CEI 2006 - Raising the Bar

The HRC Corporate Equality Index
Raising The Bar for Transgender Employees in 2006

“The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.”
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes

There was a time not really all that long ago when 'transgender' and 'workplace' were rarely used in the same sentence. Each of us felt utterly and totally alone as we tried to come out at work. This was as true for those who were perceived to be too masculine or too feminine in ways that were contrary to their physical sex as is was for those looking to begin their Real-Life Experience as required by the Standards of Care. Many of us were fired right then and there. Many more of us were fired before we even had a chance to come out simply because others suspected something about us, or our efforts to maintain our privacy in this regard were somehow undermined.

The simple fact of the matter is that there were no protections there for transgender people. In a day and age when most people assume that they're protected from discrimination and harassment, the harsh reality is that there are groups of people who are not covered by those protections. There are groups who are singled out as being somehow "OK" to discriminate against. If I were to get on a soapbox right now I'd talk about how a mindset that can somehow justify or rationalize discrimination and prejudice against a small, unprotected group of people informally empowers others to take other, more severe actions against them. Discrimination and marginalization promote hate and violence - it's a pretty simple equation. For the sake of staying on message I'll spare you the preaching. I'm confident you can see the connection.

It became apparent to me early on that the workplace was a significant single focal point for the transgender community. In fact, I'd say that my passions around workplace equality are what eventually pushed me into other advocacy avenues. Whereas I originally felt I could focus on a single aspect of equality - the workplace - I would eventually realize that the world doesn't work like that. Equality in our workplaces is intimately connected to equality at home, in the courts, in legislatures, in media. Equality in one area leads to and is affected by equality in others. On the flip side, marginalization in one area eventually infects the others, as well. That simple holistic relationship is why workplace equality is so important. It eventually leads to other things.

The workplace is more than just a job for many people. It is more than simply a source of income, although the money aspect cannot be underemphasized. The transgender journey is often an expensive one, and I daresay that the single most terrifying fear that many of us share is getting stuck someplace in gender-limbo: no job, no money, no nothing. The stereotype of transgender people as sex workers remains a reality for far too many of us - not because we have chosen that life but because we cannot get a job and its the only way we can make any money. If nothing else, we're a community of survivors. Still, it is an often tragic and heartbreaking spiral of abuse - but it's something that far too many of us face each and every day.

For those fortunate to have a job, or perhaps a career, you'll find that it provides more than just income. It provides a feeling of self-worth. It provides a sense of belonging. How many people know what it's like to wake up in the morning and have no place to go, no place to be? A job is a critical component in our psyche - of success, of having value, of doing something worthwhile, of acceptance. At a time when many of those things are in short supply for those in the transgender community, having them at work is absolutely critical.

What about benefits? Have you ever tried to get health insurance as an unemployed (or even a self-employed) transgender person? It's often difficult. Sometimes, it's impossible. The fact that a workplace transition has a medical component to it makes this situation a problematic one. We absolutely need these benefits.

Although those things are certainly important on an individual basis, collectively the workplace is such a critical battleground because it's the place where most people are most likely to meet one of us. If we ever hope to overcome the underlying mindset that originally gave rise to these discriminations we've got to personalize ourselves. We've got to meet people and give the term 'transgender' a living, breathing, human face. We need to move it from an abstract concept that's about them (people out there somewhere ) to a more personal level. As more people meet more of us the barriers between us and them begin to fall, and an overall sense of understanding and empathy is possible.

People generally surround themselves with people just like them. Their friends are like them. They shop where people like them shop. They go to school where people like them go to school. They live where other people like them live. The workplace isn't like that. It's a place where people of diverse backgrounds are brought together as a group because they have a skill or talent that the business needs. In the workplace people are investments, and the business expects to makes good on its investment through exceptional performance. That's why workplace diversity is such a big deal - because the more effective any individual or team is the more effective they can perform to do whatever it is they were hired to do for the company.

