Lilly Recognized as One of the Best Places to Work for LGBT Equality

For the sixth consecutive year, Eli Lilly and Company has received a 100 percent rating on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI) for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) equality in the workplace.

Lilly is one of only 190 companies to receive the perfect score among 638 U.S. businesses rated this year and has been named to the organization’s “Best Places to Work” list. Forty-four percent fewer companies received a perfect score this year due to stricter requirements introduced for 2012.

Shaun Hawkins, chief diversity officer said, It is truly an honor to be recognized among the top companies in the nation for our commitment to inclusiveness among our employees. At Lilly, we believe it is vitally important to attract and retain exceptional employees who feel comfortable in a culture that supports them being themselves

The HRC is the nation’s largest LGBT civil rights organization and its CEI has become the foremost benchmark for businesses to gauge their level of LGBT workplace inclusion against competitors.

The CEI rates companies on 40 specific policies and practices, 32 of which are new or more demanding this year.  To achieve a perfect score, companies must have fully inclusive equal employment opportunity policies, provide equal employment benefits, demonstrate organizational LGBT competency, evidence their commitment to equality publicly and exercise responsible citizenship. The CEI report is available online at www.hrc.org/cei