Author: Carmen Adamson
In the months following the racial equity and social justice movement employees are holding companies accountable for their commitments to diversity equity and inclusion. Before we dive into the roadmap we think it is important to review why diversity equity and inclusion matters to your workplace culture and ultimately the success of your business.
DEI and Company Performance
A recent study by McKinsey examined public companies to uncover the link between financial performance and diversity. Their report shows that companies in the top quartile for gender and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have above average financial returns compared to industry peers. These numbers showcase the importance for companies to continue working towards greater diversity and retaining that talent.
Employee Resource Groups are a powerful way to engage employees as they self-identify to join a group they feel connected to. They create a safe space where employees can find support and connect with their peers through shared experiences.
Belonging and connection are important factors that lead to increased performance and decreased turnover. Research from Great Places to Work identified things executives are missing when it comes to tapping into all the benefits of employee resource groups.
“100% of executive sponsors of ERGs say company leadership encourages participation across ERGs. Only 52% of ERG leaders think that’s true”
-Research from Great Places to Work
ERG leaders that were surveyed identified time, money, dedicated support and recognition as top things that would improve their ability to meet goals and objectives.
Investing in Employee Resource Groups
Empower
Provide your ERGs and their leaders with the tools, resources and power to get things done. It is important to provide leaders with diversity and inclusion training to ensure they are equipped to lead these groups. If you don’t have a formal process for how your ERGs need to make requests from leadership, then consider defining one and setting time aside to review requests and meet with your ERGs to provide ongoing support.
Consider launching a dedicated tool to host ERGs giving them a space to live and grow. CSRconnect offers virtual groups where employees can rally together. Virtual groups within your employee engagement platform helps to streamline resources and communication among the group members. Virtual groups are highly configurable and offer companies a unique place to support a wide range of initiatives through ERGs.
- Create location-based groups and/ or global affinity groups by cause or interest
- Host documents and events to promote activities or training in a central hub and track attendance
- Collect data on overall engagement through groups including giving engagement and volunteer engagement
- Use an engagement element in CSRconnect to list all available groups on a landing page providing employees information on how to join and get involved.
Connect ERGs to other Employee Engagement Initiatives
Each year we create an industry report that analyzes data to show various program trends and insights. Year after year the data shows that companies using the virtual employee resource group technology in CSRconnect see a higher overall engagement rate with their volunteering and giving programs. This data shows that resource group technology can help drive engagement with other CSR initiatives. Intuitively this makes sense to us as employees would be more consistently logging in to the platform to engage with their group, volunteering or giving.
14%
companies using groups in CSRconnect saw a 14% combined engagement rate
10%
companies not offering virtual groups in CSRconnect had a 10% combined engagement rate
Take Action | Recognize Employee Resource Group Contributions
The work that ERG leaders and ambassadors put in, especially during critical times of need like a disaster often times goes above and beyond the call to support. Small actions like announcing ERG contributions in team meetings or company all-hands meetings can also go a long way in showing your appreciation for their efforts and provide a key opportunity to remind all employees that your company actively supports them. Your employees may learn about ERGs during new hire orientation and thought about joining but maybe forgot. These announcements can provide consistent messaging, give employees a burst of excitement to initially join or continue engaging.
During the pandemic Capgemini found that their ERGs were tracking more volunteer hours than any year before. In order to show their appreciation to employees that stepped up, created social events and meaningful wellness opportunities they created ERG awards.
