These are the UK’s best employers for LGBT+ people, as ranked by Stonewall

Stonewall has ranked its top employers for LGBT+ inclusion and equality.

Each year, Stonewall publishes the results of Workplace Equality Index, a programme which ranks organisations across the public, private and third sectors.

It aims to serve as a resource to queer jobseekers, signalling which companies are putting the work in when it comes to LGBT+ inclusion at work.

After a year which saw Stonewall subjected to a “coordinated attack” across the media over its separate Diversity Champions workplace inclusion scheme, the charity is also launching a Bring Yourself to Work campaign, which will highlight the positive impact of LGBT+ inclusion efforts.

CEO Nancy Kelley said Stonewall’s work has always aimed to change LGBT+ lives “for the better”.

“That’s what we’ve always been here to do, and we make no apology for it,” she said.

The Macquarie Group, a financial services firm, came out on top of the ranking.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service finished in second place, while Clifford Chance LLP, Victim Support (Stonewall’s Welsh employer of the year) and the NHS Business Services Authority rounded out the top five.

Other organisations that appeared on the 2022 Workplace Equality Index included universities such as Cardiff University, King’s College London, the University of Manchester and Swansea University.

Citi Belfast was named Northern Ireland employer of the year, with Shepherd and Wedderburn LLP top among Scottish emmployers.

Banks, financial institutions, legal firms and car manufacturers also made the top 100.

Tesco launched pronoun badges and changed HR policies to improve LGBT+ inclusion

This year, Tesco finished in 23rd place in Stonewall’s top 100, and Adam Jarvis, global logistics performance manager with the supermarket chain and chair of its employee LGBT+ network, was named Stonewall’s “changemaker of the year”.

The company has taken a number of initiatives, from revitalising its LGBT+ staff network to launching an allyship guide and an identities guide that features “real people talking about who they are and what different LGBT+ identities mean”.

Crucially, the LGBT+ staff network has also been working with HR to make sure that hiring practices and employee policies are as inclusive as possible.

“One of our core values is about treating people how they want to be treated,” Adam said. “Over the last two years, we’ve seen a massive step change in not just LGBT+ inclusion, but inclusion across the board.”

Adam Jarvis. (Provided)

They continued: “We’re making sure that all our family leave policies are gender neutral and can apply to different types of families, including adoption and fostering and surrogacy. We’re working on our bullying and harassment policy to make sure it does cover anything. We do training every year, and this year we made sure there were different homophobic, biphobic and transphobic examples within the bullying and harassment training so colleagues know it’s not just that classic playground bullying.”

Over the last year, Tesco has also launched voluntary pronoun badges for staff members. The idea came from a staff member working in one of Tesco’s stores.

“The whole idea behind it is that we want to normalise sharing pronouns so it’s not just people who are trans or non-binary doing it, it’s just something that everyone does.”

Hostile work environments ‘take an enormous toll’ on LGBT+ people

In a statement, Stonewall said inclusive practices are ultimately about people feeling about to be themselves in the workplace.

“It’s been wonderful to see all of the work put in by the private, public and third sector organisations making up the Top 100 Employers List this year,” said Nancy Kelley, CEO of Stonewall.

“For many of us, the majority of our time is spent at work, so if we don’t feel comfortable being ourselves, it can take an enormous toll. Creating environments where we can all feel comfortable makes the workplace a safer, better and friendlier place for everyone and helps staff be proud of who they are.”

Stonewall has faced a number of high-profile attacks over the last number of years because it campaigns on behalf of trans people. A number of organisations have bowed out of its Diversity Champions Programme – a separate initiative to the Workplace Equality Index – in the face of anti-trans criticism from high-profile media outlets and commentators.

Stonewall’s top LGBT+ employers in full

• Nov 29 2023

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