Check out this great article from Florida Trend about how more and more companies are offering domestic partner benefits to employees. Companies are saying that it gives them a competitive advantage to offer these benefits and that it's the right thing to do.
Slightly more than half of the companies on our list offer domestic partner benefits.
by Rochelle Broder-Singer
More than half of the companies on the Best Companies to Work For list offer medical insurance and other benefits to employees' domestic partners. Those 54 companies are mostly small and midsized firms — only six have more than 250 employees.
Although cohabitating unmarried opposite-sex couples can use domestic partner benefits, usually same-sex couples are the intended users. For that reason, offering such coverage was once a controversial move.
Most companies report a positive response to the benefit, although some companies that offer the benefit say no employee has enrolled a domestic partner.
Companies cited a variety of reasons for offering the benefits — from "it's just the right thing to do" to client requirements to the competitive advantage it gives them.
• Restor Telecom
Leesburg - No. 37 / Midsized Company - Telecom
"We're thought of as a progressive employer," says Laura M. Sapp, director of human resources at Leesburg-based Restor Telecom. The company began offering the option in 2009, when its research showed how many employers were offering it. Restor had a number of employees in domestic partner relationships.
[Photo: Jeffrey Camp]
Read the rest at Florida Trend.
