Snapshot

LM operates in a culture of strong ethics and has an unequivocal commitment to compliance.

Licensed as an Australian Financial Services Licensee and Responsible Entity, LM operates in full compliance with the Corporations Act 2001.

Our governance model is characterised by an active awareness of risk management. The transparent, flat management style and continuous professional development encourages employee participation in process development and leads to an intelligent, engaged and stable workforce.

With a recruitment philosophy that makes us distinctly different to other fund managers, LM is comfortable with employing staff and management with limited (or no) industry experience. Our track record clearly shows that limited directly relevant experience in a candidate does not impede our ability to hire 'stars', who significantly contribute to the success of the company.

In fact, we think it is one of our secret weapons. While most of our team leaders have at least 10 years' experience in their relative discipline, we have drawn staff from vastly different backgrounds including stockbroking, real estate, finance, accounting, education, legal and human resources.

Many of our staff have successfully transitioned from one career to another at LM - from stockbroking to portfolio management, from quantity surveyor to funding analyst, from human resources to property management, from project management to commercial lending and from accounting to compliance.

When we've done a vox pop of our staff's views about what they like most about working for LM, feedback consistently reveals elements like autonomy , accountability , friendly and genuine staff , and of course, the 'minties' in reception.

We have a relatively flat structure, and we ' walk the talk ' when it comes to open and transparent communication. For example, all staff receive minutes from our weekly LM Meeting, and have the opportunity to attend any meeting at any time. What's more, you could count on one hand the number of times in a year when someone's office door is closed.

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A refreshing difference – the absence of a 'glass ceiling'

The 2004 census by the (Australian) Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace Agency (EOWA) reveals that few of Australia's top 200 companies are run by a woman and a mere ten per cent hold executive management positions (compared with 14.5 per cent in the United States).

At LM, four of our ten senior executive team members are female, two whom also assume the role of company Executive Director. So, with 40 per cent of our senior positions held by women, we think we would get a 'well done' report card from EOWA.

Our low staff turnover is also proof of LM's flexible culture. Testament to our solid retention rates is the fact that two of our female senior executives have worked with LM for six years and all have families with children. In addition, one of our male senior executives started with LM when we first opened our doors eight years ago, and still enjoys working within the LM culture to this day.

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Our culture of education and professional development

At LM, we take professional development of our staff seriously. In fact, every second week for one hour, all staff attend compulsory training on a diverse range of topics designed to improve knowledge transfer in and across teams, as well as learn new skills.

We also invite external speakers to present on a range of matters from negotiation, the overseas investment market, a day in the life of a property developer, working with the media and so on.

In addition, we support staff to undertake additional external training. Once a course has been approved by a Senior Executive Committee Member, LM pays 50% of the program fees. Upon successful completion of the program/course LM reimburses the staff member for the remainder of the course cost. top of page

Investment in Technology

LM invests heavily in IT to improve efficiency and to better service our clients , financial advisers and intermediaries to ensure investors receive up to the minute detail on their investments.

Testimony to our commitment to technology is our investment of more than $1million in an IT system called 'Composer' that radically streamlines administration of funds under management, is a solid foundation on which the business can continue to grow efficiently and innovates our e-business initiatives related to web and information delivery.

At LM, our philosophy is that technology should support , enable , and innovate the business and so the selection of technology and service providers should complement this.

Management and support of technology is centralised on the Gold Coast with our remote offices securely connected 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In the event of disaster we can switch a remote office to our server hub and leverage the internet to get the business up and going again in an efficient and effective manner.

So, employees of LM can be assured that they are joining an organisation which is capable of providing high level and prompt IT support, from high level complex solutions, to resolving the more minor, but often pesky, IT glitches. top of page

Australian owned and managed

LM is an unlisted public company that is 100% Australian owned and managed . Our company-wide commitment to well documented research, and established processes and systems further underpins our reputation as Australia 's specialist mortgage trust manager.

Staff work in a dynamic and supportive environment in which initiative , innovation and continuous improvement is encouraged to ensure we maintain our competitive edge.

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Before you are made an offer from LM

At LM, we are fussy when it comes to hiring new staff. We want them to fit in with the existing team, and conversely, we want our existing team to feel comfortable with new recruits.

To this end, we run a process called ' The Gauntlet', in which a preferred candidate comes to our head office on the Gold Coast and meets with all staff. While it sounds rather daunting, in reality it's not: the process is simply designed to test the 'fit'.

Importantly, it is also designed to keep staff 'in the loop' about likely appointments so that if and when a new candidate starts work, everyone knows they are starting at LM and what their role will be. We want to avoid a situation where someone starts and an existing staff member asks, “Who's that?" top of page