Nearly 700 major U.S. businesses achieved a top score of 100 and the distinction of “Best Places to Work for LGBTQ Equality,” the Human Rights Campaign Foundation announced. Three Iowa-based companies — Principal Financial Group Inc., Transamerica Corp. and Wellmark Inc. — were among those top-scoring companies. 

The HRC’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index is a national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees.

Since 2002, the Human Rights Campaign Foundation has published the CEI report based largely on the annual CEI survey administered to hundreds of major global employers. The first Index in 2002 had 13 top-rated companies. For the past eight years, the foundation has invited the Fortune 1000 list of the largest publicly traded companies to take part in the survey. 

“By using the CEI as a guide, businesses can help ensure that their existing policy and benefits infrastructure is inclusive of the LGBTQ workforce and their families, resulting in greater recruitment and retention of a talented, diverse workforce,” the report said. 

The CEI rating criteria have three key pillars:

• Nondiscrimination policies across business entities.
• Equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families.
• Supporting an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility.

In the 2020 CEI report, 686 major businesses — spanning nearly every industry and region — earned a top score of 100, the organization said. A record 359 of Fortune 500 businesses in this year’s index have official CEI ratings based on submitted surveys, compared with 346 last year, with an average rating of 90 compared with 88 last year. The average CEI score among all Fortune 500 companies in the 2020 report was 71%. 

“These companies know that protecting their LGBTQ employees and customers from discrimination is not just the right thing to do — it is also the best business decision,” said HRC President Alphonso David. “In addition, many of these leaders are also advocating for the LGBTQ community and equality under the law in the public square.”

Editor’s Note: An earlier version of this article omitted Principal Financial Group.