JLens, “a nonprofit and SEC-registered investment advisor that empowers investors to align their capital with Jewish values and works with companies to address antisemitism and support Jewish employees,” has launched the JLens Workplace Tracker (“Workplace Tracker”)..
The Workplace Tracker is a transparency and engagement tool that documents whether certain workplace policies and practices that support Jewish employees exist at the 100 largest U.S. public companies by market capitalization in the JLens 500 Jewish Advocacy U.S. Index. Apple made the list.
JLens built the Workplace Tracker in response to the sharp rise in antisemitism since October 7, 2023, and to what JLens has learned engaging companies and Jewish employees since 2012, according to Managing Director Ari Hoffnung.
“It’s designed to recognize companies that have adopted these policies and to give employees, companies, and other stakeholders a common reference point,” he said. “It is not a ranking, and it assigns no failing grades or negative labels; nor is it an assessment of the environment for Jewish employees at these companies.”
All 100 companies were assessed against the same 14 metrics. Thirty received medal designations and the remaining 70 are listed as Not Rated, meaning the available information was not sufficient to complete an assessment under the methodology. Not Rated is not a finding that a company performs poorly, and JLens may update any scorecard when a company provides it with information it did not have, says Hoffnung.
“Asking for religious accommodation is not easy. A new Jewish employee who has not accrued enough time off, facing the Jewish High Holidays a few weeks into the job, has to decide whether to raise it with a manager they barely know,” Hoffnung says. “When a company publishes its religious accommodation policy and walks new hires through it at orientation, that employee is asking for something routine rather than something extraordinary. That is one of 14 policies and practices the Workplace Tracker looks at. The companies recognized here are the ones putting information where people can find it.”
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