Cummins Inc. has earned a 100 percent rating for the fourth consecutive year from the largest U.S. advocacy group for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. The Human Rights Campaign rated 583 businesses as part of its 2009 Corporate Equality Index, rating companies on their LGBT-related policies and practices, including nondiscrimination policies, transgender health benefits and domestic partner benefits.
Cummins was one of 259 businesses receiving a perfect score, up from 195 in 2008. HRC says the 259 top-rated companies collectively employ more than 9 million full-time employees. The increase represents the growing number of U.S. corporations that recognize diversity is good for their bottom lines, according to HRC.
“This is great news for our company,” says Lisa Gutierrez, executive director of global diversity for Columbus, Ind.-based Cummins. “It’s all about our core values and creating the right environment for success for all employees.”
Cummins says it recognized the importance of diversity early on, dating back to Chief Executive Officer J. Irwin Miller, who helped sponsor Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1963 March on Washington while Miller led the National Council of Churches from 1960 to 1963. The company continues to expand this legacy in diversity strategies today. Cummins believes a diverse work force is more likely to arrive at innovative solutions that deliver on its commitments to customers in more than 190 countries.
