IBM and Google topped the International
Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce's (IGLCC) list of
international gay-friendly corporations.
The group's second annual International
Business Equality Index 2010 found IBM offered LGBT employees the
best work environment.
“On behalf of IBMers worldwide and
our LGBT communities, IBM is extremely proud to receive this
recognition,” Frank Kern, senior vice president of Global Business
Services, said in a statement. “IBM's heritage on diversity spans
nearly 100 years, and we're as committed today as at any point in our
history to continuously evolving our innovative global workplace
policies and practices.”
In its debut on the list, Google landed
an impressive second place finish. More impressive, however, is
Google's position when results are filtered by region. Both in
Europe and the Americas, the Mountain View, California-based search
giant with 20,621 employees scored highest.
Also new this year is Morgan Stanley,
which came in fourth place. While last year's first place finisher
England-based BT Group slipped to third.
Rounding out the top 10 companies are
Cisco Systems, Continental Airlines, Merck, UBS AG, the Dow Chemical
Company and TD Bank Financial Group.
The report was limited to corporations
with offices in at least 3 countries and a minimum of ten thousand
employees. Participating companies increased from 15 last year to 25
in 2010.
Corporations were invited to complete
an online survey which covered three main areas: internal policies,
policies of suppliers and community involvement.
Authors of the survey called the
results “encouraging.”
“Twenty-two out of the twenty-five
largest participants in this year's study had Diversity and Inclusion
programs in all of the countries in which they operate, and even more
impressive is that the same number included LGBT issues in their
global diversity program,” David Pollard, chair of the
International Business Equality Index Committee, said.
“This is very exciting and
demonstrates how business can contribute to the community globally,”
he added.