Bright Horizons Named to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index for 19th Consecutive Year

January 4, 2024 –  Bright Horizons has been named to the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) for the 19th consecutive year, the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. Bright Horizons joins the ranks of 1,384 major U.S. businesses that were also named to the 2023-2024 CEI.

The Bright Horizons community is inclusive of all children, families, and employees who represent a wide range of cultures, backgrounds, and experiences. The company has established BH Pride, an LGBTQ+ community at Bright Horizons, which provides opportunities – through webinars, company community pages and panels – for employees to share the LGBTQ+ perspective, encourage dialogue around what it means to be a member of the LGBTQ+, participate in Pride events across the country, and contribute to organizational policies that support and develop people who are LGBTQ+. Through these initiatives, as well as diversity training for all employees, Bright Horizons strives to create a culture that welcomes everyone and celebrates their unique differences.

“For well over two decades, businesses have played an important role in furthering LGBTQ+ equality by centering employee needs and voices when it comes to workplace inclusion. While there is much more work to be done, year-over-year growth in CEI participation is evidence of a business community that recognizes the responsibility and value in upholding equity and inclusion,” said RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, Human Rights Campaign Sr Director of Workplace Equality. “Our goal at the Human Rights Campaign Foundation is to work in a spirit of partnership with companies, providing educational resources and leading benchmarking, and collaborating on ways for businesses to support the LGBTQ+ community at a time when we face unprecedented legislative attacks, heightened anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and physical violence. The CEI is an ever-evolving tool – a blueprint that companies can use to show up more effectively in supporting their LGBTQ+ employees and their families.”  

The results of the 2023-2024 CEI showcase how U.S.-based companies are promoting LGBTQ+ friendly workplace policies in the U.S. and abroad. The first year of the CEI included 319 participants, and the 2023-2024 CEI now includes 1,384 participants; further demonstrating the tremendous trajectory of the CEI, a record-breaking 1,340 businesses have non-discrimination protections specific to gender identity, up from just 17 in 2002. These critical non-discrimination protections cover 21 million employees in the U.S. and around the globe.  
 
The CEI rates employers providing these crucial protections to over 20 million U.S. workers and an additional 18 million outside of the U.S. Companies rated in the CEI include Fortune magazine’s 500 largest publicly traded businesses, American Lawyer magazine’s top 200 revenue-grossing law firms (AmLaw 200), and hundreds of publicly and privately held mid- to large-sized businesses.
 
The CEI rates companies on detailed criteria falling under four central pillars:
●  Non-discrimination policies across business entities;
●  Equitable benefits for LGBTQ+ workers and their families;
●  Supporting an inclusive culture; and,
●  Corporate social responsibility.

The full report is available online at www.hrc.org/cei.