16 Va. companies receive LGBTQ inclusivity awards

Sixteen Virginia companies received the top score in the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index, released in November.

Nationally, more than 1,384 companies, including 378 Fortune 500 companies, participated in the organization’s 21st Corporate Equality Index (CEI) survey. Companies that do not participate in the survey but are listed in the CEI are ranked using independent research. The CEI measures corporate policies, practices and benefits for LGBTQ+ inclusivity.

This year, 545 companies earned all 100 points, receiving the foundation’s 2023 Equality 100 Award: Leaders in LGBTQ+ Workplace Inclusion. The award is a rebrand from HRC’s “Best Places to Work” award.

Clustered in the northern and central parts of the state, the following Virginia companies received the Equality 100 Award:

• Airbus Americas, Herndon
• Airlines Reporting Corp. (ARC), Arlington
• Altria Group, Henrico County
• AvalonBay Communities, Arlington
• Boeing, Arlington
• Capital One Financial, McLean
• CGI, Fairfax
• Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (Freddie Mac), McLean
• Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Richmond
• Gannett, McLean
• Hilton Worldwide Holdings, McLean
• Nestlé USA, Arlington
• Northrop Grumman, Falls Church
• Parsons, Chantilly
• Williams Mullen, Richmond
• Willis Towers Watson (WTW),  Arlington

“The future workforce is more out and allied than ever before in our nation’s history, and this year’s CEI shows a business community looking for ways to further support LGBTQ+ workers and their families,” HRC President Kelley Robinson said in a statement.

The CEI survey has four assessment categories: workforce protections, like written employment nondiscrimination policies that include sexual orientation and gender identity; inclusive benefits, like parity between benefits for employees’ spouses and partners; supporting an inclusive culture, which requires employers to have at least four types of organizational competency programs, including one about intersectionality in the workplace, to earn full credit; and corporate social responsibility, like philanthropic contributions and LGBTQ+ supplier diversity programs.

Washington, D.C.-based HRC was established in 1980 and is an LGBTQ+ advocacy and political lobbying organization.