4 Ways to Supercharge Your Employee Resource Groups

 

Employee resource groups (ERGs) have seen widespread adoption across organizations in recent years as a way to foster a diverse and inclusive culture, and to forge stronger connections among employees across departments and geographies in today’s hybrid world of work.

Supporting women through ERGs and related DEI efforts is particularly important, as women are 23 percent less likely than men to say their needs are being met by their company’s DEI efforts. Additionally, more than half of women say they do not get enough out of their mentorship programs at work.

While 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies have ERG programs in place, on average only eight percent of employees at these companies participate in ERGs. In addition to low adoption among employees, another challenge with ERGs is that women are more than twice as likely as men to devote substantial time organizing DEI work that falls outside their job responsibilities, such as supporting employee resource groups. 

The extra, mission-critical work of leading impactful ERGs often goes unrecognized or unrewarded, and is unintentionally relegated to “office housework.” This can further contribute to burnout that so many women already face today as they balance work and personal lives – 42 percent of women often or almost always feel burned out, compared to 30 percent of men.

Given these challenges, how can your organization extend the reach and increase the effectiveness of your ERG programs? We’ve outlined actions you can take to supercharge your ERGs. 

>> Read the eBook “Supercharge Your Employee Resource Groups” to learn more.