By way of the Great Resignation, the Neiman Marcus Group won’t have any a part of it.

Though earlier this yr tons of of layoffs were disclosed — 5 percent of its workforce — NMG executives say the corporate is becoming more diverse, accommodating and environmentally conscious. That’s also the image painted in NMG’s first “People Report” and second annual ESG report, each issued Tuesday.

The reports tout progress across a spectrum of areas from pay equity, workforce diversity and representation by women in the chief ranks and on the board, to speedier hiring, increased advantages, workplace flexibility, supporting diverse owned brands and reducing emissions.

“We began three years ago our culture and at ways to unleash the facility of our people. We actually consider that unleashing the facility of our people is a vector of performance,” Geoffroy van Raemdonck, chief executive officer of the Neiman Marcus Group, told WWD. “The best culture drives the appropriate behavior and ultimately leads to higher performance.”

He said office attendance is not any longer required and anyone can work from their home. “We’re not making going to the office a mandate. The office is a magnet.”

Van Raemdonck, himself, is relocating from Dallas, where NMG is predicated, to Recent York in August. He said he typically spends every week every month visiting stores across the country and had been spending about every week in Recent York anyway. He’s also incessantly out of the office visiting designer showrooms and attending fashion shows in Europe and the U.S.

“At times once I am home I will be highly productive,” he said.

Providing workplace flexibility, he believes, is a high quality of life issue, enabling staff to realize a greater balance between their careers and personal lives. He also said it opens up the pool of accessible talent, making hiring easier and faster.

Several senior-level NMG executives also work remotely. For instance, chief financial officer Katie Anderson works from her home in California. Hannah Kim, the chief legal officer, is predicated in St. Louis.

But NMG’s progressive policy is a departure from what number of firms are operating post-pandemic — requiring staff to return into the office three or more days every week. Critics of distant working say it makes it harder for managers to get to know employees; slows communications, and that live meetings are more productive and of upper quality than meetings over the web. Distant working also implies that when in-person gatherings are called for, transportation and hotel accommodations should be arranged for out-of-towners.

NMG recently established three corporate office hubs: Recent York by Bryant Park, where the merchants are based; in Bangalore, India, for technology initiatives, and in Dallas, where there are catalogue, planning, legal and other operations. Two-thirds of NMG corporate staff is positioned at facilities within the Dallas-Fort Value area.

About two months ago, staff began using the brand new Dallas hub, which is in Cityplace Tower, positioned between Neiman’s downtown and NorthPark flagships. NMG occupies three levels in Cityplace Tower, accommodating as much as 800 people. It’s where the corporate’s DFW-based corporate workforce, visiting brand partners, distant associates and community partners can gather for meetings. Some local team members are there five days every week, though it’s not required.

Previously, NMG corporate offices were housed in 4 Dallas office buildings, three of which closed, resulting in some reduction in workforce and savings on real estate costs. Neiman’s continues to operate its downtown Dallas flagship where there’s additional office space for some corporate staff.

“Because we’ve got a various organization with diverse backgrounds, there’s diversity of thought and that leads to higher decisions. For those who spend money on your people, your people rise to the occasion,” van Raemdonck said.

After surveying employees and conducting worker focus groups in late 2019, “in January 2020, we very intentionally built our people strategy,” said Eric Severson, chief people, ESG and belonging officer. “We listened to the voice of our people. The clear message was that associates wanted 4 things: flexibility, profession development, total rewards and an impact-oriented culture that allows them to contribute to the corporate’s progress on belonging, sustainability and philanthropy.”

This led to the corporate allowing employees to work from wherever they wanted, faster hiring and the next worker NPS rating.

By constructing a people strategy, internally called Way of Work or WOW, NMG transcended the Great Resignation, Severson contended. “We did the reverse — we outperformed the market” by way of hiring and retaining employees.

He said the corporate saw a 34 percent increase in its worker net promoter rating from the fourth quarter of 2021 to the third quarter of 2022 and that it’s been taking 31 percent less time to rent people. The corporate wouldn’t disclose its turnover rate, though enabling NMG employees to work remotely and beefing up advantages would have helped. Recently introduced was paid family leave, prolonged sick leave, short-term disability, increased adoption reimbursement, travel coverage for medical procedures and enhanced bereavement leave policies to be more flexible and inclusive.

NMG employs greater than 10,000 staff. In the course of the Great Resignation, from 2021 to 2022, 50 million Americans quit their jobs, though this yr, the speed of resignations within the U.S. is declining.

Severson also said 59 percent of those in vp or higher positions are women. NMG has greater than 100 vice presidents. Fifty-seven percent of the members of it board of directors are women.

Also, racial and ethnic diversity in leadership roles starting on the vp level and going higher increased from 18.2 percent in fiscal 2021, to 19.8 percent in fiscal 2022. The goal is to achieve 21 percent racial and ethnic diversity in leadership roles by 2025. Fifty-seven percent of the whole workforce is non-white, in comparison with 53 percent a yr ago.

In fiscal 2022, NMG spent $29.6 million buying from diverse-owned brands and dealing with diverse-owned businesses. Previously, the corporate didn’t calculate its spend on diverse brands and businesses.

In other initiatives, NMG greater than a yr ago launched a Fashion Your Future six-month guided learning engagement program that “challenges associates to adopt a growth mindset, self-reflect and discover goals for private and skilled development.” This system includes assessments, live workshops, e-learnings, small group discussions and leader speakers.

The retailer also has a McKinsey Connected Leaders Academy characterised as a profession development program for high-potential Hispanic, Black and Asian leaders. It’s focused on leadership skills, networking with peers from other firms, and creating impact of their respective areas.

In line with the ESG report, the corporate is fur free. “The policy prohibits any use of any fur from animals killed solely for his or her fur including, but not limited to, mink, fox, lynx, chinchilla, rabbit, coyote, astrakhan/karakul lamb, kangaroo and raccoon dog — and allows ethically sourced sheep fur products known as ‘shearling’ or ‘sheepskin,’ in addition to cattle fur known as ‘calf hair’ and ‘cowhide,’” a spokesman said.

Among the many goals cited within the ESG report:

NMG has implemented energy efficiency upgrades in 13 locations, totaling greater than $15 million in capital expenditures. On the Boca Raton, Florida, store, the rooftop HVAC units that were leaking were updated and on the Bergdorf Goodman women’s store in Recent York, the chillers were converted from natural gas to electricity, for efficiency gains.

“We procured renewable energy for that constructing, further reducing expected emissions from the positioning. We also procured renewable energy for 2 of our other Recent York properties…complementing existing renewable energy use throughout California and Recent Jersey locations,” Severson said.

Regarding pay equity, Severson said, “Our inaugural pay equity evaluation reviewed one hundred pc of U.S.-based job titles in consultation with an independent third party who confirmed equitable pay practices at NMG. After accounting for the job, department, location and hour compensated, female associates earn over 98 percent of their male counterparts’ compensation, and non-white associates earn over 99 percent of white associates’ compensation. We’ll proceed to review and consistently report on our pay practices every two to a few years, making adjustments as appropriate to pay our associates equitably.”

The Neiman Marcus Group is privately held by Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Sixth Street Partners and Pacific Investment Management Co. Eventually, the group of householders will need to money in on their investment, possibly through a public offering of NMG or a sale to a different retailer, or to personal equity.