You Started Your Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)! Now What?
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are grassroots groups within organizations with informal entry and exit that are employee-led but company-supported and created around different underrepresented groups or, more recently, unheard majority groups.
One of the most widely cited statistics that have shown up in a lot of presentations and articles around ERGs in the last year alone is “90% of fortune 500 companies having ERGS,”. This statistic itself is over a decade old. While it might seem great to advocate for starting ERGs, it creates two main MISCONCEPTIONS: The impression that a) ERGs are only for large companies and that b) Having ERGs designates organizations that are the standard for diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA).
*ERGS are not just for large companies
*Having an ERG does not indicate Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIB) best practices
ERGs and Company Employee Count
There is no minimum employee count to leverage ERGS. We have seen companies as small as 150 employees that have successfully established ERGs. How do you determine if your organization is ready for ERG? Here are a few guiding questions:
