The IGLCC released its first International Equality Index this week, measuring the performance of multinational organisations in terms of diversity and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) employees.
Anne Heal, BT's senior champion for sexual orientation, said: "BT has been providing same-sex partner benefits to employees since the early 1980s and will continue to look at ways in which we can ensure that our people can be ‘who they are' at work without fear of discrimination or prejudice. The IGLCC award recognises the efforts of out HR community and our LGBT network, Kaleidoscope, in their determination to ensure that equality of opportunity is a reality in our business. I am also delighted."
Other participants in the index included, American Airlines' parent company AMR, Cisco Systems, ING, Intel, KPMG, Kraft Food, Novartis, Philips, SAP, UBS, Merck and TNT.
Pascal Lépine, IGLCC secretary general, said: "The findings of the survey on which the index is based are somewhat mixed, but definitively encouraging. The vast majority of respondent corporations have diversity and inclusion programs and most explicitly include LGBT issues. We see from this survey that most of these companies take sexual orientation and gender identity matters very seriously. However, full equality is still years or decades away."
BT, IBM and The Dow Chemical Company top diversity and gay-friendly company list
BT, IBM and The Dow Chemical Company are the most gay-friendly companies in the world, according to the International Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce (IGLCC).
