• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, May 31, 2006

Companies Should Determine Employee Benefits, Not Government

According to a recent Harris Interactive survey, 61% of adults agree that a company should have the freedom to decide for itself the benefits it offers to its employees and their spouses or partners. 67% of heterosexual adults and 71% of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (GLBT) adults say they consider a company's employee benefits to be an absolutely essential, or very important, factor when choosing to work for one company over another.

91% of GLBT adults and 79% of heterosexuals also say it is extremely important, very important, or important that their employer offers equal health insurance benefits to all employees,

These are some of the results from the latest national Out & Equal Workplace survey, conducted online among 2,501 U.S. adults, of whom 270 self-identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender by Harris Interactive^® in conjunction with Witeck-Combs.

Out & Equal Executive Director, Selisse Berry, says "Attracting and retaining the best employees possible is what differentiates the success of many companies today."

The survey finds that to heterosexuals, diversity is an increasingly important factor in deciding where to work:

• 72 percent of heterosexual adults consider it extremely important, very important or important that a company have a written nondiscrimination policy that includes sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, sex, religion, age and disability, compared to 63 percent in 2002.
• 61 percent of heterosexual adults consider it extremely important, very important, or important that a company promote and professionally develop senior managers who come from diverse backgrounds, compared to 56 percent in 2002.

In addition, the survey highlights that substantially more GLBT adults are comfortable with "being out" at the workplace compared to four years ago.

• 62 percent of GLBT adults say they are comfortable introducing a spouse, partner or significant other to a boss or management, compared to 41 percent in 2002.
• 50 percent of GLBT adults state they are comfortable having a photo of a spouse, partner or significant other on their desk or in the office, compared to 34 percent in 2002.

According to Berry, "More than half of Fortune 500 companies now offer domestic-partner benefits and have some kind of sexual orientation-protection clause in their EEO [equal employment opportunity] policy. And today, 75 percent of Fortune 100 companies have this..."

Importance Of Diversity Measures On Career Decision-Making (Percent of respondents saying Extremely Important/Very Important/Important)
... when making decisions about your own career, how important is it for you to work for a company that...?"	Total	GLBT	Heterosexual
Offers equal health insurance benefits to all employees	79%	91%	79%
Has a written non-discrimination policy that includes race, ethnicity, sex, religion, age, sexual orientation and disability	72	89	72
Promotes and professionally develops senior managers who come from diverse backgrounds	62	81	61
Has senior executives who welcome, hire and encourage a diverse work force	66	79	66
Supports community non-profit organizations that represent the diversity of the workforce and the customer base	62	76	61
Source: Harris Interactive, April 2006

For more about this release, please go here.