The business case for Diversity is compelling, so equality efforts in the workplace continue to grow. This is especially true when it comes to GLBT policy. All you need to do is look at the meteoric growth of attendance at the annual Out and Equal Workplace Summit held each fall to get an indication of just how visible all this has become. There were 500 people at my first O&E event in Minneapolis 4 years ago. This year there were over 1,800. Part of the reason for this tremendous success is that companies want to know what to do. They need education. They need to be shown how they can make their workplaces more inclusive because they're often unaware of the unique needs of any particular group of people. That's why the HRC Corporate Equality Index (CEI) has been so important.

The CEI in its present incarnation came into being in 1999. It was based on a group of standards called "The Equality Principles" that outlined 8 specific things that employers could do to make their workplace more inclusive for GLBT employees. The CEI took these principles, assigned an equal point value to each (14 points), and started to survey Corporate America to see where it stood based on these criteria.

HRC established a Workplace Project to oversee the workplace efforts of the organization on the Foundation side of the house. The Director of the Workplace Project is Daryl Herrschaft, and at the time he had a single full-time staff person to oversee all their work. HRC established a steering committee to help guide HRC in their workplace efforts in 1997 , and recruited a broad array of corporate leaders from around the country to be part of the HRC Business Council. One of the main roles of the Business Council is to oversee the Corporate Equality Index, and if you look in the back of the publication you'll see a list of the esteemed group of people involved.

The CEI quickly became more than simply a survey to gauge corporate GLBT policy. It became a benchmark for GLBT inclusion. It became a roadmap for corporations on things they could to to make their workplaces better for GLBT employees. These policies reach far beyond their employee base, however. In an increasingly competitive market for the best talent it becomes a sales tool for recruiters. And, in an increasingly competitive battle for market share it helps to sway purchasing decisions. All in all, the CEI quickly became THE standard the not only reported GLBT workplace policy, it directed it.

In 2002 the Business Council did not have a single trans-identified person in it and they established a plan to grow and become more diverse. They recruited both myself and Jamison Green that year and I feel confident in saying that our input and our energies helped to move the BC to a new level. Although they had discussed transgender policy and issues before there was never one of us at the table to help them, and by engaging us we could help to educate on the issues we face and the concerns we share. I am tremendously proud of the work we've done, and to be associated with this amazing group of people.

There were 2 questions on the CEI specific to the transgender community. One involved diversity training inclusive of 'gender identity and expression' (GI&E). The other required a company to have a written EEO statement that explicitly included GI&E. That second criteria - meant to establish policy that prevents discrimination on the grounds of a person's gender identity and/or expression - became the single most difficult nut for many companies to crack. Their scores would languish at 84 until they could get past it, and every year there were dozens of companies who would have had a perfect score except for that single criteria. There was no negotiation on this point, as some companies tried to argue that their inclusion of 'gender' should give them credit for this criteria. Not so. We're looking for specific wording and nothing else will do.

To demonstrate just how successful the CEI has been at helping companies establish supportive transgender policy in their workplaces, look at this graph that trends the number of companies that included GI&E in their EEO statement:

These numbers are astounding. Corporate America does not move very fast, and the fact that there were only 3 Fortune 500 companies with this policy in 2000 and 118 just 6 years later is directly a result of the CEI. That fact is indisputable. When I worked at Dell my single-most significant accomplishment there was to prod them and hound them to update their EEO policy, which they did specifically to reach 100 on the CEI. That legacy will long outlast my time there, and it's something that each of us can do in our own workplaces.

"Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward the goal of justice requires
sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.”
-- Martin Luther King, Jr.

A couple of years ago we started to discuss opportunities to "raise the bar". More and more companies were achieving 100 and we wanted to do something substantive that would establish a new benchmark to lead companies towards true workplace equality for its GLBT employees. Don't get me wrong - the 8 criteria upon which companies were scored were important, but there are many ways that GLBT employees continue to be marginalized in the workplace. We were concerned that once companies reached 100 they would rest on their laurels thinking that that's all there was to do. Not so. There are many ways to move forward and it was time to mature the CEI to lead the way.

