WASHINGTON, D.C. – According to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) latest survey, Chevron, Bank of America and AT&T all get top mark as the best workplaces for LGBT employees. The Human Rights Campaign is the nation’s biggest advocacy and lobbying group that backs civil rights for LGBT people.
Of the 20 largest American companies by revenues, ten got scores of “100,” meaning they met all of the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index criteria for providing an inclusive, discrimination-free work environment. The top-rated big companies cover a range of industries, from finance to automobiles to technology and health care. Ford Motor, Cardinal Health and IBM also got top ratings.
The index looks at discrimination policies that protect employees based on sexual orientation and gender identity, at insurance and other benefits for same sex partners, and at companies’ abilities to recruit and retain LGBT workers.
This is the tenth year HRC has done the survey, which has expanded from rating the 500 biggest U.S. companies to evaluating a total of 850 businesses, including more than 200 law firms. A decade ago, just 13 businesses got a top score. This year, 190 did.
HRC made its evaluation more stringent than in years past, rating companies on 40 different policies and practices, 32 of which were new or stricter. For instance, this year for the first time, companies had to include insurance coverage for gender reassignment surgery in order to get a top rating. Among the big companies that earned a score of 100, a spokeswoman at Citigroup says that its coverage of transgender insurance benefits is new this year. JP Morgan Chase has offered the coverage since 2009. A total of 207 companies surveyed are offering the gender reassignment coverage or will do so as of next year.
ExxonMobil had the poorest showing, with a rating of negative 25. A representative of the HRC explained that in 1999 when Exxon acquired Mobil Oil, Exxon did away with Mobil’s non-discrimination policy that included sexual orientation and it offered domestic partner benefits. Exxon has since opposed shareholder resolutions to restore the old policy and benefits.