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Employee Resource Groups (ERG) — Starting Right
Employee Resource Groups are on the Increase and can be a great asset to organizations — If deployed and operated right. A lot of organizations are focused on starting an ERG this season and they can be a great tool for fostering inclusion within your organization. The challenge is that most organizational leaders are starting the groups from two main perspectives:
- The ERG hype in corporate America
- In response to requests from a few passionate (in-group)employees
While both of these perspectives are excellent reasons to kickstart an ERG, the organizational leadership team still has the responsibility to make sure it is done right to avoid alienating other groups, frustrating ERG leaders and members, and overall derailing your inclusion efforts. The two perspectives do not provide an exhaustive approach of what to do and consider for starting a successful ERG.
First, although ERGs can be a key PART of your diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging strategy, and an extension of your core organizational inclusion team, ERG is not your DEI team. Passionate Employees do not mean they have the skills and the bandwidth to sustain a successful ERG.
Here are few areas to consider in starting an Employee Resource Group program for the first time at your organization:
Data Grounded: Start with the Data. Review Internal and External numbers. Establish where your organization currently is in relation to where you need to be and set goals. The data should also help identify the right ERG and the right vision for each ERG. There are a lot of possible ERGS but you don’t need them all and especially not at the same time.
Organizational Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leadership Team: If you don't have one create one. If you do have DEI teams then the ERG should be a key part of your DEI strategy and an extended team. ERG set up as an independent strategy is not sustainable and DEI is not HR. ERG members can also be a great part of DEI projects, committees, taskforce groups.
Leader Champions: These groups should be employee-led but leader championed. Leadership support is important especially as you start a new ERG. Identify the right leaders who are aligned and well recognized enough to…
