A new annual ranking of Fortune 100 companies shows many fail to include faith and religion as part of corporate diversity initiatives.
The Religious Freedom & Business Foundation‘s new Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (REDI) Index, released today, gives high marks to major companies like Google/Alphabet, Tyson Foods, and Intel for taking steps to recognize the importance of faith in the lives of employees. Apple ranks seventh on the list.
The REDI Index establishes a benchmark for annual assessment of the state of corporate America’s inclusion of religion as an integral part of its diversity initiatives. Despite a positive faith-friendly trend emerging in a number of major corporations, the REDI Index also exposed striking shortfalls among Fortune 100 companies, according to Dr. Brian Grim, president of the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation.
The REDI Index revealed that outside of the top 10, many Fortune 100 companies fail to include religion as compared to other major identity categories: race/ethnicity, women/gender, sexual orientation, veterans/military, dis/ability, age, and family.
“With religious affiliation and diversity continuing to grow world-wide between now and 2050, companies that fail to understand the value of a religiously inclusive workplace are increasingly at a competitive disadvantage,” says Grim.