Robert Half - 1792 Exchange

Rating Overview

Robert Half is Medium Risk.

Robert Half often yields to political activism in shaping corporate governance, potentially alienating consumers, dividing employees, and harming shareholders. The company implements race and identity-based policies that replace merit, excellence, and integrity with preferential treatment and outcomes. Robert Half occasionally embraces corporate initiatives that redirect its central focus from business goals to partisan policies and divisive issues at times. This approach fails to safeguard free exercise, free speech, and free enterprise.

Rating Criteria

Corporate Weaponization Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Cancellations	Medium Risk
Discriminatory Philanthropy	High Risk
Employment Protection	High Risk

Corporate Weaponization ⓘ

Corporate Governance and Public Policy Risk Levels
Criteria	Risk Level
Advocacy Bias	High Risk
Funding	High Risk
Political Actions	No Data

Corporate Governance and Public Policy ⓘ

Rating Criteria Detail

Criteria Risk Level Rationale

Corporate Weaponization

Criteria:

Has canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors due to their political views or religious beliefs OR corporately boycotts, divests, or sanctions regions, people groups, or industries.

Risk Level:

Medium

Rationale:

Robert Half received a score of 75 on the 2025 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group. The company recruits employees based on sexual identity issues. The company discriminates against vendors that do not promote divisive sex and gender policies, indicating it prioritizes sexual issues over merit (1)(2). However, the company has not publicly canceled customers, suppliers, or vendors based on political views or religious beliefs (3).

Criteria:

Charitable giving (including employee matching programs) policies or practices discriminate against charitable organizations based on views or religious beliefs.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Robert Half’s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company will not donate to non-religious charities unless they embrace controversial sexual identity policies (1)(2). The company does not publish charitable giving guidelines (3).

Criteria:

Employment policies fail to protect against viewpoint or other discrimination and/or are ideological in nature.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Robert Half’s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company provides gender transition guidelines for its employees (1)(2). Proviti, (a subsidiary of Robert Half,) appears to prioritize diversity over merit in its recruitment and supply chain. From its corporate news page: “Protiviti’s diversity and inclusion programs include: … Diversity champions/council… Diversity recruiting initiatives… [and] Supplier diversity initiatives” (3). Joseph A. Tarantino, President and CEO of Proviti, signed Catalyst’s Champions for Change pledge, indicating its support of DEI in its leadership composition through the establishment of gender and racial targets (4)(5). Protiviti implements unconscious bias training for its employees (6). Robert Half does not provide viewpoint protections for its employees (7).

Corporate Governance and Public Policy

Criteria:

Uses corporate reputation to support causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Robert Half attended Lesbians Who Tech & Allies 2022 Pride Summit, and co-hosted a panel with It Gets Better, an LGBTQ organization (1). Protiviti has participated in a virtual Lesbians Who Tech summit, and a summit hosted by Out & Equal (2). Robert Half advocated for other companies to implement ESG criteria in a blog post called, “Why an ESG Program Is Critical to the New Social Contract With Your Employees” (3). Robert Half supports ESG within its business practices. From its ESG page: “Robert Half’s dedication to our environmental, social and governance (ESG) priorities ties fundamentally to what we stand for as a business” (4). Robert Half CEO, M. Keith Waddel, and Protiviti CEO, Joseph A. Tarantino, signed the CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion pledge, which includes a commitment to promote DEI through bias education training in the workplace (5)(6). Robert Half scored a 65 out of 100 on the 2023-2024 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) from the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), a political stakeholder group (7)(8).

Criteria:

Uses corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies hostile to freedom of expression.

Risk Level:

High

Rationale:

Robert Half’s HRC 2025 CEI rating indicates the company covers transgender related costs for its employees and their children, including paid short-term leave, puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones, chest surgeries, genital surgeries, medical visits and lab monitoring, travel and lodging. By allowing a political stakeholder group to dictate operations, the company increases health care costs and risks dividing employees, alienating customers and harming shareholders (1)(2). Robert Half and Protiviti are copper sponsors of Out & Equal (3). Robert Half has an alliance with the National Urban League (4). Robert Half and its subsidiary Protiviti are corporate partners of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce (5). Protiviti has also donated to the U.K.’s House of Pride to raise funds for the Stonewall Housing and Gay Times (6). Otherwise, there are no publicly known cases of the company using corporate funds to advance ideological causes, organizations, or policies (7).