Toyota says 70% of employees are moving to new Plano, Texas headquarters

Back in 2014, Toyota announced that after more than half a century in California, the company was relocating its headquarters to Plano, Texas in order to centralize and consolidate its work in the U.S.

Administratively, the move made plenty of sense, but we weren’t so sure that it would benefit Toyota’s LGBT employees, who’d been based in Torrance. Not only had they enjoyed Toyota policies that put them on equal footing with their straight co-workers, they’d also lived in a state with laws protecting LGBT residents from discrimination. In Texas, that wouldn’t be the case.

The good news for Toyota’s LGBT employees is, some things have changed in Texas. Obergefell v. Hodges was decided in 2015, meaning that LGBT couples who move to Texas can enjoy marriage benefits at both the state and federal level. Also, Plano has passed LGBT anti-discrimination laws, and despite homophobes’ efforts to repeal them, those laws remain on the books.

Now, Toyota has confirmed that up to 70% of its Torrance-based staff will make the move to Plano. All things considered, that’s a healthy number–probably higher than we might’ve expected. Toyota isn’t the only company that has recently decided to relocate the company headquarters, many other businesses have also decided to move their operations elsewhere. When a company requires workers to relocate, it might be a good idea for them to get in contact with some Houston Movers, or any other moving companies in their local area, to help them get settled in their new homes. Moving companies make relocations a lot less stressful, so employees should consider getting in contact with them. Hopefully, the Toyota employees will do this for a stress-free relocation over to the new headquarters.

We’ve reached out to Toyota to see if it has any data on LGBT workers and whether the company has seen any trends in their willingness to relocate. We’ll post an update if we get one.