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Wed, 14 Aug 2002

HRC Gives Apple a perfect score

The Human Rights Campaign, an advocacy group dedicated to gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, has announced the results of its first Corporate Equality Index, which rates large corporations on the basis of policies that affect gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees. Apple is one of 13 companies that earned a perfect score.

"The HRC Corporate Equality Index is a tool that can help fair-minded Americans decide what products to buy, where to work and how to invest," said Elizabeth Birch, HRC's executive director. "At the same time, we hope the index inspires those companies that fell short to take the next step and change their policies, not merely to improve their scores but because fairness is good for business."







The 13 companies that scored 100 percent are: Aetna Inc.; AMR Corp./American Airlines; Apple Computer Inc.; Avaya Inc.; Eastman Kodak Co.; Intel Corp.; J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.; Lucent Technologies Inc.; NCR Corp.; Nike Inc.; Replacements Ltd.; Worldspan L.P.; and Xerox Corp.







"While many of these companies have had a long commitment to gay and lesbian employees, most achieved a perfect score after adding gender identity to their non-discrimination policies," said HRC Education Director Kim I. Mills, who oversees HRC WorkNet, the organization's workplace advocacy project. "Eighty of the companies rated, or 25 percent, met every criterion of the index except for having a gender identity non-discrimination policy. Those companies received scores of 86 percent."







At the other end of the scale, three companies scored zero: CBRL Group Inc./Cracker Barrel; Emerson Electric Co.; and Lockheed Martin Corp. None of the three have any policies aimed at treating their GLBT employees fairly and all three have resisted shareholder resolutions urging them to include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination policies.







The 2002 HRC Corporate Equality Index rated 319 companies on a scale of 0 percent to 100 percent on seven factors, including whether they have a written non-discrimination policy covering sexual orientation; have a written non-discrimination policy covering gender identity and/or expression; offer health insurance coverage to their employees' same-sex domestic partners; and decline to engage in any activities that would undermine the goal of equal rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people.







Almost all of the companies rated - 293, or 92 percent, - include sexual orientation in their non-discrimination polices. "This criterion was met more than any other measured by the index and is an indication that such policies are the foundation of a fair workplace and set the stage for other initiatives," said Daryl Herrschaft, associate director of HRC WorkNet.







Only 17 employers, or 5 percent include gender identity and/or expression in their non-discrimination statements.







The second most-common criterion met was health insurance benefits for employees' same-sex domestic partners. A total of 221 employers, or 69 percent of those rated, offer them. And 171 companies, or 54 percent, include sexual orientation in their diversity training.







The median score for all companies was 57 percent. Companies in several industry sectors consistently scored on the higher end of the scale. Banking and financial services received a median score of 71 percent; high-tech equipment manufacturers had a median score of 79 percent and consulting firms had a median score of 86 percent. In contrast, market sectors that scored consistently low were: engineering and construction (median score: 29 percent); food, beverage and grocery enterprises (median score: 43 percent) and retail and consumer products (median score: 43 percent).







The 319 rated companies were drawn from the 2002 Fortune 500; the 200 largest privately held companies from the 2001 Forbes Private 500; and, information collected by HRC WorkNet (the organization's workplace advocacy project) on other companies with at least 500 employees. The index was not applied to colleges and universities, government employers, non-profits or companies with fewer than 500 employees.







The entire report is available here.







Apple has always had a reputation for being one of the best companies to work for, and this confirms it.

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CodeTek Studios releases 1.4.1 update for CodeTek VirtualDesktop

CodeTek Studios, Inc. has released 1.4.1 of its virtual desktop software for Mac OS X. Considered to be the most powerful implementation of virtual desktops on any platform, version 1.4.1 brings numerous bug fixes and usability enhancements to the product.You can find the software at the company website and download it directly from here.Registration of the product costs $20.

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