Looking for a last minute holiday gift? Want to support the LGBT community? The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) has a guide that can help you do both.
The HRC publication, “Buying for Workplace Equality 2012,” lists hundreds of American brands rated on their treatment of LGBT employees. The guide divides businesses and their consumer products into red, yellow and green categories based on their score on HRC Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index, a nationally recognized benchmark of LGBT inclusion. You can get a print copy, read it online, download a pdf or use an iPhone app to get the guide.
“The holiday buying season is upon us and this year we again have the chance to send a message to businesses that we are watching,” said HRC President Joe Solmonese. “Fair-minded consumers who care about how a company treats their LGBT employees have a powerful tool in the Buying for Workplace Equality Guide. In this economy, when every dollar counts, it is particularly important for companies to see that LGBT inclusion is good for the bottom line.”
Buying for Workplace Equality is an annual publication of the HRC Foundation to aid consumers in making informed purchasing decisions. The guide draws comparisons between products, services and retail outlets. The ratings are based upon the HRC Corporate Equality Index, which this year rated 850 companies, including the entire Fortune 500.
This year, the LGBT community’s buying power is estimated at nearly $800 billion, according to research by Witeck-Combs Communications and Marketresearch.com.
“Buying for Workplace Equality” divides businesses and their products into everyday purchasing categories, including:
- Apparel & Accessories
- Banking & Finance
- Food & Beverage
- Home & Garden
- Restaurants
- Technology
Businesses and their products are divided based on their CEI rating into red, yellow and green sections so that consumers can determine which brands support LGBT workplace equality:
- Green (80-100): Businesses/brands that receive HRC’s highest workplace equality scores.
- Yellow (46-79): Businesses/brands that have taken steps toward a fair-minded workplace and receive a moderate workplace equality score.
- Red (0-45): Businesses/brands that receive the lowest workplace equality scores
- Italics: Businesses/brands that have not responded to the survey despite repeated attempts and have been provided with an unofficial, estimated score based on publicly available information that has been collected.
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