Hallmark & Monsanto topped the charts in the 2014 CEI
1000 businesses on various LGBTinclusive protections. Businesses that score a 100 percent on this test are designated among the “Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality.” The four objectives of the criteria in the CEI are: Provide equal benefits for same-sex partners and spouses; end benefits discrimination for transgender employees and dependents; demonstrate firm-wide organizational competency on LGBT issues; and demonstrate firm-wide public commitment to the LGBT community. In the 2014 CEI, 304 businesses achieved the Best Places designation; a huge leap from where the CEI started in 2002, when only 13 businesses topped the charts. Among those Fortune 500 companies, two Missouri-based corporations topped the charts: Monsanto, based in St. Louis; and Hallmark, based in Kansas City. Monsanto is one of the leading global providers of technology-based solutions and agricultural products that improve farm productivity and food quality and is based out of St. Louis, Mo. “We congratulate Monsanto for earning a 100 percent on the 2014 Corporate Equality Index and designation as a
Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality four years in a row,” says Deena Fidas, HRC’s Director of the Workplace Equality Program. Of all the businesses polled, 46 percent afford transgender-inclusive health care options; Monsanto was one of those businesses. “We are proud of our company’s diversity and our focus on inclusion to insure that every voice is heard and every person is treated equally as these are critical to our success,” says Nicole Ringenberg, Monsanto’s Vice President and Controller, as well as the executive sponsor for the company’s LGBT employee network, Encompass. “We’re thrilled to share the news that we are being recognized again by the Human Rights Campaign.” On the other side of the state, Hallmark Cards, Inc. is based in Kansas City, Mo. Hallmark was another notable Missouribased company to receive a perfect score. “Hallmark’s vision – to make a genuine difference in every life, every day – makes diversity, inclusion and respect for all people not just the right thing to do, but a business imperative, too,” says Michael Gonzales, Hallmark’s Leader of Corporate Diversity and Inclusion. “We approach it from three perspectives:
products that are relevant to a broad range of people, recruiting employees from many backgrounds, and creating a work environment that makes the best use of each individual’s talents.” For Hallmark, the philosophy is a part of the company, from the top executive level, through employee leaders. “This starts at the top, with the long-term commitment of Hall family leaders,” Gonzales continues. “It extends through expectations of senior executives and managers as well as employee initiatives in each corporate division.” Hallmark was also a founding member of the Mid-America Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, which we covered in our January issue, and has been acknowledged by HRC every year since 2009. As we start a new year, and new strides are being made in LGBT equality, we expect big things from corporations and states in advancing workplace protections. As these two major corporations show, diversity is more than race or religion. It’s about who someone is as a person. It’s also essential. V
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