The Top 5 Best Workplaces for LGBTs
Millennials are becoming pickier and pickier when it comes to where they want to work. Gone are the days of company loyalty where people stayed with the same employer for their entire career. LGBTs, in particular, have more choice in job as companies seek to cater more towards this group. Let’s take a look at the best places to work for LGBTs.
1. The Walt Disney Co.
From 2008 to 2011 and again last year, the Walt Disney Company received the ‘Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality’ recognition. The company also offers employee benefits to those who have same sex partners. In 2013, the company signed a statement in support of same sex marriages and allows same sex couples to get married on Disney property as part of their Fairy Tale Wedding program.
2. Microsoft
Microsoft supports diversity by having an employee resource group specifically for LGBTs. The purpose of this group is to brainstorm ways in which policies that benefit LGBTs make their way into company policy and the workplace. The group also hosts events at Microsoft as a way for everyone to learn more about them and what they support. Microsoft’s support of the LGBT community goes back more than 10 years, when in 1993, they were one of the first companies to offer benefits to those in same sex relationships.
3. Apple
Apple’s stance on LGBT equality starts at the top, as the CEO, Tim Cook, publicly came out as gay last year. He was the first CEO of an S&P 500 company to come out in public. Earlier this year, Cook led 8,000 of his employees in a pride parade. Apple’s official site has a message from the CEO himself about the importance of diversity in the workplace and includes several graphs showing how the company has improved their numbers in this area over the last few years.
4. Nike
The athletic apparel company not only supports LGBTs in the workplace by having an employee resource group for them, but they also launched a special campaign for the movement called #BETRUE in 2014. #BETRUE includes clothing and footwear designed in support of athletes of all walks of life and sexual orientations. The footwear has rainbow coloring either on the sole or on the bottom of the shoe. The t-shirts have large cities like New York or Boston in rainbow colors against a black background. $500,000 of the proceeds made from the #BETRUE campaign will be donated to the LGBT Sports Coalition.
5. Orbitz Worldwide
For the eighth year in a row, Orbitz Worldwide received a 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index. Because of this, the company was named one of the best places to work for LGBT equality. To further gain the respect of the LGBT community, Orbitz also donates to non-profit organizations like the Matthew Shepard Foundation. In addition, people can visit www.gayorbitz.com for trip planning catered toward LGBTs.
Do a company’s policies on diversity influence whether or not you want to work there?
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