The Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC)’s eagerly awaited 2012 Corporate Equality Index was released in December and, as expected, the 100 percent ranking was more difficult to attain and now carries even more reputational weight.

The HRC gave its corporate participants three years’ notice that it was creating more stringent qualifications for companies to be ranked as best places to work for LGBT employees. Those requirements included more emphasis on health benefits and full inclusion for transgender employees, demonstrating consistent organizational competency for LGBT employees through such initiatives as diversity training and resource groups, and demonstrating public commitment to the LGBT community through such arenas as recruitment, supplier diversity, philanthropy and public support for legal changes advocating LGBT rights. For more on the public support of LGBT rights, read about Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s speech on Human Rights Day that opened the door for companies to be more openly inclusive.

The HRC’s 100 percent rating, like The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity, is based on empirical data and has high credibility in corporate America as a ranking of inclusive workplaces. Companies use the 100 percent ranking to attract new employees, retain and engage existing employees, and gain marketplace support from LGBT people and their allies.

What the Numbers Show

The CEI rankings reflect the evolving, more stringent criteria and the fact that not enough companies are willing to be completely inclusive for LGBT employees. Last year, 337 companies earned 100 percent rankings. This year, 190 earned 100 percent rankings. Of the 2011 DiversityInc Top 50, 28 companies earned a 100 percent ranking this year, compared with 41 last year. Of DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies in 2011, nine earned 100 percent rankings , compared with 15 in 2010. The Noteworthy Companies are those our senior editorial staff evaluates as making enough progress to be contenders for the DiversityInc Top 50 the following year.

DiversityInc strongly believes in the validity of the HRC CEI ranking. In the 2012 DiversityInc Top 50 ranking, companies that receive less than an 80 percent CEI ranking will be penalized in scoring. We have always required a company to have a 100 percent CEI ranking to be included on the list for The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees. In 2011, Merck & Co., which was No. 9 on The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list, lost its 100 percent ranking. Thus Merck & Co. will be ineligible for the The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list in 2012.

Methodology

The HRC’s methodology is transparent, as is DiversityInc’s. The HRC sent invitations to participate to all Fortune 1,000 companies, plus others that expressed interest and/or are involved in LGBT inclusiveness. A total of 1,737 companies received invitations, according to the CEI report, and 481 submitted surveys. The HRC also ranks some major companies that do not actually submit surveys, so 636 were officially rated. In 2011, 1,567 companies were sent invitations, 477 submitted surveys, and 618 were rated. The HRC also negatively spotlights Fortune 500 companies that, after repeated invitations, have never responded.

The DiversityInc Top 50 methodology is different. We send survey invitations to companies that meet our minimum criteria (1,000 employees) and express interest in participating.  After the survey closes, we count participants as companies that fill out at least a part of the survey. Since our survey has 300 fields requiring detailed data, virtually no companies answer every question. Anyone interested in applying can contact top50@DiversityInc.com.

Which Companies Got 100%

The companies on the 2011 DiversityInc Top 50 list that received a 100 percent CEI ranking were:

Sodexo, No. 2 in The 2011 DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity
PricewaterhouseCoopers, No.3
AT&T, No. 4
Ernst & Young, No. 5
Johnson & Johnson, No. 6
IBM Corp., No. 7
Deloitte, No. 8
Kraft Foods, No. 9
Bank of America, No. 11
The Coca-Cola Company, No. 12
American Express, No. 13
Prudential Financial, No. 16
Cummins, No. 18
Aetna, No. 19
Accenture, No. 23
General Mills, No. 27
Time Warner, No. 28
KPMG, No. 29
Dell, No. 30
Booz Allen Hamilton, No. 32
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, No. 34
Automatic Data Processing, No. 38
Eli Lilly and Co., No. 39
Wells Fargo & Co., No. 40
Toyota Motor Co., No. 46
Ford Motor Company, No. 47
Whirlpool Corp., No. 49
Chrysler Group, No. 50

DiversityInc’s 25 Noteworthy Companies with a 100 percent rating in 2011 were:

Brown-Forman
Capital One
The Chubb Corporation
The Dow Chemical Company
Hyatt
ING North America
Kellogg
MetLife
Pfizer
Staples
The Walt Disney Company

 – Barbara Frankel