Espresa ERGs Guide
This is a document talking about Employee Resource Groups
We’re Better Together. Harness the Power of Employee Resource Groups for Cultural Transformation
Discover how to improve employee engagement and promote a culture of diversity and inclusion with employee-led programs and clubs. Employee Resource Groups However, successful ERG (ERGs) are capturing the hearts programs don’t just happen of corporate culture and with on their own – nor are they good reason – it has become necessarily easy to setup, run, one of the more compelling and maintain in corporate differentiators in this increasingly environments. The bigger or global and competitive job faster a company is growing, market. Encouraging employees the greater the need to to express their true selves and organize and manage ERGs celebrating uniqueness has beyond the spreadsheet. been proven to be a powerful This is particularly true of new tool for improving employee generations of workers who are engagement, supporting seeking greater philosophical diversity, and differentiating alignment to the organizations your company as a brand and as they are working for and with. a culture.
The basics: an ERG is an afifliated group of employees within an organization who share distinctive qualities, interests, or goals. Employees from particular It could be something as simple constituencies may initiate as an intramural sports league ERGs, or they may be organized or a book club. People tend to from HR teams or Diversity and associate with each other based Inclusion departments. ERGs are on common interests. In the commonly formed for veterans, case of ERGs, this tendency can LGBTQ+ employees, women in have a positive impact on an EMPLOYEE RESOURCE GROUPS the workforce, working parents, employee’s job satisfaction and single parents, and for purposes loyalty. How it works of cultural diversity. However, they can also center on special However, a company’s ability interests and hobbies, like to leverage ERGs to improve fantasy sports leagues or wine employee engagement requires tasting. executive support and HR oversight. That said, there is no Whether the HR organization is one-size-ifts-all approach to ERG aware of it or not, any company programs. Each program is as with more than a couple hundred unique as the ERG participants people is likely to have ERGs in themselves. place.
ERGs in action PINTEREST WORKDAY COMCAST 2 4 Pinterest’s Knit Con is a two-day conference in Employee Belonging Councils at Workday seek to The Veterans Network at Comcast is one of many which employees lead sessions on their areas celebrate employees’ passions and help to make ERGs “designed to encourage employees to 1 3 of expertise. The objective is to “give people a it a Great Place to Work. In addition to favorite bring their whole selves to work, thus enriching chance to discover new hobbies or ideas while past-times, like chess or ping-pong, Employee our culture with their unique points of view, embodying one of the company’s core values: Belonging Councils also celebrate diversity. For backgrounds, and experiences.” The Veterans ‘Knitting.’” Knitting, according to Pinterest co- example, the Asian Paciifc Islander Employee Network began alongside the company’s effort to founder Evan Sharp, is when “two ways of seeing Belonging Council hosted a party to celebrate hire more than 13,000 veterans, military spouses, meet, and something new occurs.” Knit Con the Indian festival of Holi. The party drew more and National Guard and Reserve members. The sessions have included a jazz appreciation class, than 175 people. According to Workday, “there’s ERG is open to everyone and makes it easy for creative coding, edible gifts, and Jiu-Jitsu. a club for everyone, and if there isn’t, Workday veterans to mentor one another. employees are encouraged to start their own. We have more than 80 funded clubs and counting.”
GOOGLE PANDORA 5 6 Google’s ERGs play an essential role in helping Pandora also provides ifnancial assistance to its new employees feel at home in a rapidly growing 19% average ERGs. According to the company, “Any Pandora company. Google provides ifnancial support for employee can create a PERG (Pandora Employee some of its ERGs that represent social, cultural, Resource Group) by ifnding at least four other or minority groups. Google also encourages revenue increase employees who share the interest in a given employees to organize groups around particular subject, and the company will sponsor the ERG up interests. The company says there are “literally for companies reporting to $1,000 a year.” Like the other companies listed tens of thousands of special interest groups that here, Pandora’s ERGs represent a wide variety of can range in size from two to more than 1,000 above-average team professional topics, as well as personal hobbies members and cover topics from wine to hiking and interests. to quilting to Dungeons & Dragons.” ERGs and diversity special interest groups make it easy for new employees to ifnd their sense of community.
Common challenges with ERG programs ERG programs like those above don’t community of workers. However, just happen by accident. HR must provide because ERGs are started and run by the guidance and tools employees employees doesn’t mean that they are need to start, run, and promote their self-sustaining or effective at delivering groups quickly. While there are many the beneifts companies seek. A uniifed nuances to corporate ERG programs, platform can help HR and employees best practices do exist, and following alike meet their goals for an ERG. By them can help HR organizations serving as a central tool for setting overcome some of the common up, running, and operating an ERG, a challenges that are inherent with ERGs. platform makes it easy for employees to gather around shared interests while A well-run and managed ERG program lowering the overhead for HR. beneifts both employees and the business. Employees get the beneift of building interpersonal relationships that make the workplace more welcoming and enjoyable, while the company reaps the rewards from having a more diverse, happy, and engaged
Challenge: Fostering a prosperous environment for ERGS Thriving ERGs are woven into corporate culture. For example, new employees at Google know they can make a connection and build their network by joining one or more ERGs. However, you can't force employees to form and participate in ERGs, so, how does HR design and fund ERGs that are meaningful? Similarly, just because employees meet around a particular interest doesn't automatically ERG mean they’ll get ifnancial or other support from HR. program 1 success Best Practice: Drive culture from the bottom up All too often, corporate culture is dictated from the top down. However, the most meaningful corporate cultures are those that develop organically. Empower and encourage employees to identify what is important to them through the ERGs they form, and then foster the values or ideals that are expressed therein—whether it be an entrepreneurial spirit, giving back through volunteer work, expressing creativity, or an active lifestyle. When developed in this manner, the corporate culture will be meaningful to employees, and the ERGs they create will have a higher chance of longevity.
