The largest U.S. advocacy group for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees has awarded Cummins Inc. a perfect rating for a sixth consecutive year as part of its Best Places to Work initiative. Cummins was one of 337 businesses to get the perfect score as part of the Human Rights Campaign’s 2011 Corporate Equality Index. The HRC rated more than 800 employers.
“The HRC rating is a nice benchmark of the job we’re doing to create a welcoming and inclusive workplace,” says Vanessa Cunningham, special projects manager for Cummins Global Diversity Department. “But there’s always room for improvement when it comes to creating the right work environment for success.”
The HRC says a growing number of corporations are seeing the benefits of a diverse work force and an inclusive workplace. Last year, 305 companies received perfect scores from the HRC compared to 337 this year.
The HRC is a grassroots organization made up of more than 750,000 members across the United States. It is the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. While its reviews are done in 2010, the ratings apply to 2011.
Cummins’ commitment to diversity dates 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.