Making changes to the CEI is not an easy thing. Just as the transgender community is a broad and diverse one, so too is the corporate population that comprises our survey base. Big multi-national corporations. Small local up-and-coming companies. Publicly held companies, and privately owned ones. Companies that span the entire spectum of industries. Finding common policy that can realistically work for this this broad population must be done carefully and thoughtfully.

We identified that 2 new questions regarding transgender benefits would be added. The question was: What should they be? Ask any individual what the most important priorities should be and you'll most likely get a number of different answers. As a group we wanted to be sure we took a wide variety of perspectives into consideration for this so we engaged a group of respected trans-people to be part of a team to lead the way. The group was comprised of:

This is a tremendously respected, well-rounded group of community leaders. I am honored and proud to have been included in it.

Over the course of our discussions we highlighted 2 specific areas where we could substantively improve the daily lives of transgender employees:

For the purposes of this discussion I'll focus on the latter for a moment to give a glimpse of our efforts. The first thing to do was to identify specific trans health benefits. We identified items ranging from psychological benefits, to disability benefits, to more concrete every-day health related benefits. We carefully chose specific ones, and we worked to craft the exact wording for weeks. The key was to make it applicable to as many companies as possible, substantive in nature with regard to improving transgender life, and to remove as much room for misinterpretation as possible.

Our goals were twofold. First, to prompt companies to extend basic medical coverage to their transgender employees. But perhaps just as importantly, to raise awareness about the exclusionary language that exists in so many company health benefit policies specifically targeting transgender employees. These discriminatory exclusions have often been there for so long that few are even aware they're there, and they prevent transgender employees from using basic healthcare benefits for established medical treatments that other employees enjoy and often take for granted.

Following is just one example of far-reaching exclusionary language embedded in a list of coverage exclusions directly from a major corporation's health benefit package:

"Sex changes: Care, services or treatment for non-congenital transsexualism, gender dysphoria, or sexual reassignment or change. This exclusion includes medications, implants, hormone therapy, surgery, medical or psychiatric treatment."

This probably comes as no surprise to many of us. Still, the fact that these things continue to exist in this day and age contributes to efforts to dehumanize and marginalize us. Many of us have accepted it as 'just the way it is' for far too long, and to see it in print is to confront a decision whether or not to accept it and allow it to stand unchallenged or to expose it for the discriminatory policy that it is, and work to change it. The addition of the wellness benefits to the CEI will change it.

Anyway, I digress. Once we identified the criteria, the last part was to establish the scoring.

We originally identified that a company needed to provide at least 2 of these transgender health benefits to get credit for this criteria. We launched a test as part of the 2005 CEI to see how realistic this was. What we found was a little disappointing, but not surprising.

For many companies, health care benefits are handled completely separate from mental health benefits or disability benefits or sometimes even pharmacy benefits. Corporations usually negotiate these packages only once a year so if they miss the window of change they need to wait until the following year to do it. It's not like an EEO policy that can be changed any time the powers that be will sign it, or establishing an Employee Resource Group which doesn't have a time restriction to it. Changing huge, monolithic insurance policies a) doesn't happen easily and b) only happens once a year. To think that even the most supportive companies could realistically change a significant number of these things would be setting ourselves up for failure.

Even more, there was a definite threat that by setting the bar TOO high our efforts would backfire. It is critical to understand that this is an evolutionary process, not a revolutionary one. Companies at or near 100 need to be pointed in the right direction while still maintaining the flexibility to be allowed to move forward slowly. If the bar was raised too high out of reach, the distinct possibility that many would just throw in the towel was a very real concern. The way these criteria are rolled out is just as important as the criteria themselves.

