It doesn’t take long to figure out that high-end furniture manufacturer and retailer Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams (MG + BW) is a diversity trendsetter. For six consecutive years, the North Carolina company has scored 100 percent on the Human Rights Campaign’s (HRC) Corporate Equality Index (CEI), which rates businesses’ efforts to establish and maintain inclusive workplaces for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees.

MG + BW’s concern for the rights and needs of LGBT employees is hardly an anomaly. In 2009, 260 companies scored 100 percent on the CEI, up from 195 in 2008; 120 Fortune 500 companies, including Bank of America, Hewlett-Packard, and General Motors, also made the cut.

Although many corporations have made it easier for LGBT employees to be open about their sexual orientation, few can claim two openly gay founders. Mitchell Gold, Chair-Man, and Bob Williams, President of Design, started their business together as a couple in 1989. Twenty years later, their corporate partnership and friendship are as strong as ever. Both men struggled with their sexuality when they were younger because at the time, discrimination and violence against gay men was more prevalent. These experiences inspired them to create a workplace
where everyone felt safe, respected, and valued.

Although members of the LGBT community work in every industry, the furniture and home design industries are extremely well populated by LGBT folks. At MG + BW, it’s highly unlikely an LGBT glass ceiling will keep anybody from advancing.

To better understand Gold’s and Williams’ deep commitment to inclusive management practices, it helps to learn how they met some of the criteria for the CEI. For starters, MG + BW scored 40 points for having nondiscrimination policies and diversity training that covered sexual orientation as well as gender identity or expression. And rather than having special partner benefits for LGBT employees, MG + BW views all partnerships equally, regardless of legal status. The partners of LGBT employees have access to all the same benefits as the married spouses/partners of employees. These benefits include health insurance, life insurance, and more. Unmarried heterosexual partners also have access to these benefits.

The HRC emphasizes partner benefits in the CEI because, as members explain in the report, “On average, roughly 20 percent of employees’ overall compensation is provided in the form of health insurance benefits for themselves—and often for their families. For employees with partners and/or children not eligible for those benefits, this disparity in compensation is profound.”

MG + BW also provides benefits to transgender employees. Through a salary continuation policy, salaried employees can receive paid time off from work for medical reasons, including transgender-related surgical procedures. The HRC added transgender benefit criteria in 2006 because, according to the HRC Corporate Equality Index 2009 report found at http://www.hrc.org/documents/, “most transgender people are categorically denied health insurance coverage for necessary medical treatment, often irrespective of whether treatment is related to sex reassignment.”

Employees of all incomes, races, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations may take on the huge job of parenthood. To meet the special needs of parents, MG + BW built Lulu’s Child Enrichment Center next to its factory and headquarters in Taylorsville, North Carolina. In addition to saving money on daycare (which isn’t free but is more affordable than outside providers), employees who use the onsite facility spend less time driving around and more time hanging out with their kids. If the deal didn’t sound sweet enough already, parents can have lunch with their little ones at the delicious, nutritious company café. Anyone interested in starting an employee resource group is welcome to, but thus far, no one has felt the need.

Discussion Questions

1. Has MG + BW achieved cultural competence? Explain.

2. Which belief is present throughout MG + BW: ethnocentrism or ethnorelativism?

3. How do organizations like the HRC help companies address diversity?