Human Rights Campaign names Electronic Arts one of the 'Best Places to Work 2014'

Electronic Arts’ efforts to make its offices and the wider gaming community a better place for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, and transgender people has earned it official recognition from the Human Rights Campaign.

EA earned a 100 percent rating in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, which judges major companies on their organizational and public engagement in relation to LGBT employees and customers. A 100 percent rating signifies that EA meets the basics of including an equal-employment-opportunity clause in its hiring policy in addition to training managers and new hires on LGBT issues along with public-engagement efforts.

This is the fourth time that EA has earned the 100 percent rating from the HRC.

“We’re very proud that EA has been named a ‘Best Place to Work’ by HRC again this year and that our organization has been recognized for providing a workplace that is inclusive and where everyone feels welcome,” EA head of diversity & inclusion Andre Chambers wrote in a statement. “We look forward to continuing that tradition in 2014.”

As part of its efforts to improve the lives of LGBT people, EA supported pride parades in the cities where its employees work. That includes San Francsiso, Los Angeles, Seattle, Stockholm, Vancouver, Austin, Texas, and Orlando, Fla. The company covered each of these events as part of its EA Pride blog series.

In February, EA hosted a New York event called Full Spectrum that invited industry luminaries to discuss the challenges surrounding LGBT characters in gaming. The company said that it hopes to “keep the conversation going in 2014.”

In 2013, EA also partnered with Humble Bundle, which sells bundles of games under a model where customers name their own price. A chunk of the money raised is then split between charities, developers, and Humble Bundle. EA’s Humble Origin Bundle ended up raising over $10.5 million for six different charities, including the Human Rights Campaign.

In April, gamers helped to vote Electronic Arts as the Worst Company in America, according to the customer-advocacy blog Consumerist. While EA is making huge strides to support the LGBT community, some are still not happy with its business practices.