Where Is The Future Of Work For The LGBTQ+ Community?

• Seattle is the most LGBTQ+ inclusive U.S. city, with 64% of job ads actively promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity. 
• Consultancy, IT and HR & Recruitment are the top three most LGBTQ+ inclusive sectors. 
• Overall, 31% of U.S. job postings are actively promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity within the workplace, up from 27% in May 2021. 

As the workforce is slowly becoming more inclusive—this cohort of employees is far more racially diverse and more likely to include women, transgender employees, and people with more varied sexual orientations—more LGBTQ+ workers are vocalizing their desire for acceptance and equality in the workplace.

In response, many companies have made focused efforts on developing equitable HR policies, as well as setting up employee resource groups (ERGs), all of which have generated some positive results: According to the 2020 edition of Human Rights Campaign’s annual Corporate Equality Index, 65% of all companies evaluated have a perfect score of 100.

Job search engine Adzuna put together a report analyzing 8.3 million advertised job vacancies across the United States to uncover the cities, states and sectors that are the most inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community.

Key highlights:  

• Seattle is the most LGBTQ+ inclusive U.S. city, with 64% of job ads actively promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity 
• Alaska is the most LGBTQ+ inclusive state, with 54% inclusive job ads. Alaska is followed by Wyoming, Delaware and Vermont 
• Consultancy, IT and HR & Recruitment are the top three most LGBTQ+ inclusive sectors 
• Oracle, Amazon and Deloitte are the top LGBTQ+ inclusive companies 

Seattle is the most inclusive city for LGBTQ+ job seekers in the U.S. Seattle was also the most inclusive city in 2021, and still remains more inclusive than Washington, D.C. (55%), Chicago (46%), New York (40%) and San Francisco (39%).  

“Encouraging and supporting different diverse groups to apply to jobs is crucial to wider equality. Jobseekers are becoming more discerning and are increasingly looking for statements of support for minority groups when applying for roles,” said Paul Lewis, Chief Customer Officer at Adzuna. “It’s what modern employees want, and that’s not going to change any time soon. And there should be no hesitation in hiring diverse applicants for open positions: broadening the talent pool is a great way to bring different perspectives and ideas to a company.” 

Overall, 31% of U.S. job postings are actively promoting LGBTQ+ inclusivity within the workplace, which is up from 27% in May 2021. 

LGBTQ+ inclusive hiring practices are growing in a surprising US region 

The Midwest is rapidly growing its inclusive hiring practices, revealing an area of the country that hasn’t traditionally been seen as a place for the LGBTQ+ community. 

North Dakota has seen 46.4% of job ads show LGBTQ+ inclusivity, South Dakota is up to 39.3%, Kansas is at 35.6%, and Nebraska is at 34.8%.  

The question is, will these more inclusive hiring efforts spur workers to relocate?   

If workers choose to relocate to more LGBTQ+ friendly states to work, flex spaces—such as coworking centers—make it easy for remote workers to temporarily test working in an area before committing to a move. 

Alaska is the most LGBTQ+ friendly state for workers and Iowa is the least inclusive 

Alaska tops the list as the most inclusive state with 54% of job ads (13,142 roles) actively promoting LGBTQ+ diversity in the workplace, followed by Wyoming (50%), Delaware (48%) and Vermont (47%).  

The states that have the lowest inclusivity are Florida (25%), Texas (24%) and Iowa (23%). 

These are the most inclusive jobs 

Consultancy jobs are the most LGBTQ+ inclusive U.S. job sector, with 65% of job ads actively promoting diversity in the workplace (73,596 job ads).  

IT remains the second most inclusive industry, with 61% of vacancies equaling 661,146 job ads actively promoting inclusivity; the industry has even seen an 18% uptick in inclusive job ads since 2021.  

HR & Recruitment also ranks highly with 58% of job ads promoting inclusivity. 

These are the top-rated companies for LGBTQ+ employees 

Glassdoor’s LGBTQ+ Employee Experience report took data from over 209,000 full-time and part-time job ratings to reveal that the average LGBTQ+ employee experience rating came in at 3.62 out of 5, which is 6% lower than non-LGBTQ+ employees.  

Glassdoor ranked the top 10 highest-rated companies for LGBTQ+ workers:  

1. Google (4.38 out of 5)  
2. Microsoft (4.35 out of 5)  
3. H E B (4.28 out of 5)  
4. Lululemon (4.27 out of 5)  
5. Deloitte (4.17 out of 5)  
6. Bath & Body Works (4.14 out of 5)  
7. Progressive (4.07 out of 5)  
8. IBM (4.00 out of 5)  
9. Walt Disney Company (3.93 out of 5)  
10.  Apple (3.91 out of 5)  

“A 2019 Glassdoor survey found that 70% of LGBTQ+ employees would not apply to work at a company that does not support its LGBTQ+ employees, so employers simply can’t afford to disregard their LGBTQ+ employees,” said Daniel Zhao, an economist at Glassdoor.