Goldman hosts ‘culture fair’ days before $215B gender-bias settlement

Goldman staged a “culture fair” to celebrate diversity, equity, and inclusion last week – and the timing was a bit awkward. 

This week, Goldman disclosed it will pay $215 million to settle a 13-year-old sex discrimination suit in which 2,800 female employees had alleged they were systematically denied pay and promotions. 

Last Thursday, meanwhile, the Wall Street investment bank hosted its high-minded culture fair in the bank’s Sky Lobby, the recently redesigned 11th-floor “hub” where Goldman CEO David Solomon forced executives to relocate after the pandemic. 

One Goldman insider said it was “ironic” the bank was looking to celebrate equity and diversity at the same time it finally admitted it had “hugely overlooked discrimination and harassment between employees” — after fighting the allegations for years.

The “fair” was positioned right next to a pop-up that sold company-branded merchandise including Goldman-branded hats, golf balls, duffel bags, and Patagonia vests – dubbed “Fratagonias” by some skeptical employees.

“I guess they are celebrating the Goldman culture of treating execs like celebrities and wearing ‘Fratagonias,” one insider sneered.

While it’s unclear how much each item retailed for, an employee said the items “weren’t going for a discount.” Patagonia vests typically retail between $110 and $180.

“I don’t know why you’d buy that, I’m not going to pay to be a walking billboard for Goldman,” the source added.

It’s desperate,” another Goldman insider told On The Money. “I guess Goldman has gotten to the point where they have to do something special to teach what their culture is.”

As if to increase the weird factor, Goldman staged a raffle at the fair – and top prizes included lunches with the bank’s own diversity, equity, and inclusion leadership, sources said. 

Employees entered the raffle by signing up to learn more about the bank’s “inclusion networks” — various groups for minorities such as a disability interest forum, a black network, and a Hispanic/Latino network.

But in addition to candy and tote bags, the Wall Street giant was also handing out lunches with executives as top prizes. A source said it was unclear who the executives would be. 

Whether winners ended up at a steakhouse or cafeteria, the lunches struck some of the rank and file variously as disappointing, insulting, or just downright odd.

“All companies are cults in one way or another, but people at Goldman are just so in love with themselves,” an insider said. “Raffling a meeting with an executive? It’s the kind of thing you’d do for Justin Bieber.” 

“Our executives regularly engage with people at every level of the firm and this was a fun activity to get additional face time with our DEI leadership,” a spokeswoman for the bank said.

The spokeswoman pointed to a statement from the company’s Global Head of Human Capital Management to address the gender bias lawsuit, “Goldman Sachs is proud of its long record of promoting and advancing women and remains committed to ensuring a diverse and inclusive workplace for all our people.”

In recent days, the firm has also erected a wall devoted to celebrating Goldman Sachs’ culture that aims to mirror the Subway Therapy project created in New York where more than 50,000 New Yorkers wrote their hopes, dreams, or trauma on sticky notes and placed them on a wall. 

But unlike the post-it wall that accumulated gradually in New York, Goldman employees say the sticky note wall at 200 West St. — which has closer to a couple of hundred stickies — feels contrived and forced.