Ernst & Young
Chris Crespo
joined the Ernst & Young accounting firm 19 years ago.
Today, as the company's lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and allies inclusiveness strategy leader,
she advises 900 LGBT employees through the
company's bEYond resource group. Active in 65 of the
firm's 95 North American offices, the network
focuses on making LGBT employees feel included at
work.
Ernst & Young
seems to specialize in inclusion. Working Mother
magazine deemed it one of the 20 Best Companies for
Multicultural Women this year. The firm also made top
honors for its overall diversity (DiversityInc)
and its progressive environment for employees with
disabilities (CAREERS and the disABLED).
One of the
world's Big Four auditing firms, Ernst & Young
has received a perfect score on the Human Rights
Campaign's Corporate Equality Index for three
years, but that's not enough for Crespo. She
says that in addition to having all the right policies, she
wants to ensure that the company's LGBT
employees feel welcome and valued at work every single
day.
Toyota Motor Corp.
After a brief
lapse, Toyota recaptured its perfect score in this
year's Corporate Equality Index, which makes it
lovable indeed. But Toyota also earned our affection
for revolutionizing the green movement.
While other
automakers have added hybrids to their repertoire, the Prius
retains the most eco-friendly cachet as well as its status
as the top-selling hybrid in the nation--U.S.
sales last year accelerated to 107,000 (a number
already surpassed in 2007), up from 5,500 in 2000, its
debut year in the United States. Worldwide, over 1 million
Priuses have been sold since its Japanese debut in
1997. The Prius appeals even to those more concerned
with saving money than the earth. By switching between
a gasoline engine and an electric motor, the hybrid gets
between 45 and 48 miles to the gallon, according to
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. And to suit
every taste and style, Toyota offers hybrid versions
of the Camry, Highlander SUV, and several Lexus models.
Procter & Gamble Co.
Any company that
takes a stand against Dr. Laura and refuses to be
bullied by the American Family Association gets props from
us. Procter & Gamble canceled plans in 2000 to
advertise on Laura Schlessinger's short-lived
TV show and stopped advertising on her radio program, citing
discomfort with her controversial opinions. Meanwhile, the
maker of Gillette razors and Crest toothpaste
continues to advertise on programs like Queer Eye
for the Straight Guy despite boycott threats from
the AFA. "We seek to reach our consumers where and
when they are most receptive to our messages,"
P&G spokesman Doug Shelton told The
Advocate last year.
P&G supported
the repeal of Article 12, an amendment that prohibited
the city of Cincinnati, where the company is headquartered,
from passing any law that would protect gay men and
lesbians from discrimination. The company donated more
than $30,000 to Citizens to Restore Fairness, which
led the successful fight to repeal Article 12. All that, and
Susan Arnold, a lesbian ranked number 10 on Fortune
magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in Business
in 2006, was promoted to president of global business
units this year and is the likely successor to chief
executive A.G. Lafley.
Chevron and BP
We love Chevron
and BP because, well, they're not Exxon or Mobil. In
2005, as Exxon Mobil Corp. shareholders voted against
offering domestic-partner benefits--for the
sixth time--BP and Chevron became the first oil
companies to score 100% on the Corporate Equality Index. In
fact, Chevron's guidebook for understanding
transgender issues in the workplace has been posted on
HRC's Web site as a model for other employers.
The differences
don't stop with LGBT equality. Chevron chief
executive David O'Reilly has called on the U.S.
government to promote clean-coal technology in an
effort to protect the environment. In contrast,
according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, Exxon Mobil
Corp. paid $16 million between 1998 and 2005 to
various ideological groups in an effort to discredit
the science behind global warming. In the words of
Alden Meyer, director of strategy and policy for UCS, a
nonprofit environmental advocacy group, Exxon Mobil
Corp.'s disinformation campaign is both
"cynical" and "unacceptable."
You can say that again.
Fabulous Five
Only five
companies that received HRC's 100% rating for the
first time also made CRO's list of 100 Best
Corporate Citizens.
Herman Miller
Inc. Headquarters: Zeeland, Mich.
Revenue: $1.9 billion U.S. employees: 5,000
From the iconic
Aeron chair to the energy-efficient Leaf lighting lamp,
Herman Miller makes work a thing of beauty.
Even more
attractive, the company grades its own diversity practices
every six months, giving the scorecard to chief executive
Brian Walker. Domestic-partner benefits include
medical, dental, and vision insurance; retiree health
care; and relocation assistance. Gay employees are
entitled to the same leave time as their hetero coworkers to
care for an ill spouse, and LGBT employees and their
partners are eligible for $5,000 in adoption
assistance.
KeyCorp
Headquarters: Cleveland Revenue: $7.5
billion U.S. employees: 20,000
At Midwest
financial lending firm KeyCorp, diversity is part of the
job. Within 90 days of starting at the company, all
new employees must complete an online program
outlining KeyCorp's diversity and inclusion
policies.
Says chief
executive Henry Meyer in the company literature:
"Expanding the diversity of our workforce
expands the depth of our talent, and that increases
our ability to perform."
KeyCorp added
sexual orientation as a protected characteristic in its
nondiscrimination policy in 1998 and added gender identity
this year. The company's medical insurance also
covers mental health counseling and office visits for
employees who are transitioning.
The Principal
Financial Group Headquarters: Des Moines
Revenue: $9.8 billion U.S. employees:
13,500
Here's one
principal's office you wouldn't mind going to.
The Principal Financial Group's
nondiscrimination policy has included sexual
orientation since 1991. The company played such a key role
in Iowa's passage in May of a bill prohibiting
discrimination against LGBT people--in
employment, public accommodations, credit, housing, and
education--that Gov. Chet Culver signed the bill into
law in the company's auditorium. Benefits for
domestic partners and dependents include medical,
dental, and vision insurance; retiree health care benefits;
bereavement leave; and free on-site wellness facilities.
Starbucks
Corp. Headquarters: Seattle Revenue:
$7.8 billion U.S. employees: 134,013 (including
part-time)
Sometimes it
seems Starbucks is taking over the world: The number 1
coffee retailer just opened in Russia. Yet while the company
grows, it maintains a reputation as socially
responsible, ranking number 9 on this year's
100 Best Corporate Citizens list.
The retailer,
which also owns Seattle's Best, recently rolled out
for its human resources department mandatory education
that includes LGBT case studies, says Laura Swapp,
director of diversity and inclusion. Sexual
orientation, gender identity, and gender expression are also
addressed in diversity literature provided to new
employees and managers.
Domestic-partner
benefits include medical, dental, and vision coverage;
supplemental life insurance; and adoption assistance. The
company also provides financial support to employees
who experience the death of a loved one, fire, or
other disasters.
United Parcel
Service Inc. Headquarters: Atlanta
Revenue: $47.5 billion U.S. employees:
320,000
Shipping more
packages daily than any other delivery service, UPS was
also the first in its industry to receive a perfect score on
the HRC Corporate Equality Index.
The ride
hasn't been entirely smooth: Shortly after the New
Jersey legislature passed a civil union law this year,
UPS denied health care benefits to the legal partner
of one of its gay employees. The company claimed it
had no right to unilaterally change benefits covered by
labor agreements with the Teamsters union, which
represents many of its workers. But UPS changed course
quickly after New Jersey governor Jon Corzine said the
law provided partners in a civil union with the same
rights as married spouses.
UPS intends to
offer partner benefits in upcoming contract negotiations,
says corporate compensation and benefits manager Steve Nord.