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Lift Our Voices (LOV), a workers’ rights advocacy group founded by former Fox News hosts Gretchen Carlson and Julie Roginsky, has announced a new index to hold employers accountable for how they handle discrimination and harassment.
The LOV Where You Work Index will grade Russell 3000 equity index employers based on how they use non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) and forced arbitration, according to the organization. HR leaders at Russell index companies (aka, all of the US’s largest public companies) will receive a survey from LOV asking if forced arbitration is used in employee disputes, how NDAs are used, and if their company understands the current legislation on forced arbitration. The responses will inform the index, which will be available in 2025, and will be a resource that job seekers and workers can use to understand how employers deploy NDAs.
It’s the organization’s latest attempt to make the workplace safer for anyone experiencing workplace harassment. LOV was responsible for pushing the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act and the Speak Out Act, which bar companies from using NDAs to silence workers who report sexual harassment and were signed into law by President Biden in late 2022.
Although companies are not compelled to complete the survey, Carlson believes that employers will want to use it to tout their worker-friendly practices, she told Axios. She also said that employers can use the index to improve their internal processes.
“We want to help carry them along to get to the right place,” she said. “So we’re not going to vilify them. We are simply giving them a soft nudge to get on the right side of history.”
Although Carlson admits that the index may take years to catch on, Tracy Alvin, CEO of HR community TroopHR, supports the endeavor. “We believe that this survey and the transparency into company policy will help those organizations that participated rise to the top as a desirable place to work.”