Employee Resource Groups: One Piece Of Your DEI Strategy

One of the things we’ll be focusing on inside a workbook from The Hive is creating a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Strategy.

And while there are many different programs and initiatives that could become part of your company’s DEI strategy, today, we wanted to share one option - employee resource groups (ERGs).

ERGs often fall under the Employee Social Governance (ESG) umbrella. ESG is a framework used to assess a company’s practices and performance on various issues related to sustainability and ethics. So ESG will look at things like the company’s carbon footprint or how it treats its employees and ways to implement systems and processes that improve these areas.

ERGs act like an open forum for employees to discuss changes to policy and practices, a place where grassroots ideas can become structured recommendations, and a space where cross-company networking, mentorship, and learning can occur.

What Is An Employee Resource Group?

ERGs are formed to address the specific needs of different employee groups. ERGs may form around gender, religion, ethnicity, sexuality, race, age, ability, or even interests such as sustainability and look at issues related to diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility.

The ERG acts like an open forum where changes to policies and practices can be discussed and grassroots ideas evolve into structured recommendations. ERGs can also help the career development of participants. I spoke with several friends and colleagues (their thoughts are scattered throughout this article) and Beth, who was a founding member of the women’s ERG at her organization.

The ERG became a great place for mentoring young women in the company and helping them navigate company politics.

BETH

Employee Resource Groups are voluntary, employee-led groups whose aim is to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. Employee resource groups build high-trust relationships that help companies flourish.

Another colleague spoke about the impact the ERG had on improving benefits, “I was the leader of our LGBTQ+ ERG, we completed certification for the HRC Best Places to Work and we reviewed benefits for trans services, pregnancy, and surrogacy services with our insurer.” - Kathleen

ERGs are places where like-minded individuals can come together and make cross-company connections and networks. It’s essential for organizations to grant ERGs access to senior leadership so that participants feel their ideas are heard and valued.

“In our case, the ERGs helped develop connections across levels and departments, there was genuine honesty and openness exhibited by all levels in the one I was most involved with. They humanized the workplace.” - Stephanie

Companies, where the leadership team supports inclusion support groups create better working conditions for their employees.

“At my previous company we had very strong ERGs and one of the things I noticed is that the chair or co-chair of the ERG was able to expand their leadership, skills, and day-to-day accountabilities and some of them were able to leverage that into new management roles both inside and outside our organization.” - Marcy

Studies have shown that 90% of Fortune 500 companies have ERGs, and they’ve been credited with improving working conditions, tackling company-wide challenges, identifying and developing new leaders, and lowering frustration.

Starting An Employee Resource Group

I recently spoke to my colleague Risa about her role in co-founding an ERG at the startup where she used to work called the Women’s Interest Network (WIN).

Her first step was to find support from senior leaders. After going through HR she secured two champions, her senior leader and one of the co-founders of the startup.

Next, she reached out to a few key individuals to help her co-found the ERG. Their initial goals were to improve recruitment, productivity, and retention and advance women’s career development at the company, where over 50% of the employees were women.

They discussed the importance of male allies in helping to create a culture where everyone acknowledged who generated the ideas and actively called out situations where someone was sidelined or not acknowledged. This resulted in opening the membership to males who wanted to support women’s careers.

When you want to start an employee resource group at an organization, find employees with a common goal and vision they want to support. This could be a diversity group that fosters a sense of belonging among employees of a minority group in the business.

They launched and held monthly meetings where they brought in a series of speakers. One was based on healthcare and helped the ERG have a voice on the benefits package, which supported their goals of recruitment and retention. Another speaker discussed finances, both personal finances and understanding the equity shares and exit plans that often accompany working for a private company or a startup.

As the Women's Interest Network ERG attracted more members, subgroups formed around age, gender focus, family formation, etc. And within two months, new ERGs were formed to meet the needs of Asian and Pacific Islander employees and African American employees.

When I asked Risa why she thought WIN was so successful, she said, “I think it provided a sense of belonging. It was a place to go for resources both formally and informally… all it takes is somebody to get it going.” And, of course, creating a sense of belonging is at the heart of much of the DEI work that we do.

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Impact Of Employee Resource Groups

Here are four more organizations that are experiencing the positive impact of ERGs:

accenture

Accenture is an IT and consulting firm and they launched an ERG effort in 2021. One ERG focused on the 2SLGBTQIA+ community and made recommendations that have prompted changes in professional development, recruiting, and advancement guidelines as well as corporate health benefits.

ERGs significantly impact an organization and its employees. They are an important step toward achieving inclusive representation, developing workplace culture, and supporting employees.

AT&T

The Community NETwork ESG at AT&T has a well-documented track record of identifying potential leaders. The ESG has been credited with identifying more than 30 individuals for Vice President level positions. AT&T credits the group with growing diversity within leadership and boosting retention among the ESGs 12,000 members.

VIRGIN ATLANTIC

Virgin Atlantic has an ERG called VALUED. It stands for Virgin Atlantic Loves Unity and Ethnic Diversity.

They have signed a Race At Work Charter committed to driving sustainable change in their company. They partnered with Fantasy Wings, an organization aiming to give Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic young people a platform to enter and excel in the aviation industry. Their Black, Asian, and minority ethnic people representing engineering, pilots, and commercial have shared their stories with 1,600 young people from across the UK, to inspire them to know that they too belong in aviation.

And with their Executive Ally's championing, the VALUED network has consulted with the business on their recruitment process and company policies to ensure they are inclusive for all.

ERG’s create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. They can also positively impact recruitment, productivity, retention and even identify employees ready for a leadership role.ERG’s create a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. They can also positively impact recruitment, productivity, retention and even identify employees ready for a leadership role.

PEPSI CO

PepsiCo has 10 different ERGs that range from Connect - an ERG dedicated to building a network among multigenerational professionals to mutually advance careers and drive growth and success to WIN (Women’s Inclusion Network) which strengthens their culture and promotes a work environment that attracts, retains and develops women at PepsiCo.

Employee resource groups create an opportunity for employees to be heard and turn grassroots efforts into changes that inspire a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace. If you’re working on a DEI strategy for your company, please consider the role that ERGs could play.

Need help creating a DEI strategy for your organization? Explore 'The Hive' repository where we are excited to offer support through a comprehensive workbook that will provide guidance to evaluate things from every angle - from writing (or revising) your DEI statement to programs and initiatives that you could consider including.

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