ERGs: A Voice in Your CSR Strategy

June 29, 2022. Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are voluntary, employee-led groups which aim to foster a more desirable work environment or community. More often than not, ERGs provide a place for like minded individuals at the workplace to discuss and act on a variety of topics, including social and environmental concerns. ERGs informally represent their community at the workplace and often help employees with professional growth, visibility, and advancement in the organization. ERGs can often provide an inclusive space for employees in marginalized groups to have a voice. 

With the goal of supporting underrepresented groups in the workplace, ERGs can be a beneficial tool in your CSR or ESG strategy in a multitude of ways. Specifically, ERGs can play an important role in advancing CSR strategies around workforce development, building a purpose-driven company culture, and community engagement.  Some specific benefits of ERGs include:

  • Strengthening community bonds, both in and outside of the workplace

  • Receiving direct support from colleagues and peers

  • Having specific representation and visibility in the workplace

  • Building opportunities for professional development

  • Reflects the diversity of the workforce and facilitates sharing backgrounds, cultures, and experiences with other groups

Clearly, these are notable benefits to employees, but what does the company stand to gain from ERGs? Through having an inclusive space for employees to express themselves confidently, employees are often more willing to share ideas that will benefit the company. Having the confidence to pitch a new idea, or even discuss mistakes can improve individual and team performance and productivity. Moreover, ERGs can increase employee morale as they build a sense of loyalty to the company promoting higher levels of dedication, job satisfaction, and retention.

There are, however, some concerns about implementing ERGs in the workplace. These worries arise from the concept of “division in the pursuit of inclusion”. That is, if its scope is not defined properly, an ERG could create a sense of exclusion with the larger workforce instead of inclusion from a subset of workers. Members within ERGs also have the potential to not share the same goal for what the group should be working toward. Here are some additional concerns you should consider before including ERGs as elements of your CSR or ESG strategy:

  • Low engagement.  The employees in your company, or the nature of your company culture may make it unlikely that employees will appreciate or support the launch of an ERG. (This may point to larger, more systemic problems in the organization.)

  • Smaller businesses. If your organization has a smaller number of employees, representation of employees is probably already achieved, and having an ERG might not be seen as necessary.

  • Lack of budget or support.  Oftentimes ERGs can fail or create internal tension if employees feel as though they don’t receive adequate support from company leaders. 

Overall, if you have enough employees who have expressed a desire to have an ERG it would be beneficial to put it into action. In many cases, the pros outweigh the cons, though, ensuring that the ERGs have the resources to run smoothly is vital. Before putting ERGs into practice, consider: 

  • Does an ERG implementation make sense for my company’s size and culture?

  • Do I have the resources to ensure the ERGs’ success?

  • Do we have executive level support of ERGs? 

  • Can an ERG help advance key objectives or outcomes of my CSR or ESG strategy?

If the answer to these questions is yes, an ERG could be a very useful tool to incorporate into your corporate social responsibility initiatives.

Here are some examples of actively running ERGs:

PayPal: Aliados is a LatinX ERG which hosts various types of events with the goal of enhancing the LatinX community through mentoring and career development. 

Google: Women@Google is a women empowerment ERG dedicated to developing and retaining female talent. They work to create a social impact in local communities. 

Adobe: APIA is a Asian/Pacific Islander ERG committed to promoting leadership and professional development opportunities.
Walmart: Pride is a LGBTQ+ advocacy ERG that continues to make employees in the community aware of potential resource opportunities available to them.

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