Supporting marriage equality is good for business

Apple chief executive Tim Cook's decision to go public with the fact that he is gay made headlines last October, and rightly so.

Few top-level executives step forward in such a way. This is not necessarily because they are in the closet or wilfully hiding anything. It’s rather that sexuality is just one aspect of a person’s private life, and the operative word here for most people, LGBT or heterosexual, is “private”.

It is hard to think of an equivalent action from a straight person – something at once so exposing, so guaranteed to make people think of you in terms of what you do, or don’t do, in private relationships.

In a piece he wrote about his decision, Cook noted he has always tried to maintain his personal privacy, not least because Apple is one of the most closely watched companies in the world. And he also observed that many colleagues at Apple and elsewhere knew he was gay.

As he wrote: “While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now.”

But he also captured very eloquently, the reasons why it mattered that he take this step. Amongst them, he noted, "America is moving toward marriage equality, and the public figures who have bravely come out have helped change perceptions and made our culture more tolerant".

He added that making a public statement about his own orientation was “worth the trade-off with my own privacy” if it helped to deliver a more open and just society.

But his words also quietly and indirectly highlight a parallel issue: supporting equality makes for good business.

“I’ve had the good fortune to work at a company that loves creativity and innovation and knows it can only flourish when you embrace people’s differences,” he wrote.

It’s not just Apple. For at least three decades now, tech sector companies have been to the forefront of welcoming and supporting LGBT employees and – pay attention, Irish business community – their partners.

Apple was one of the first companies to give employee partner benefits, regardless of sexual orientation. This quickly became a standard throughout much of the tech sector by the 1990s.

Partner benefits

While it is nice to believe that companies do this because, at boardroom and executive level, they believe it is the right thing to do, the reality is that in a highly competitive and creative business market, the best employees come from diverse backgrounds and varied orientations.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the tech sector offered partner benefits because this corporate commitment to the life, health, social inclusion and valuation of one’s partner was – and remains – important to employees. Successfully recruiting and retaining employees in this industry means companies need to take such a holistic view of their workers.

Now, as many US states and many other countries bring in marriage equality, those geographical locations that recognise marriage, regardless of the gender of the two people who have made such a life commitment, will have a competitive business advantage over those that do not.

The core issue is really very simple. If you are married, you want that marriage recognised in whatever country you work in. You don’t want your husband or wife downgraded, your legally recognised relationship and its concomitant privileges and obligations, societal standing and public commitment, demeaned.

Now, imagine in Ireland if marriage equality fails to be approved. Picture a high-calibre, married gay or lesbian job candidate from abroad looking at one job offer in Ireland, another in the UK.

High on that married person’s list will be quality of life. The consequence of one choice is that person’s husband or wife becomes instead, their partner, and the move means your new resident country says you can come here, but you are not equal-equal, you are separate but equal (a policy just as repugnant when applied to race).

Any business that thinks this will not rightly be a critical element in hiring decisions and company competitiveness is seriously out of touch, especially as US state after state, country after country, moves towards marriage equality.

Marriage equality is good for business. Your business. Which means the economy as a whole.

It’s not the only, or even the main reason to support marriage equality. But it is yet another compelling reason.