I’m incredibly proud to share that Vertex has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign’s 2020 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking tool to evaluate corporate policies and practices that are relevant to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer employees. By earning a score of 100, we met the CEI’s criteria across a range of categories, including workforce protections, inclusive benefits, inclusive culture, corporate responsibility and responsible citizenship. We join a group of top employers that earned this rating and the designation of being a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality.”
Building a culture of diversity and inclusion has been a top priority for our senior leadership team over the last several years, and it’s an effort that our employees continue to take an active role in driving. We wholeheartedly believe diversity is a catalyst for innovation, and that everyone’s distinct experience and background plays a critical role in moving our company forward. We’ve worked hard to build an inclusive culture that allows Vertexians to bring their authentic self to work every day.
Our four Employee Resource Networks (ERN) play a tremendous role in helping us move the needle. These are employee-led groups that help foster an inclusive work environment by focusing on cultural awareness and professional development. They include VIBE (Vertex Includes Boundless Ethnicities), Pride (LGTBQ and allied employees), IWILL (Inspiring Women in Leadership and Learning) and BRAVE (veterans and first responders).
In particular, Pride was instrumental in partnering with our human resource colleagues to achieve this recognition. We now offer more inclusive benefits and intentional definitions for all kinds of families – with domestic partner coverage, primary and secondary definitions (rather than maternal or paternal), and broadened language around family and loved ones for program eligibility like bereavement leave. Pride has also led important initiatives to demonstrate Vertex’s visible support for local issues, such as the “Yes on 3” campaign to uphold protections for transgender citizens in Massachusetts and the founding of the Massachusetts LGBT Chamber of Commerce.
As you can tell, we take our diversity and inclusion efforts seriously and encourage others in our industry to do the same. That’s why we were one of the first biotech companies to publicly share our diversity and inclusion data. Sharing our data encourages transparency and helps us understand where to make impactful decisions to improve. We’re now using the data to measure how effective our recruitment is, design an effective process to bring in diverse talent, and understand how performance management and people development contributes to the inclusion and retention of all types of employees.
I’m proud to work at a company that upholds these values and has created a world-class culture. If we sound like your kind of company, consider joining our team.