I'm glad to say that we approached scoring in a pragmatic and practical way. We agreed to set the bar low at the beginning on purpose as an invitation to begin these paradigm-shifting changes, with a commitment that it will be raised again in 2 or 3 years as more companies begin these discussions with their insurance carriers. We fully expected that some companies would choose to set their own bar higher than the minimum standard set by the scoring, and indeed it is gratifying to see that 69 Fortune 500 companies have already enacted ALL the criteria (including SRS coverage). The CEI is a minimum standard, and companies are always encouraged to do more.

Over the course of the past year we planned and implemented a far-reaching and comprehensive educational effort to help companies prepare for the changes.

Changing this survey is like moving a mountain, fraught with any number of opportunities to do things wrong. In my opinion it is testament to the incredible members of the Business Council, to the steadfast leadership of the Workplace Project, and to HRC in general that once all is said and done, we did things right AND we did the right things.

"Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”
-- George Bernard Shaw

When scoring for the 2006 survey was released in mid-September 2006 we were thrilled that all our efforts and careful planning had paid off. Companies not only stepped up to meet the raised bar, but in many cases they exceeded it. As of this date, major corporations like Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, American Express, IBM and others now cover SRS for their employees. How many of us ever imagined we'd see that? These corporate leaders informally set the bar far higher for their competition than we could hope to do through our scoring.

More than simply establishing supportive corporate policy, these new strides have a more far-reaching affect. The fact that corporations are recognizing these policies legitimizes them in other areas of our culture. The fact that companies are removing the exclusions that have prevented insurance coverage for things like SRS indicate recognition that these procedures are NOT simply cosmetic or elective in nature. For employees on a supervised gender transition, this is medically necessary treatment and as such the associated expenses are being covered as they are with other medically necessary treatments.

As with most things, not everyone is satisfied. I have seen a smattering of criticism from a few in the community who try to re-open old wounds by implying that HRC has somehow betrayed the transgender community by setting the bar too low. Although I can certainly empathize with those who want it all right now, I find these criticisms unrealistic, misguided and uninformed. The behemoth named "Corporate America" does not and will not work like that no matter how passionately we might want it to.

I make no apologies to anyone for the way that these landmark changes have been developed and implemented. They were thoughtfully and realistically crafted, and all the right things happened along the way. I find it maddening that people who should be congratulated for their tremendous efforts and leadership are somehow being asked to apologize for something by a few shrill voices that haven't taken the time to do their homework before lashing out. I respect anybody's right to have a difference of opinion. What I don't appreciate is those who try to stir passions based on half of the story, or other agendas. It is no wonder that people from our community choose to NOT be involved in advocacy efforts - with those "friends" like that, who needs enemies?

We are living in amazing times. I doubt any of us can appreciate the magnitude of the changes that we are seeing. They will eventually become apparent in the context of time. Despite the churn so many of us might feel in so many aspects of our lives, the workplace is leading the way. Are things perfect? No. Just because a company establishes supportive policy is that an indication of their internal corporate culture? Not necessarily. Do we wish things would happen faster? Perhaps. None of that in any way diminishes the significant achievement at hand.

What's next? A couple of things. First, we need to hold companies accountable for the things they say they do. I've seen more than one instance where things that a company says and what it does don't necessarily jive. The staff of the Workplace Project does everything it can to validate the data that it has been given but discrepancies still appear from time to time. Usually, these things are spotted by a trans employee who raises a red flag. If you see any of these things at your workplace, please contact me or Samir Luther at HRC so we can investigate. And, I assure you - we will investigate and scores will be adjusted as necessary.

Second, all the corporate data is available online. Real-time, so changes to policy is reflected there immediately. You can look up your company's data here. Go there to see how your company is doing. If it's not reporting please contact Samir to see if there's something you can do to begin that process. If you see that your company indicates that it provides a benefit that you think is somehow in error, let us know. As I say, we'll investigate.

The key thing to remember is that laws, regulations, and policies don't make equality happen. People do. There are those who are not nearly so happy about these advances as we are. There are those who would keep us unprotected and unequal. The key is that we must maintain our focus on the long term goals. If we can do that we'll eventually earn what so many take for granted - Equality.