A record number of companies have
received a perfect score on gay workplace issues, according to a new
report.
The Human Rights Campaign (HRC), the
nation's largest gay rights advocate, released its 2010 survey on
GLBT discrimination in corporate America. The report, known as the
Corporate Equality Index, is
a scorecard of sorts which rates companies on several gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender workplace policies and assigns each a rating
from 0- to 100- percent. This year, corporations achieving a perfect
score grew to a new record.
Over half of the 590 corporations rated
received a score of 100 percent. These companies employ nearly 9
million full-time workers.
“The Corporate Equality Index 2010
shows that, even in the most challenging economy, leading employers
are forging ahead of federal and state law to recruit and retain a
diverse workforce — regardless of employees’ sexual orientation
and gender identity or expression,” Joe Solmonese, president of
HRC, said in a statement. “While Congress considers a federal law
that prohibits workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation
and gender identity or expression, businesses can take immediate
steps to ensure all employees in their workforce are treated fairly
today. These 305 businesses, and all employers actively working to
improve their rating, set an example for all U.S. employers,
including the federal government.”
Companies are increasingly taking the gay
index seriously, and crowing about the achievement in press releases.
“Our perfect score directly reflects
Fried Frank's ongoing commitment to maintaining an inclusive
environment where we respect and build upon the assets and talents of
everyone at the Firm,” the law firm Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver &
Jacobson, LLP said in a statement.
“JetBlue has always done things a
little different than the other guys, from the embracing culture our
crewmembers have created, to the warm welcome we extend to all
customers, to the wide range of organizations we support.” said
Dave Clark, chief people officer of JetBlue, in his company's
release. “We are proud of HRC's recognition and committed to
ensuring that JetBlue continues to be one of America's best companies
to work at.”
The index also reported huge gains for
transgender employees. A large majority (72%) of indexed companies
prohibit discrimination based on gender identity or expression.
That's up from 66% last year.
While the average rating across the
entire index inched up 3% this year to 86%, the average Fortune 500
score remained flat at 83% from last year.