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DUBLIN, Ohio, Jan. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- With a culture that encourages employees to think of diversity as more than just gender and ethnicity, Cardinal Health earned a perfect score on the 2016 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) for the eighth consecutive year. Cardinal Health is among those listed as a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality.

"At Cardinal Health, inclusion is a strategy and we define diversity in the broadest way," said Cardinal Health Chief Human Resources Officer Carole Watkins. "We know that having an environment that encourages employees to bring 100% of themselves to work will foster innovation, drive customer engagement and create a workplace that attracts the best talent."

Cardinal Health credits its consistently high score to its commitment to a diversity and inclusion strategy, which includes:

• Training courses focused on building professional relationships across differences, aligning employee intent and effect in communications, and challenging stereotypes in the workplace;
• Seven Employee Resource Groups (ERG) created to help make the company a more inclusive place to work, including the Equality Network, which has a mission to influence Cardinal Health in achieving a fully inclusive culture that embraces equality, creates an engaged workforce, and ensures the development of LGBT employees;
• Basic offerings such as spousal and partner benefits, and philanthropic support of LGBT organizations.

"A small, but essential, way this culture is manifested at Cardinal Health is through our display of LGBT flags outside our building," said Susan Jacobson, co-executive sponsor of the Equality Network and senior vice president, deputy general counsel at Cardinal Health. "This is an external symbol of our focus on maintaining an environment where all employees can work together with confidence and trust, and feel supported to be more innovative, collaborative and focused on improving our value to customers."

The CEI is the national benchmarking tool on corporate policies and practices pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender employees. The survey is administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. The 2016 CEI rated nearly 1,000 businesses in the report, which evaluates 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. Cardinal Health is among 407 U.S. businesses that earned the 100 percent score this year, despite new criteria requiring that companies with global operations extend non-discrimination protections for their LGBT workers worldwide. For more information on the 2016 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/campaigns/corporate-equality-index.

About Cardinal Health
Headquartered in Dublin, Ohio, Cardinal Health, Inc. (NYSE: CAH) is a $103 billion health care services company that improves the cost-effectiveness of health care. Cardinal Health helps pharmacies, hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, clinical laboratories and physician offices focus on patient care while reducing costs, enhancing efficiency and improving quality. Cardinal Health is an essential link in the health care supply chain, providing pharmaceuticals and medical products and services to more than 100,000 locations each day and is also the industry-leading direct-to-home medical supplies distributor. The company is a leading manufacturer of medical and surgical products, including gloves, surgical apparel and fluid management products. In addition, the company operates the nation's largest network of radiopharmacies that dispense products to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of disease. Ranked #26 on the Fortune 500, Cardinal Health employs more than 36,000 people worldwide. More information about the company may be found at www.cardinalhealth.com and @CardinalHealth on Twitter.

SOURCE Cardinal Health