Challenge: Leveraging ERGs to foster employee engagement How many ERGs are active? Which ones are the most popular? Is a core group of employees engaged in multiple groups, or are you reaching employees across the enterprise? Without these insights, HR cannot provide adequate support when and where it’s needed or measure employee engagement and encourage involvement. However, how do you do that, especially if existing ERGs started organically? Foster employee engagement Best Practice: 2 Analyze and measure success There are a variety of success metrics used to measure ERG programs, such as employee retention. While there is not a one-to-one relationship between the two, ERGs should impact attrition. ERG performance can also have a positive impact on employee productivity and absenteeism. Using an ERG platform can help you measure more specific metrics, including informal ERGs. For example, you can track who is attending which groups, and see whether you’ve reached penetration across departments and campuses.
Challenge: Promoting ERGs For ERGs to be successful, employees must get the word out with minimal effort. Unfortunately, this introduces greater challenges to HR, namely, streamlining corporate communications. Email, intranet, paper lfyers, electronic displays – there's no shortage of corporate communication mediums. If you have 80+ clubs like Workday, corporate communications can become a nightmare. HR needs a way to give everyone equal promotion while streamlining communications. Promoting ERGs Best Practice: 3 Go beyond traditional outreach tools and strategies A platform with an integrated calendar can show what’s happening every day while highlighting special events or new ERGs. General information about ERGs that appears on your corporate intranet or Wiki pages can link back to this platform where employees can get information on points of contact, meeting times, as well take action, such as leaving feedback or making a co-payment for an event.
Challenge: Governing ERGs A formalized ERG program requires some guidelines to ensure that employee- formed groups are in everyone’s best interests and that the program runs smoothly. Some of the factors HR must consider are what types of employee clubs represent the needs of your cultural community, the minimum number of attendees required to start a club, requirements for receiving ifnancial support from the company, and guidelines for requesting corporate-hosted meeting space. Governing ERGs Best Practice: 4 Create a policy for ERG requirements Document the guidelines and rules for establishing an ERG, as well as how the company supports them. Keep this information in a place that’s easily accessible to all employees. This is something you’ll want to also include in your employee on-boarding as a method of demonstrating your company’s dedication to inclusion.
Challenge: Finding the time and budget to support an ERG program HR already has a full workload. Whether or not you choose to give ERGs direct ifnancial support, they do require time and effort to manage properly. When beginning an ERG program, it’s not unusual for HR organizations to struggle with how it ifts into the existing budget, how much time should be allocated to an Find the ERG program, and how much time it takes to support one. time and 5budget Best Practice: Use technology to automate workflows and scale programs You may be tempted to start your ERG program with a spreadsheet or Google Docs, but a Web-based platform will give you the visibility and governance you need to ensure a successful start, as well as the automation and integration to scale. A platform can serve as the central location where employees go to learn how to start a new club, request permission to do so (if required), promote upcoming events and activities, and request funding or reimbursement. In short, a cloud-based platform makes it easy for employees to run their ERGs while reducing the overhead for HR.
Challenge: Encouraging executive involvement Executive involvement in your ERG program sends the message to all employees that these groups are valued and encouraged. It also gives employees access to executives in a relaxed environment. However, while ERG programs are attracting attention from the C-suite, getting executives actively involved beyond budget approval can be a signiifcant challenge. After all, everyone’s busy, and no executive can participate in every single group you offer. Executive involvement Best Practice: 6 Identify corporate goals and align executive involvement accordingly HR should speak with executives about their mutual business goals, how they translate into ERGs, and the level of involvement an executive is willing to commit. Working together, you can find ways to meet everyone’s needs.For example, if the company is focused on recruiting female engineers, an ERG can be created in conjunction with this effort, and an executive sponsor can kick it off.
Inclusion has never been so simple. Gain loyalty by delivering the platform for it. Be the culture magnet. Espresa created the best ERG platform to meaningfully connect people in ways they love, while supporting HR and people teams with everything you need to simplify the process from end-to-end. With Espresa, everyone is empowered. Plus, we give HR a 360-degree view of ERGs, including: • Real-team membership and administration • Communication lists per group and per location • Management of ERG administrators and owners • Detailed analytics on event participation and popularity • Budgeting management for formal ERGs • Reimbursement management for both formal and informal ERGs
Espresa Let’s talk Giving employees a great place to work begins with giving them a deep sense of community amongst their coworkers and peers. People more than ever need a place to belong. In this increasingly multi-generational workforce, there are more unique perspectives and contributions to observe and celebrate than ever before. Your people are what make your company – and company cultures are diverse macrocosms that, with nurturing, have the opportunity to spark a positive ripple effect both inside and outside of the workplace. To learn more about implementing the best ERG platform for your organization, connect with Espresa today! About Espresa 1 Espresa is the world’s ifrst Culture Beneifts™ platform that includes a suite of Knit Con, Inspiration from the inside out https://newsroom.pinterest.com/en/post/ knit-con-inspiration-from-the-inside-out 2 integrated tools with the next-generation experience that people love. Workday VIBE https://www.workday.com/en-us/company/about-workday/ belonging-and-diversity.html 3Great Place To Work: Workday https://www.greatplacetowork.com/certiifed- company/1269734 4Comcast: Supporting our Veteran Community https://corporate.comcast.com/values/ csr/2018/veterans 5Google: Creating a more inclusive Google https://diversity.google/commitments/ 6Pandora: An Update on Diversity and Inclusion http://blog.pandora.com/us/an- update-on-diversity-and-inclusion-at-pandora/