Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (GLBT) professionals are being increasingly targeted by corporate America — as both employees and customers. According to new research, the industry doing the best job of it is the financial services sector. In the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) most recent annual Corporate Equality Index, 32 employers in the financial services industry received a perfect score of 100 percent, the most of any other industry.
Daryl Herrschaft, director of the study, says financial services firms like JP Morgan Chase and Capital One ranked so well for both humane and business reasons. “The GLBT community is estimated to have $680 billion in purchasing power,” he said in a release. “Not only does being good on these issues allow companies to tap into that market, it also creates a more productive workplace and improves recruitment and retention.”
Of the 51 financial companies assessed, all but three (Fifth Third Bancorp, National City Corp., and BB&T Corp.) offer domestic partner health insurance. Fifth Third and BB&T were the only employers that offered no domestic partner benefits at all. JPMorgan Chase — the only firm to earn a 100 on all of the HRC’s six yearly indices — has discrimination and harassment policies, as well as a transgender guideline and sexual orientation and gender identity protections.
Rob Keeling, vice president of diversity for Capitol One — which has received a perfect score from the HRC each of the past five years — says that banks understand the power of diverse communities. “With banking, it’s all about relationships and knowing that people have different financial needs,” he told US Banker magazine. “One of the ways to meet those needs is by having a diverse workforce. If we have GLBT members in our marketplace, then it would be great to have GLBT members in our workplace.”
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