen actually makes the employees owners. The private company is 60 percent employee owned. “It’s a very unique feature of the company,” says CEO Philippe Buhannic. “Usually, you see 5 percent or 10 percent employee owned. When we created the company, we felt that we wanted to create something as a team and we should share the rewards, especially with key people who have been instrumental in building the company. If people look at it the right way, it should be very attractive. What I’ve learned is that sometimes the younger generation doesn’t understand the value of a share and prefers cash. But overall, I think it makes people very committed. They know that it’s their place, not just mine, and they have a strong sense of ownership.”

The company has a generous paid leave policy. In addition, there are many family-focused events throughout the years around major holidays, where staff are encouraged to bring their children to work to participate.

In addition to their competitive benefits program, TradingScreen has a learning and development department that structures personalized on-boarding sessions to help new hires learn the business, and a mentoring program that encourages seasoned employees to informally counsel new hires. “There was a big barrier in getting everyone up to speed on all the different products, and sharing knowledge of the different types of clients and the technology involved with their product. Members of the department assess the profile of the new hire to be sure that they are given the information and matched with a qualified person who can guide them as they grow. “We have two main tracks,” says Buhannic. “The first track lays out goals for the first two years. The new hires are kept in groups to foster interaction and avoid too much competition.” For the second track, the company focuses on making hires more international, so they are sent to work in an office abroad. While headquartered in New York, TradingScreen has an additional office in Chicago, four offices in Asia, one in South America, and three in Europe.