Police tops lesbian and gay employer rankings

Staffordshire Police has been named the country’s top employer for lesbian and gay people in 2006, according to Stonewall’s 2006 Workplace Equality Index, showcasing the 100 most gay-friendly employers in the UK.

IBM made second place and the Department for Work and Pensions and Manchester City Council tied for third place.

Stephen Frost, Stonewall’s director of workplace programmes, said: “We know that the 1.7 million gay staff in the UK workforce are increasingly keen to choose gay-friendly employers. Staffordshire is one of a number of police services across the country making increasing efforts to appeal to lesbian and gay recruits. There isn’t necessarily a stereotypically ‘gay-friendly’ employer any more.”

“The business case for addressing these issues becomes stronger every year,” says Ben Summerskill, Stonewall Chief Executive. “Employers who overlook how they appeal to gay staff don’t only miss out on a significant pool of potential recruits but, in many cases, they miss out on a significant customer base too.”

Accenture and Sheffield City Council secured joint fifth place in the 2006 Top 100. BT and the Department of Trade and Industry are joint seventh. Investment banks Credit Suisse and J P Morgan are joint ninth. Twelve other police forces feature in the 2006 Top 100. The Royal Navy, which joined Stonewall’s Diversity Champions good practice programme in spring 2005, is now one of the Top 100 employers at 75th.

The Index ranks employers according to a range of 20 criteria. These include effective engagement with lesbian and gay staff and service users through vehicles such as network groups. One criteria is the presence of an openly-gay member on an organisation’s board or senior management team.

Visit the Stonewall website for more information