A total of 46 companies in California received a rating of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s Corporate Equality Index. Nationwide, 842 businesses received the maximum score, reflecting the rating’s evaluation that these are among the “best places” for LGBTQ+ members to work.
Sweetgreen, Inc. is not on the Fortune 1000 list of large U.S. companies.
The CEI rating criteria are based on four categories: nondiscrimination policies, pledges of equal benefits for LGBTQ+ employees and their families, support for an inclusive workplace and “corporate social responsibility.”
Companies might be adhering to CEI policies to please their top shareholders and secure bonuses and board positions for themselves, the New York Post reported. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, who has been called “the face” of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), wrote in a 2018 letter to CEOs titled “A Sense of Purpose” that companies that fail to serve a social purpose “will ultimately lose the license to operate from key stakeholders.”
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, author of “Woke Inc.: Inside America’s Social Justice Scam,” said, “The big fund managers like BlackRock all embrace this ESG orthodoxy in how they apply pressure to top corporate management teams and boards and they determine, in many cases, executive compensation and bonuses and who gets re-elected or re-appointed to boards. They can make it very difficult for you if you don’t abide by their agendas.”
Prioritizing CEI rankings might not always bring the results executives are hoping for, as in the case of Anheuser-Busch’s promotion of Dylan Mulvaney, a 26-year-old TikTok star who transitioned from male to female in 2021 and has since raked in over $1 million in brand endorsements. Bud Light’s and Nike’s ad campaigns featuring Mulvaney drew criticism from stars like Kid Rock, Travis Tritt and Caitlyn Jenner, but Derek Kreifels, the co-founder and CEO of State Financial Officers Foundation, said the backlash may end up being more significant.
In the two weeks after Bud Light’s launch of the Mulvaney ad campaign, Anheuser-Busch’s value decreased by more than $5 billion, the New York Post reported.
The CEI ranking examines business-related activities such as education, training and accountability measures and how inclusive they are.
A total of 1,200 companies, both privately and publicly held, participated in the survey in 2022. The Human Rights Campaign Foundation initiated the survey in 2002.
| Employer | Headquarters Location | State | 2022 CEI Rating | Fortune 1000 Rank? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activision Blizzard | Santa Monica | CA | - | Yes |
| AECOM | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Amyris, Inc. | Emeryville | CA | 90 | No |
| Anschutz Entertainment Group, Inc. | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | No |
| Atlassian | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Avery Dennison | Glendale | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Bank West | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Blend | San Francisco | CA | 90 | No |
| Blue Shield California | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Brown Caldwell | Walnut Creek | CA | 90 | No |
| Buchalter, Professional Corporation | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | No |
| Cadence Design Systems | San Jose | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Cetera Financial Group | El Segundo | CA | 95 | No |
| CooperCompanies | San Ramon | CA | 100 | No |
| CoreLogic | Irvine | CA | 50 | Yes |
| CSAA Insurance Group | Walnut Creek | CA | 100 | No |
| Cubic Corporation | San Diego | CA | 100 | No |
| Del Monte Foods, Inc. | Walnut Creek | CA | 100 | No |
| DoorDash, Inc. | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Doximity, Inc. | San Francisco | CA | 90 | No |
| E&J Gallo Winery | Modesto | CA | 100 | No |
| Edison International | Rosemead | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Equinix | Redwood City | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Experian North America | Costa Mesa | CA | 100 | No |
| Farmers Insurance Group | Woodland Hills | CA | 255 | Yes |
| Federal Reserve Bank San Francisco | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Franklin Templeton Investments | San Mateo | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani, LLP | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Gusto, Inc. | San Francisco | CA | 95 | No |
| Hitachi Vantara | Santa Clara | CA | 100 | No |
| Hyundai Motor America | Fountain Valley | CA | 100 | No |
| Hyve Solutions Corporations | Fremont | CA | 100 | No |
| Illumina | San Diego | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Impossible Foods | Redwood City | CA | 100 | No |
| Ingram Micro | Irvine | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Instacart | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Kaiser Permanente | Oakland | CA | 100 | No |
| KB Home | Los Angeles | CA | 30 | Yes |
| Keep Truckin, Inc. | San Francisco | CA | 95 | No |
| KLA Corporation | Milpitas | CA | 30 | Yes |
| Korn Ferry | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | No |
| LendingClub | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| Sunnyvale | CA | 100 | Yes | |
| Livongo | Mountain View | CA | 90 | No |
| Meta Platforms, Inc. | Menlo Park | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Momentive | San Mateo | CA | 95 | No |
| NortonLifeLock | Mountain View | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Oaktree Capital Management LP | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Palo Alto Networks | Santa Clara | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Petco Health & Wellness, Inc. | San Diego | CA | 80 | Yes |
| PIMCO LLC | Newport Beach | CA | 100 | No |
| Robert Half | Menlo Park | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Salesforce | San Francisco | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Sanmina-SCI | San Jose | CA | 0 | Yes |
| SBE | Los Angeles | CA | 40 | No |
| Sempra | San Diego | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Sephora | San Francisco | CA | 100 | No |
| ServiceNow | Santa Clara | CA | 100 | No |
| Sonos, Inc. | Santa Barbara | CA | 100 | No |
| Sweetgreen, Inc. | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | No |
| Talend, Inc. | Redwood City | CA | 70 | No |
| TriNet USA, Inc. | Dublin, | CA | 75 | No |
| Virgin Orbit | Long Beach | CA | 95 | No |
| Visa | San Francisco | CA | 100 | Yes |
| Vision Service Plan | Rancho Cordova | CA | 40 | No |
| Xperi Holding Corporation | San Jose | CA | 85 | No |
| Ziff Davis | Los Angeles | CA | 100 | No |
| Zoom Video Communications, Inc. | San Jose | CA | 85 | No |
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