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Keywords: lesbian, gay, transgender, bisexual, Human Rights Campaign, Corporate Equality Index, diversity, recruitment, retention, health benefits

More companies are providing workplace protections for their lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees than ever before, according to the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index.

The Corporate Equality Index (CEI) rates businesses on a scale from 0 to 100 percent with rankings based on the company's treatment of LGBT employees, consumers and investors. The 2009 edition, released Tuesday, indicates that companies are providing workplace protection and benefits that include transgender health coverage, are actively engaging LGBT consumers and are seeking LGBT investors more than ever before.

The Human Rights Campaign (HRC)'s 2009 CEI ranked 583 businesses, of which 259 achieved a perfect score, a one-third increase over last year when 195 companies achieved a 100 percent score. Collectively, the CEI's 259 top-achieving companies employ 9 million full-time employees.

"These workers are protected from employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity or expression because of their employers' policies on diversity and inclusion, training, healthcare and domestic-partnership benefits," HRC said in a press release.

Of the companies listed on the CEI, many are also listed on The DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity^® list, demonstrating that there is an industry standard for equitable treatment of LGBT employees. Especially prominent were companies listed on DiversityInc's Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees, and most of the companies listed on DiversityInc's list also have achieved a 100 percent ranking from the CEI for multiple years.

"It says … [LGBT employees'] unique perspective--from a marketing perspective, recruitment perspective, ideological perspective--all of those ideals have to be valued because at the end of day, the contributions of our employees allow us to be better informed as business leaders," says Anthony Carter, chief diversity officer for Johnson & Johnson (J&J).

J&J, with its 2009 achievement, marks its fourth year of achieving a perfect grade on the CEI. The company is also ranked No. 2 on DiversityInc's Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list. It is also No. 8 on the Top 50 list.

"Many businesses are also seeking out practices to further distinguish their workplaces beyond the minimum benchmarks," HRC President Joe Solomonese said in a statement. "The Human Rights Campaign Foundation continues to seek out the expertise of private-sector diversity leaders, LGBT workplace advocates and employees to build on the success of the CEI to date."

Carter adds that J&J's 100 percent grade helps the company attract the brightest, most eager LGBT recruits.

"Being recognized for our performance says that our companies are attractive places to work for high-quality GLBT candidates looking for progressive and forward-thinking companies," says Carter.

Most of the companies that achieved 100 percent on the CEI were based in California and New York, and each state added at least seven new top-rated businesses to its list.

One of those companies was Purchase, N.Y.--based PepsiCo., which this year marked the fifth year it achieved a 100 percent grade on the CEI. PepsiCo is No. 28 on the DiversityInc Top 50 list.

"We want all our employees to be focused on making, moving and selling products, as well as innovating, instead of being concerned about basic healthcare needs," says Ron Parker, senior vice president and global chief diversity and inclusion officer at PepsiCo. "We're committed to sustaining a diverse and inclusive work environment in which PepsiCo associates of all backgrounds feel supported and valued for their unique experiences and perspectives.  We're extremely proud to receive a 100 percent score from HRC for the fifth year in a row; for us, it's proof that as a company we're continuing to make progress."

The law industry, with 64 firms earning 100 percent scores, had the most top-rated organizations, while the banking and financial-services industry came in second with 30 top-rated organizations.

The law industry outpaced all others because major corporations are requiring that law firms follow their lead in diversifying their ranks and competition is fierce for high-quality recruits, reports the CEI.

"Law firms are highly competitive in their recruitment efforts for law-school graduates and are also held to increasing standards of diversity by their corporate clients," according to the CEI.

The industries that did not feature companies that earned 100 percent on the CEI included engineering and construction, forest and paper products, mining and metals, residential real estate and waste management, reports the CEI.

The CEI report shows that listed companies feature the following characteristics:

• Ninety-nine percent of CEI-rated employers provide employment protections on the basis of orientation. A total of 92 percent of rated employers cover "sexual orientation" as a topic of diversity training, though not all employees may be required to attend.
• Sixty-six percent of CEI-rated employers provide employment protections on the basis of gender identity or expression, the highest figure to date. The expansion of these protections has been remarkable; growth from the 2002 CEI has been twelvefold, when just 5 percent of CEI-rated employers included gender-identity protections.
• Seventy-five percent of the CEI's 2009 rated businesses examined their transgender exclusions to determine that health coverage is available for at least one of five categories of gender-reassignment treatment.
• Ninety-two percent of CEI-rated employers provide partner health coverage to employees, up 16 percent from the previous year. Of these employers, 67 percent provide them to both same- and opposite-sex partners of employees (just a 1 percent increase from last year).
• Seventy-eight percent of CEI-rated employers have an employee-resource group or diversity council that includes LGBT issues. Of those businesses that have an employee-resource group, 90 percent of the groups are sponsored by an executive champion, someone in upper management who connects the group to the company's senior decision makers.
• Eighty-two percent of CEI-rated businesses report some form of external engagement with the LGBT community, through marketing efforts, advertisements in LGBT media, sponsorship of LGBT events or financial or in-kind contributions to LGBT organizations.
• Fifteen percent of CEI-rated employers use LGBT-owned suppliers, up from 12 percent last year. Of the 583 rated employers, 342 have supplier-diversity programs, of which 26 percent include LGBT-owned suppliers.
• Thirty-six percent of CEI-rated employers, or 210 of all rated employers, use surveys or other tools that allow employees to voluntarily disclose their orientation or gender identity, compared with 27 percent in the previous year.

The criteria is becoming standard for a diversity-conscious company. DiversityInc's Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees factors whether a company has an employee-resource group for LGBT employees; whether the company actively recruits for LGBT employees; whether there is content on the corporate web site that reflects the LGBT community; and whether benefits are offered to same-sex domestic partners of employees. In fact, to be eligible for the Top 50, companies must at least offer domestic-partner health benefits.

Moreover, DiversityInc factors in the CEI score when considering a company's engagement with the LGBT community because it is a nationally recognized empirical assessment of support for LGBT employees. As a result, diversity practices are achieving a standard throughout corporate America.

Carter says effective diversity management brings together business with community for the best of both.

"In the process of diversity management, we have to make sure business leaders align with the community for us to achieve our growth goals," says Carter.

Click here to read the Corporate Equality Index.

Click here to read the DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees list.

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