Corporate Equality Index: What Businesses are Rated and How to Participate
The Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index is an annual measure of how equitably large private businesses in the United States treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors.
What Businesses are Rated?
The Human Rights Campaign Foundation uses lists of the largest and most successful U.S. employers as a basis for inviting businesses to participate in the Corporate Equality Index, including:
- Fortune magazine’s 1,000 largest publicly-traded businesses (the 2006 Fortune 1000),
- Forbes magazine’s 200 largest privately owned firms and
- American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue grossing law firms (the 2006 AmLaw 200).
Additionally, any private-sector, for-profit employer with 500 or more full-time employees can request to participate. Businesses interested in participating in the Corporate Equality Index are encouraged to contact the HRC Workplace Project at workplace@hrc.org. The Corporate Equality Index does not rate colleges and universities, government employers, non-profits or companies with fewer than 500 employees.
The above lists do not include employers owned or based in countries other than the United States. Foreign-owned private companies may submit a survey on behalf of their U.S. operations, as long as they have at least 500 full-time U.S. employees.
Due to resource limitations and limited public information about private employers, it is not possible for us to actively rate most employers without a survey.
The list of rated businesses can be viewed in the Appendix of each year's CEI report:
- Corporate Equality Index - download the reports
How Do I Get a Business Rated?
If your business meets the above criteria and you are authorized to represent your employer and its policies, please e-mail workplace@hrc.org to participate in the CEI. If you are not authorized to participate on your employer's behalf, please forward the appropriate contacts (typically Human Resources, Diversity, Staffing, Marketing or Communications professionals) with name, position, e-mail and mailing address to us. We will make sure they receive an invitation to participate in the survey either in the current or approaching year. Please note that it is best for individuals internal to the organization to approach these contacts first, to educate them on the value of the CEI and to secure a commitment on their part to participate.If you are not an authorized agent for your employer but wish to provide the HRC Foundation with updated information, please e-mail workplace@hrc.org. Submissions of this nature are handled on a case-by-case basis. Please allow some time for the HRC Workplace Project to verify your information.
