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For the second consecutive year, NCR Corp. made the list of 100 leading
businesses for gay and lesbian Americans because the computer-services
company offers health care for domestic partners and has a nondiscrimination employment policy.
"NCR has done a lot of things right all along. It'd be nice if all
companies would act like NCR," said Grant Lukenbill, an author and journalist who
has compiled the list since 1995.
Dayton-based NCR has a group for gays, lesbians, bisexuals and
transgendered employees and covers sexual orientation in diversity training sessions,
said Neil Makin, a senior business analyst and co-chairman of League@NCR, the
employee group.
Makin said NCR getting on the Gay and Lesbian Value Index list two years
in a row is a source of pride. "I think it means the company has made some
really good strides and not just the past year," Makin said. "It's a great
honor."
The Gay and Lesbian Value Index rates companies based on the wording of
their nondiscrimination policies, corporate giving to gay and lesbian
organizations, diversity training, recognition of gay and lesbian employee
groups and extension of health-care benefits to domestic partners.
Lukenbill said the list is a social barometer of corporate America. "It
represents decent, forward-thinking companies that have made important
changes and signaled that they intend to do more," he said.
Lukenbill said being on the list gives companies two key competitive
advantages: the ability to attract competent talent and be seen as
progressive by investors. He applauded another Ohio-based company, The
Limited Inc., for extending adoption benefits and domestic partner
health-care coverage to gay and lesbian employees in April.
Makin said gay-friendly policies can also attract customers to a company.
G&L Bank in Florida bought NCR equipment because of the company's
experience and its gay-friendly policies, Makin said.
Makin said he knows of only one other company in the area that extends
health-care benefits to domestic partners, but that small business does
not seek publicity.
NCR was also named among the top 10 lesbian-friendly companies in the
Fortune 500 by Girlfriends magazine in June.
Makin downplayed the possibility of a backlash against NCR and other
companies with gay-friendly policies. "Five or six years ago, there might
have been a backlash, but now I doubt there would be much," said Makin, an
NCR employee for 15 years.
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