Yet again, diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) work is sadly caught in the crosshairs of political ideology. However, there is ample evidence that DEI work will most certainly continue (perhaps in different packaging) and that Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are here to stay.
According to my interview with April Allen, attorney and founder and partner at DEI firm Allen & Unger, “ERGs can be your best friends or your frenemies as a Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) or a leader of DEI. They either can work in strategic alignment with the organization, or they can go rogue and not buy into the leadership’s strategic goals and wear leadership down with complaints and demands with their ‘wish lists.’ From my years of experience leading and advising ERGs, it boils down to whether your ERGs understand the ‘why’ behind their existence in the organization. They do not exist to be the ‘pity committee’ or to catch the train at the ‘commiseration station.’ They exist to drive the business forward.”
Allen believes ERGs exist for three primary reasons:
- To help underrepresented communities connect with each other so they do not have isolation and can feel a stronger sense of belonging.
- To professionally develop its members.
- To help the organization leverage diversity and turn it into a strategic advantage in terms of market share, better customer service, and innovation.
Allen and Unger have worked with a few organizations that had no ERG policies or executive sponsors and gave ERGs free rein. Allen laments, “Chaos existed for 90% of the ERGs we worked with in these organizations. They lacked organization, solid ERG leadership and strategic goals with metrics. Because ERG leaders didn’t have understanding on how to align with business initiatives and/or how to make recommendations that could be endorsed by leadership, they felt their time was being wasted, and their emotions were being played with. It left the DEIB (diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging) leaders and their teams feeling exhausted and, in two cases, considering resignation.”
Allen recommends these best practices to fully maximize your ERGS:
- Quality over quantity. Start with the “why” behind ERGs before you stand them up or add more.
- Real executive sponsorship. To be fair to all involved, you need an executive sponsor for each group to help endorse or professionally guide how to implement initiatives or make changes. It should not be a lame-duck sponsor, either.
- Tie it to the business. ERG leadership needs to know the business imperatives and how they can help drive them while developing their leadership, business acumen and understanding of the organizational culture.
Data from The Diversity Movement finds that 90% of organizations have ERGs. Of those, 80% of employees involved in ERGs feel a greater sense of inclusion. What would most of your employees feeling included be worth to your organization? ERGs can help solve business problems such as diversifying talent pools, retaining high performers and providing insights and innovation to serve more diverse and often underserved communities.
ERG Tip #1: Use ERGs to Help Diversify Talent Pools
ERGs significantly contribute to attracting diverse talent. Recent data from LinkedIn showed that employers that spoke up online about diversity saw 26% more applications from women.
Global DEI leader at tech firm Monday.com, Adam Boone, said in our interview, “In the end, as the competitive race for talent intensifies across the world, the best-performing organizations will be those who are most reflective of the talent market around them and cultivating environments where talent from any background or identity feels empowered to succeed with purpose-driven work.”
ERG Tip #2: Use ERGs to Retain High Performers
In Culture Amp’s 2022 Workplace DEI Report, they cited that ERGs provide a space for employees to feel included in decisions, develop confidence and empower themselves to drive meaningful impact across various areas of an organization. The first official ERG in the United States, the Xerox National Black Employees Caucus (now known as the National Black Employees Association or NBEA, was created in 1970 as a forum for Black employees to advocate for inclusion and change within the company to retain high performers.
According to McKinsey, “The most effective of these groups (ERGs) help boost feelings of inclusion for traditionally underrepresented segments of workers, improve the attraction and retention of employees who identify with these segments and increase representation of diverse talent in line with the organization’s DEI strategy.”
As ERGs have grown, so has their power. They now often have their own governance and operating models, missions and strategies, often playing a role in supporting the company’s broader DEI strategy. Organizations that highly value ERG leadership and participation will retain more high performers.
ERG Tip #3: Use ERGs to Provide Insights and Innovation to Diverse Communities
Boone recently had some of his ERG leaders attend Afrotech, which aims to bridge culture and technology and celebrate the talents and achievements of Black technology professionals through community building and resources. Boone recognizes that “community is as important as ever, and having spaces like Afrotech enables that through the social connection of networking and insights tailored to professional development regardless of industry or job level.”
“For Black professionals attending Afrotech to be able to see and feel that as an underrepresented and historically marginalized community, that outcome is not a reflection of the lack of talent or qualifications this community has, but rather the result and strength behind organizational processes that uphold biases to support the few instead of the many,” Boone said. “Hearing my team speak about their experience at Afrotech was a nice reminder of the purpose that is consistently reaffirmed in DEI work, regardless of its acronym or naming convention.“
Although ERGs are growing and expected to continue to grow, it goes without saying that ERG leaders also need to be compensated for their time, either through removing non-essential job duties to make time for the work or be paid for the extra work.
Leaders, remember these ERG pro tips: use ERGs to help diversify talent pools, retain high performers, and provide insights and innovation to diverse communities.