Forty-eight Massachusetts firms earned a perfect score on this year's Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual report from LGBTQ policy foundation the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) that ranks companies based on best practices for LGBTQ inclusion.
Some of the biggest names include Akamai, Biogen, Wayfair and the ever-present Dunkin' Brands. Massachusetts representation on the list is a 20 percent increase over last year, when 40 local companies made the cut.
All told, the HRC gave 767 companies in the U.S. a perfect score on its 2021 CEI, which uses criteria across four categories: non-discrimination policies, equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families, supporting and inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility.
HRC updates its CEI criteria every so often to reflect how best practices for LGBTQ inclusion at work change over time. In a statement, the organization noted that an increasing number of companies have adopted transgender-inclusive initiatives, particularly comprehensive health coverage — "the most considerable progress" measured in the CEI's 19-year history, per the HRC.
"While the CEI cannot measure every facet of what makes a workspace inclusive, it does create a foundation upon which employees can feel more comfortable living and working as their true selves—an important step, but one which is only the starting point," HRC President Alphonso David said in the statement. "Diversity and inclusion policies and practices advanced through tools like the CEI are critical, but meaningful change requires breathing life into these policies in real and tangible ways, so that LGBTQ employees are truly seen, valued and respected not only at work, but in every aspect of life."
These are the companies that earned a score of 100 in the Commonwealth:
Akamai Technologies Inc.
Bain & Co. Inc./ Bridgespan Group
Berkshire Bank
Biogen
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts
Boston Consulting Group
Boston Scientific Corp.
Brown Rudnick LLP
Cambridge Associates LLC
Cengage Learning Inc.
Choate, Hall & Stewart LLP
Cimpress USA Inc
Digitas
Dunkin' Brands Group Inc.
Eastern Bank Corporation/Eastern Bankshares, Inc.
Eaton Vance
EMD Serono, MilliporeSigma, and EMD Performance Materials
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston
Fish & Richardson PC
Foley Hoag LLP
Goodwin Procter LLP
Goulston & Storrs
Hanover Insurance Group Inc., The
Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Inc.
Iron Mountain Inc.
John Hancock Financial Services Inc.
Liberty Mutual Group
LPL Financial Holdings Inc.
Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.
Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky & Popeo PC
National Grid USA
Nixon Peabody LLP
Nuance Communications
Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.
Philips
Publicis Sapient
Raytheon Technologies Corp.
Rockland Trust Co.
Ropes & Gray LLP
Staples Inc.
State Street Corp.
Sun Life
The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, LLC
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.
TripAdvisor Inc.
Tufts Health Plan
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Wayfair
