Several big-name corporations in the radiology business have scored high marks for adopting workplace policies that protect individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender or queer.
That’s according to the latest Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign, released on Jan. 21. A record 686 U.S. corporations made the 2020 list, including imaging players such as Bayer, Medtronic, Siemens, GE, Change Healthcare, Royal Philips and Hitachi’s Consulting Corp. All scored high marks for their employment benefits, non-discrimination policies and supporting an inclusive culture, according to an announcement.
“These companies know that protecting their LGBTQ employees and customers from discrimination is not just the right thing to do, it is also the best business decision,” Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement.
Several of the aforementioned corporations scored 100% on the survey, which also gauges commitment to LGBTQ equality and responsible citizenship. In its own announcement, Philips credited the 15% uptick in its year-over-year score to community outreach and corporate diversity education. It also sponsored pride parades in Boston, Nashville and Seattle last year.
“Leveraging our differences makes us more creative, innovative and effective," Ivette Helal, senior vice president and head of human resources at Philips, said in a separate statement.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.