// Sainsbury’s makes its debut on Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers list
// Ranked 71, it is the only retailer in the annual LGBT-inclusive employers list.
// The top 100 is compiled from the Workplace Equality Index, a benchmark tool for LGBT inclusion in the workplace
Sainsbury’s has made its debut on Stonewall’s Top 100 Employers list, which ranks UK-wide employers based on their levels of inclusivity for gay, lesbian, bisexual and trans staff.
The Top 100 is compiled from Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index, an annual benchmark tool for LGBT inclusion in the workplace, and it’s regarded as the UK’s definitive list of its kind.
Sainsbury’s ranked 71st.
Stonewall said this year’s list was the most competitive yet, with 503 employers across public, private and third sectors vying for a spot.
READ MORE: Has retail reached an impasse on LGBT inclusion & representation?
“We’re delighted to be the leading retailer in this year’s Stonewall Workplace Equality Index,” Sainsbury’s chief financial officer Kevin O’Byrne said.
“We’re an inclusive employer and our LGBT+ colleague network has gone from strength to strength.
“We have also introduced a policy designed to give further support to our trans colleagues and continue to work with colleagues across our business to identify more opportunities to engage and educate on LGBT+ inclusion.”
The Big 4 grocer entering Stonewall Top 100 also marks an improvement on last year, when no retailer made the list whatsoever.
However, in 2016 and 2017, two retailers made Top 100: Asda and the Co-op. In 2018, it was only the Co-op.
Stonewall research shows that 14 per cent of LGBT employees don’t feel able to be themselves at work and 18 per cent of LGBT people have experienced discrimination when applying for jobs because of their identity.
“We still don’t live in a world where everyone is able to be themselves in the workplace, as we know more than a third of LGBT staff – 35 per cent – hide who they are at work,” Stonewall workplace and community programmes executive director Sanjay Sood-Smith said.
“By taking steps to make their workplaces supportive and welcoming of all lesbian, gay, bi and trans people, these organisations are bringing us closer to a world where everyone is accepted without exception.”
Stonewall’s Workplace Equality Index is based on an audit that collects more than 109,000 anonymous responses from employees on their experience of Britain’s workplace culture and diversity.
Stonewall itself is an is UK-based LGBT rights charity named after the 1969 Stonewall riots in New York City, a historic moment that sparked the widespread gay liberation movement.
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