Amazon, Microsoft and Apple are the best large-cap companies when it comes to LGBTQ issues, according to a new index created to take gender and sexual orientation business practices into account.
The LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings index, which was launched in October, includes 100 companies that have a track record on hiring practices and business practices that are favorable to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning or queer community.
The other companies that make up the top 10 are Norton Lifelock, Visa Class A, Mastercard Class A, JP Morgan Chase, Netflix, Coca-Cola and Salesforce.com. The index was created by Bobby Blair, CEO of LGBTQ Loyalty Holdings, with the assistance of Aashu Virmani, of Fuzzy Logiz, an analytics and machine learning firm.
Each company included in the index has to have a history of strong financial performance; non-discrimination policies across business entities; equitable benefits for LGBTQ workers and their families; and support for an inclusive culture and corporate social responsibility.
It is projected the index will outperform the S&P 500 by 3% to 4% on an annual basis, Virmani said. It already has been tested in good and bad market conditions and has outperformed the S&P 500 by 2.5% over the five months it has been in existence. In 2020, the index is down 11.28% compared to the S&P 500, which is down 13.65%, he said.
“Our research suggests that employers that promote equality in the broadest sense and respect gender and sexual orientation in the workplace end up building better brands and corporate culture while outperforming their competition in the market.” Blair said.
The 100 companies in the index, which will be available to retail and wholesale investors through a fund to be traded on the NASDAQ exchange, were selected from the S&P 500 companies. In addition to being screened for LGBTQ issues, environmental, social and governance issues also were taken into account.
“These companies have better human resources departments, attract better talent and have better retention rates, all of which makes them more successful financially,” Blair said. The current economic environment is awful, he said, “but it shows we can do well in bad times, as well as good.”
Some of the people who were part of the creation of the index are former congressman Barney Frank, Major League Baseball’s Billie Beane, tennis star Martina Navratilova and Pride Media’s Orlando Reece.
“We’ve proven you can take your hard earned dollars and serve your core values and your own financial self-interest at the same time,” Blair said.