Stonewall Ranks K&L Gates Among Best UK Companies for LGBT Employees

London - The 2017 Stonewall Workplace Equality Index has ranked K&L Gates as one of the best employers in the UK for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT) staff. The Index benchmarks the progress made by UK organizations on LGBT inclusiveness within the workplace, including such areas as policy and practice, employee engagement, employee development and support, monitoring, community engagement, the number of openly LGBT staff and partners at senior levels, and feedback from a staff survey. Over 430 employers submitted entries to the 2017 Index, with K&L Gates this year earning a ranking within the top 10 percent of those organizations.

Tony Griffiths, Administrative Partner of K&L Gates’ London office, commented: “We work hard to provide an inclusive environment for everyone at K&L Gates. The diversity of our people is so important. We believe that, in order to provide our clients with the service they expect, everyone needs to be comfortable being themselves at work.”

Recent London initiatives related to this area at K&L Gates have included:

• Providing mental health first aid training for staff to act as buddies for colleagues and coordinating and offering a client-facing event around removing the stigma of mental illness, including in the LGBT community
• Hosting a seminar for teachers and educators supporting transgender children and young people
• Helping to launch GFEST 2016, a platform for LGBT artists, organisations, and venues to promote LGBT arts
• Providing pro bono support for the Non Gendered campaign to seek legal recognition from the HM Passport office for individuals who identify as neither male nor female

Duncan Bradshaw, Director of Membership Programmes, Stonewall, said: “K&L Gates and all those who have made this year’s Top 100 Employers list have done a fantastic job, and really do put equality and inclusion at the forefront of their work. We were thrilled to have 439 submissions for this year’s Index, one of the most competitive yet. With your efforts and hard work, we will continue to work toward a world where all lesbian, gay, bi, and trans staff are welcomed and accepted without exception in their workplaces.”

In addition to this latest ranking from Stonewall, K&L Gates also has been recognized as a “Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality” by the Human Rights Campaign after earning a top rating of 100 percent in its Corporate Equality Index survey for the past seven consecutive years.