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In determining this specialty list, DiversityInc uses several factors. First, we assess all questions on the DiversityInc Top 50 that are relevant to LGBT people, such as whether the company has an employee-resource group aimed at LGBT employees and allies, whether the company actively recruits LGBT people and types of same-sex domestic-partner benefits the companies offers.
In addition to that, every company on this list has to have a 100 percent Corporate Equality rating from the Human Rights Campaign. We also factor in a critique of the company’s corporate web site to determine if there is inclusive content specifically aimed at LGBT employees and customers. We also speak with LGBT organizations we respect and ask them for their recommendations on corporations that are LGBT-friendly.
Those organizations include GLSEN, the Human Rights Campaign and Out & Equal.
What types of factors set these companies apart from others? Consider these points:
- All of them have active programs to recruit LGBT people, compared with 84 percent of the DiversityInc Top 50
- They average almost 80 percent of their managers participating in mentoring programs, compared with a 40 percent average for the DiversityInc Top 50
- Ninety percent offer adoption-assistance programs and 60 percent offer paid time off for paternity leave
- All of their nondiscrimination policies include gender identity
- All of them offer bereavement leave and family medical leave
Here are some key points about each of these companies:
No. 1: Ernst & Young
Also No. 5 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 10 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities
The first of the Big Four accounting firms to receive a 100 percent rating from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), Ernst & Young has Workplace Gender Transition Guidelines and received the HRC Corporate Equality Index Award in 2008.
No. 2: Bank of America
Also No. 9 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 9 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women
A vocal proponent of ENDA (the Employee Non-Discrimination Act), this company has been a longtime advocate of LGBT equality. Bank of America lets its employees voluntarily disclose orientation.
No. 3: Aetna
Also No. 30 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities
The company’s commitment to LGBT employees, and its LGBT employee-resource group, gets stronger every year. The National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and the Human Rights Campaign named Aetna President Mark T. Bertolini the winner of their first Healthcare Leadership Award in 2007.
No. 4: PricewaterhouseCoopers
Also No. 6 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 5 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Executive Women; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Global Diversity
The professional-services firm is excellent at communicating clearly its support of its LGBT employees and the variety of benefits it offers them. Its LGBT employee-resource group is particularly strong.
No. 5: Wells Fargo & Co.
Also No. 43 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 10 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans
The California-based bank is a leader in marketing clearly and well to the LGBT community.
No. 6: KPMG
Also No. 15 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 5 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities; No. 4 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Global Diversity
The firm has a very strong employee-resource group for LGBT employees and visibly communicates its commitment. KPMG also works well with LGBT nonprofits, including GLSEN and the HRC.
No. 7: Cisco Systems
Also No. 37 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities
Cisco offers first-rate benefits, including those for transgender employees. Its benefits include short-term leave after surgical procedures and it has diversity training that includes sexual orientation/gender identity.
No. 8: American Express Co.
Also No. 12 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 3 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 7 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans; No. 8 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Global Diversity
This company is being honored by GLSEN at the New York Respect Awards for its commitment to its LGBT employees. Its employee group is among the best we’ve seen and the overall commitment to an inclusive workplace runs very deep.
No. 9: AT&T
Also No. 3 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Recruitment & Retention; No. 6 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Blacks
With one of the oldest and most effective LGBT employee groups, AT&T maintains a strong commitment to equality, both internally and externally.
No. 10: IBM
Also No. 8 in the DiversityInc Top 50; No. 3 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Supplier Diversity; No. 2 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Asian Americans; No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for People With Disabilities; No. 1 in The DiversityInc Top 10 Companies for Global Diversity
IBM’s domestic and global commitment to its LGBT employees is very deep and is reflected in its communications, its employee groups, and its benefits and practices.
What about HSBC? I know they have a policy, because my niece, an attorney, wrote it and was given an award by HSBC for her work!
Kudos to Diversity Inc for including in the Top 10 Companies for LGBT Employees only those that provide employees with health plans options which include coverage for the health care needs of transgender members, including coverage of medically necessary surgeries and procedures related to the process of s*x affirmation (aka s*x reassignment).
Last year, more than 65 companies participating in the HRC Corporate Equality Index reported offering at least one health plan that didn’t discriminate against transgender individuals. Twenty-five such companies are appropriately recognized on the Top 50 Diversity Inc list.
Unfortunately, the same policy level commitment to an inclusive and fair workplace for all employees –including transgender workers — is not yet fully evident at the remaining 25 companies on the Top 50 list. These twenty-five companies do not offer plans inclusive of transition-related care, and four don’t have non-discrimination policies including “gender identity.” Given the routine barriers to employment and health care faced by transgender individuals, workplace diversity advocates might well wonder how Diversity Inc could have included such companies in the Top 50 for Diversity. Indeed, the nation’s leading allied health professional associations have now made clear statements regarding the medical necessity of transition-related care and opposing the arbitrary “transgender exclusions” in health coverage (e.g., the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association, the National Association of Social Workers). The US Tax Court has recently deferred to this medical consensus.
I urge Diversity Inc to review the screening questions and criteria for the coming year, and to raise the bar for inclusion in the Top 50 such that only those with a transgender-inclusive track record are named. When there are so many employers to choose from, public and private, who have taken action to end discrimination, why select those who haven’t?
Many of us who work with institutions striving for change are well aware of the challenges involved. And many of us feel that the best places to work are those which are responsive to internal change efforts. Thus I hope that this year’s recognition from Diversity Inc will encourage every company to respond to those voices, and to offer fair compensation and workplace protections to all employees –including transgender employees—in the 2011 plan year. Those employers with transgender-exclusions in their health plans must step up to end discrimination; and those which offer some level of inclusive insurance coverage now must review their coverage to ensure access to all medically necessary transition-related health care.
According to the HRC Workplace Project search engine (www.hrc.org) the following companies still offered employees only plans which discriminated against transgender members for the Jan 2010 plan year. (Companies listed in order they appear in Top 50 list).
Sodexo, Kaiser Permanente, Marriott, Abbott, Verizon, Merck, Colgate-Palmolive, Novartis Pharmaceutical, Procter & Gamble, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, HSBC, Monsanto, General Mills, Capitol One, Prudential Financial, Toyota, BCBS Florida, Time Warner, Target, SC Johnson, MetLife, CoMerica, JC Penney, Northrup Grumman, Automatic Data Processing.
These four do not have nondiscrimination policies expressing their commitment transgender employees with explicit protection on the basis of “gender identity”:
Abbott, Verizon, Colgate-Palmolive, CoMerica.
How does GE rate regarding diversity–I never see them listed?
How about the federal jobs?