Wyndham Worldwide Achieves Perfect Score on Human Rights

PARSIPPANY, NJ--(Marketwired - Nov 19, 2014) - Wyndham Worldwide ( NYSE : WYN ), one of the world's largest hospitality companies, has once again received a perfect score of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index (CEI). This marks the third consecutive year the Company has accomplished this benchmark and has been recognized by the Human Rights Campaign as one of the "Best Places to Work for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Equality."

The CEI is based on a number of principles for equality and inclusion, including workplace practices and programs aimed to support a fully inclusive workplace for all. Wyndham Worldwide's ranking reflects the Company's continued commitment to diversity and inclusion, with full leadership support, to its employees, partners and customers. 

"As a worldwide hospitality company, we are all about delivering great experiences for our customers, our communities, and our associates, and an important part of how we do that is by cultivating a global workforce where individuals are welcomed and different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives are valued," said Mary Falvey, executive vice president and chief human resources officer. "It starts with our core values, and from the front desks of our resorts, to our corporate offices, and even our supply chain partners, we maintain a culture that embraces diversity and nurtures inclusion which keeps us a great place to work, a valued business partner, an exceptional hospitality provider, and a top performing company."

Believing diversity enriches the Company as a global hospitality provider, Wyndham Worldwide embraces a culture of diversity and inclusion that supports associates of all backgrounds. The Company offers a variety of diversity and inclusion programs for all associates, including leadership training programs, mentoring opportunities and educational support. Women make up almost 44 percent of all management positions, and last year, more than 16 percent of the Company's total spend was from diverse suppliers, including LGBT suppliers, earning the company recognition as one of the nation's best supplier diversity programs. 

Diversity & Inclusion also plays a role in the Company's benefits decisions. Like other cutting-edge organizations, Wyndham Worldwide continuously assesses the needs of the LGBT community, and provides medical, dental and life insurance benefits to both same-sex and opposite-sex unmarried/domestic partners, as well as their children, regardless of adoption finalization. In addition to offering same-sex domestic partner benefits, Wyndham Worldwide offers an LGBT employee resource group, WYNPride, which invites associates to engage in the business expansion process, networking, personal development and affiliation with colleagues across the business.

"This recognition reinforces the ongoing success we have achieved in making our company an employer of choice among the LGBT community, and one that encourages associates to bring their whole selves and their families to work," said Patricia Lee, senior vice president of Human Resources and chief diversity officer, Wyndham Worldwide. "As a result, we are a more innovative and successful company that partners with the LGBT community and the many other diverse communities where our associates work and live."

Recognized as an industry leader, Wyndham Worldwide was ranked among DiversityInc's Top 50 Companies for Diversity and included on four of DiversityInc 's specialty lists this year including, the Top 10 Companies for Diversity Councils, Global Diversity and People with Disabilities. The Company has also been named a Top 50 Company for Latinas by LATINA Style, named Supplier Diversity Advocate of the Year from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and recognized by the National Association for Female Executives (NAFE) as one of the Top 50 Companies for Executive Women. 

The Company also maintains strong partnerships with organizations such as the National Minority Supplier Development Council, U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, National Hispanic Business Group, Minority Supplier Development UK and China, WEConnect International, Women's Business Enterprise National Council, and U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce, as well as the National Diversity Council, Hispanic Association on Corporate Responsibility, National Society of Hispanic MBAs and National Association of Black, Hispanic, Asian and Women MBAs. Diversity & Inclusion is also one of the core focus areas of the Wyndham Worldwide Corporate Social Responsibility program.

The CEI rates companies on specific LGBT-related policies and practices, including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBT community. Over the past 13 years, the CEI has become the gold standard for corporate policies and practices related to LGBT employees and their families. For more information on the 2015 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/cei .

About Wyndham Worldwide One of the world's largest hospitality companies, Wyndham Worldwide ( NYSE : WYN ) provides a wide range of hospitality services and products through its global portfolio of world-renowned brands. The world's largest hotel company based on the number of properties, Wyndham Hotel Group is home to many of the world's best-known hotel brands, with approximately 7,600 franchised hotels and over 655,000 hotel rooms worldwide. Wyndham Exchange & Rentals is the worldwide leader in vacation exchange and the world's largest professionally managed vacation rentals business, providing more than 5 million leisure-bound families annually with access to over 107,000 vacation properties in over 100 countries through its prominent exchange and vacation rental brands. The industry and timeshare ownership market leader, Wyndham Vacation Ownership develops, markets, and sells vacation ownership interests and provides consumer financing to owners through its network of over 200 vacation ownership resorts serving approximately 907,000 owners throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the South Pacific. Based in Parsippany, NJ, Wyndham Worldwide employs approximately 32,800 associates globally.

For more information, please visit  www.wyndhamworldwide.com .