The HRC Foundation's annual CEI is the
leading U.S. assessment of LGBTQ+ workplace equality, and as a
proudly inclusive company, RS is honored to have increased its
ranking by 15 points this year.
FORT
WORTH, Texas, Jan. 10,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- RS, a trading brand of RS
Group plc (LSE: RS1), a global provider of product and service
solutions for industrial customers, has received a score of 95 out
of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation's 2023–2024
Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) is
the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer
(LGBTQ+) civil rights advocacy organization, and the CEI is the
nation's foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring
corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace
equality.
RS is honored to have increased its ranking
on the HRC Foundation's Corporate Equality Index by 15 points this
year.
The first CEI, in 2002, featured 319 participating businesses.
The 2023–2024 CEI features 1,384 major U.S. businesses — a 334%
increase — and showcases how U.S.-based companies are successfully
promoting LGBTQ+ friendly workplace policies in the U.S. and
abroad. Further demonstrating the tremendous trajectory of the CEI,
this year's data revealed that a record-breaking 1,340 businesses
have non-discrimination protections specific to gender identity, up
from just 17 in 2002. These critical non-discrimination protections
now cover 21 million employees in the U.S. and around the
globe.
The CEI rates employers providing crucial LGBTQ+ protections to
over 20 million U.S. workers and an additional 18 million outside
of the U.S. Companies rated on the CEI include Fortune magazine's
500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine's
top 200 revenue-grossing law firms (AmLaw 200), and hundreds of
publicly and privately held mid- to large-sized businesses.
The CEI rates companies on detailed criteria falling under four
central pillars:
- Non-discrimination policies across business entities
- Equitable benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their
families
- Supporting an inclusive culture
- Corporate social responsibility
"For well over two decades, businesses have played an important
role in furthering LGBTQ+ equality by centering employee needs and
voices when it comes to workplace inclusion. While there is much
more work to be done, year-over-year growth in CEI participation is
evidence of a business community that recognizes the responsibility
and value in upholding equity and inclusion," said RaShawn
"Shawnie" Hawkins, Human Rights
Campaign Senior Director of Workplace Equality. "Our goal at the
Human Rights Campaign Foundation is to work in a spirit of
partnership with companies, providing educational resources and
leading benchmarking and collaborating on ways for businesses to
support the LGBTQ+ community at a time when we face unprecedented
legislative attacks, heightened anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric, and physical
violence. The CEI is an ever-evolving tool — a blueprint that
companies can use to show up more effectively in supporting their
LGBTQ+ employees and their families."
"We're extremely proud to have improved our ranking on the Human
Rights Campaign Foundation's 2023–2024 Corporate Equality Index,"
said Katie Cartwright, RS Vice
President of People and Culture – Americas. "Last year marked our
first year of participation in the CEI survey, and we leveraged the
insights provided by our inaugural evaluation to further expand the
policies and benefits designed to support our LGBTQ+ team members.
Creating an inclusive environment where our people can bring their
best selves to work is fundamental to our success. So, we're both
pleased and proud to have demonstrably improved equity and
inclusion in our workplace over the course of the last HRC CEI
evaluation cycle, and we remain committed to listening, learning,
and growing and ensuring that our employees are heard, represented,
and respected at work."
In 2022, RS extended employee benefits eligibility to domestic
partners, added paid leave for adoptive parents, and expanded its
health insurance coverage to include transgender medical services.
In 2023, RS:
- Launched the U.S. chapter of SPECTRUM, RS Group's LGBTQIA+
Employee Resource Group (ERG)
- Created an LGBTQIA+ specific benefits guide accessible to
all employees so that individuals who don't wish to out themselves
can still readily access information about relevant personal and
familial benefits
- Created and launched a Transgender Inclusive Policy and
Personal Transition Plan
- Signed the Human Rights Campaign's "Count Us In" pledge, which
brings businesses together in allyship with the LGBTQ+ community
and sends a powerful message to extremist lawmakers advancing
anti-LGBTQ+ legislation that equality for all is not
negotiable
- Celebrated its second year as a corporate sponsor of
Dallas Pride
Other companies that earned a score of 95 on the HRC
Foundation's 2023–2024 CEI include 1-800-FLOWERS, Adidas North
America, Advance Auto Parts, Advanced Micro Devices, AirBnB,
Allianz Life Insurance – North
America, Ally Financial, AstraZeneca, BP America, Cisco
Systems, Deere & Co., Dropbox, Foot Locker, Gap, The Hearst
Corporation, Kaiser Permanente, Kellogg, Kohl's, Merck, MetLife,
Michelin North America, Peloton
Interactive, Petco Health & Wellness, The PNC Financial
Services Group, Rockwell Automation, Rolls-Royce North America,
Sony Electronics, Target, The Cigna Group, Tillamook, Tractor
Supply, Under Armour, United Airlines, Walgreens, Wells Fargo, and
Wendy's.
For more information about the Human Rights Campaign (HRC)
Foundation's Corporate Equality Index (CEI), please
visit www.hrc.org/cei to access the full report. For more
information about RS, please visit us.rs-online.com/about-us/.
About The Human Rights Campaign Foundation
The Human
Rights Campaign Foundation is the educational arm of the Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), America's largest civil rights organization
working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender
and queer (LGBTQ+) people. Through its programs, the HRC Foundation
seeks to make transformational change in the everyday lives of
LGBTQ+ people, shedding light on inequity and deepening the
public's understanding of LGBTQ+ issues, with a clear focus on
advancing transgender and racial justice. Its work has transformed
the landscape for more than 15 million workers, 11 million
students, 1 million clients in the adoption and foster care system
and so much more. The HRC Foundation provides direct consultation
and technical assistance to institutions and communities, driving
the advancement of inclusive policies and practices; it builds the
capacity of future leaders and allies through fellowship and
training programs; and, with the firm belief that we are stronger
working together, it forges partnerships with advocates in the U.S.
and around the globe to increase our impact and shape the future of
our work.
About RS in the Americas
In the Americas
region, RS stocks more than 250,000 industrial and
electronic products from more than 700 trusted
suppliers. These solutions cover categories extending from
automation and control equipment to interconnect, passive, active,
and electromechanical components and include more than 80,000
high-quality, competitively priced RS
PRO products. For more information, please visit
https://us.rs-online.com or connect with us via social
media on Facebook, Twitter,
LinkedIn, and YouTube.
About RS Group
RS Group plc provides product and
service solutions that help our customers design, build, maintain,
repair, and operate industrial equipment and operations, safely and
sustainably. We stock more than 750,000 industrial and electronic
products, sourced from over 2,500 leading suppliers, and provide a
wide range of product and service solutions to 1.1 million
customers.
We support customers across the product lifecycle, whether via
innovation and technical support at the design phase, improving
time to market and productivity at the build phase, or reducing
purchasing costs and optimizing inventory in the maintenance,
repair, and operation phase. We offer our customers tailored
product and service propositions that are essential for the
successful operation of their businesses and help them save time
and money.
RS Group plc is listed on the London Stock Exchange with stock
ticker RS1 and in the year ended 31 March
2023 reported revenue of £2,982 million.
For more information, please visit
https://www.rsgroup.com/ or connect with us on
LinkedIn or Twitter.
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Editorial Contact & Media Inquiries:
Erica Goode, RS Director of Marketing – U.S. and
Canada
Erica.Goode@na.rsgroup.com
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