By Theresa Bontempo
Building a strong team in the workplace regardless of anyone’s background is crucial to the success of the company and how everyone will work together. No matter if it’s working together to fulfill orders in a warehouse, serving customers in a restaurant, or working on important marketing projects for a business, it’s crucial to get everyone on the same page and working hard in a positive environment where everyone’s voice can be heard and included.
Employee resource groups, which are highly encouraged by staff and managers, are a great type of support group to implement in companies that can unite and create a sense of community. There can be multiple in one company to accommodate certain groups of people, but in the end, they all consider the policies, rules, and regulation of each company to bring people with different backgrounds together to work cohesively.
For administrators that run employee resource groups, there are a variety of tools and traits needed to efficiently run them, and we have all of the information you need!
Employee Resource Groups: A Deep-Dive Into Making a Change in the Workplace
Incorporating employee resource groups in the workplace can help underrepresented groups feel heard and seen!
Employee resource groups are a great way for people to look for leadership development and change with individuals with a similar background. Image courtesy of Loving Life.
Making a change in how the workplace sees its employees can be a step in the right direction. Giving your employees a platform to be seen, heard, and treated equally is crucial for all staff–and employee resource groups can be a source of assistance for underrepresented groups. Employee resource groups come in all shapes and sizes, but their main goal at the end of the day is to create a positive and uplifting workplace environment for people to relate to, understand each other, build relationships, and develop their leadership skills.
Employee Resource Groups 101: Everything You Need to Know
Living in 2025 means that there is no need for discrimination or judgment. Employee resource groups are a safe space for people to gather based on their religious beliefs, gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity, or other similar backgrounds and discuss how they can create unity in the workplace.
Employee resource groups are company-recognized and they work together to integrate their beliefs, values, and morals as a group with the company mission while following their policies, rules, and regulations. Overall, these volunteer-run groups can create a sense of belonging in any business and coincide with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) standards to create a safe and positive environment for staff to work without any discrimination and for their voices to be heard. These groups typically hold meetings and have discussions on how to make changes within the business to reflect their views, or it can simply be a safe space for people to come and talk about their backgrounds and make new friends.
A few shared characteristics that most employee resource groups share include identity, experiences, and interests. With these three things in mind, a group of like-minded people can reflect on their shared experiences and even make a schedule of cultural celebrations, networking events, and employee recognition parties to celebrate each other’s successes regardless of their past.
Who Runs Employee Resource Groups?
Leadership is a big part of employee resource groups where instead of being run by the company itself, they are instead operated by the employees. Typically a company’s HR department of the company will also chip in with funds and support, or even be run by HR leaders themselves. The groups can also receive executive sponsorship where senior leaders of the company can act as sponsors and provide resources without taking over the group. The company can also provide budgets, software, and other tools to help lead the ERG group to success.
The employees that start these resource groups are in charge of organizing a set schedule of group activities, planning special events that pertain to the specific common ground or interest of the group, and they remain supportive towards members, their personal experiences, and allow them to have a voice.
Most Popular Employee Resource Groups to Start
There are a number of different employee resource groups that are especially popular to get started as many people will join them. These popular groups provide a safe space for a ton of underrepresented groups of people and include the following:
- Gender groups - Men, women, and gender non-conforming options
- Sexual orientation and gender identity - LGBTQIA+-specific group
- Race and ethnicity - BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), ethnic, and other cultural groups
- Veterans - Can apply to veterans and active military duty personnel
- Disability - For people with either both visible and nonvisible disabilities
- Religious and Faith - For different religious affiliations and spiritual beliefs
- Generational - People from the same generation can get together to discuss shared experiences and perspectives in the workforce
- Employees with children - Specifically for caregivers, working parents, or even single parents
Must Have Essentials and Traits for Employee Resource Groups
What every leader of an employee resource group needs to run a successful team of individuals!
Employee resource groups are essential to the success of any company to bring people together with different backgrounds to work efficiently. Image courtesy of The Rise Journey.
It is crucial to know the must-have essentials as an administrator to have successful meetings and see real change in the workplace. There are a number of traits and tools that administrators need to direct their group in the right direction, make a difference in how people communicate and work together, and how to run a successful business.
Have a Clear Goal and Mission Statement
Employee resource groups are essential to have within the workplace since they can help to bring together people of different backgrounds together to work cohesively. It’s important to have a clear goal and mission statement within the group that also doesn’t stray away from the company’s mission statement. By aligning your ERG’s goals with the company goals can contribute to different departments in the company, such as recruiting, employee wellness, retention, leadership development. This will attract a diverse group of individuals that can contribute not only their work skills, but also their experiences, background, and culture for recognition.
Develop Structure and Regulation
One of the most important things to have when running an employee resource group is to make sure that everyone has a say on what goes and what doesn’t. For example, having a voting system to elect individuals as leaders is a must and can make everyone feel like they’re contributing to something good. Also, having a discussion on how funds will be handled, where meetings will occur, and even topics for a focus on each session are some great ways to develop structure to keep group members feeling like they’re a part of something that is going to make a change, plus avoid any inconsistencies or shady behavior from other employees.
Foster an Inclusive Environment
For all businesses in 2025, it’s important to foster inclusiveness to make sure that people that come from different backgrounds–including race, ethnicity, religion, gender, and sexuality–all feel welcomed and included without the thought of discrimination in any way. Fostering an inclusive environment that allows groups of people with many different backgrounds to come and efficiently work together is the goal of every employee resource group. By joining a meeting, administrators can set the standards for what they expect from their group, such as reiterating that it is a safe space for everyone to share their issues, concerns, or experiences, plus help to build trusting relationships with other staff members.
Establish SMART Objectives
One of the best tools that you need as an administrator of an employee resource group is to establish SMART objectives. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Based–and it could help to establish objectives and help track the group’s progress and what topics they’re covering. Choosing different inclusive topics can lead to an open discussion with employees and can help with engagement, retention, and help develop leadership for not only the administrator, but staff as well.
Create Action for Changes
The worst thing that any administrator can do that is in charge of an employee resource group is be all talk, voice their opinions, and nothing changes in the end. Action for changes is an important must-have essential to incorporate into any employee resource group to give their team motivation and give them goals aligning with the ERG’s mission. By brainstorming and writing ideas to recommend specific changes to be implemented within the company can be a great start for any employee resource group, plus give staff a voice to amplify their own opinions for change.
Coordinate a Schedule of Events for Consistent Engagement
Employee resource groups are a great way for staff to get to know each other through events that allow them to socialize and talk about their personal and shared experiences. Having weekly meetings that don’t seem to make a difference in the company can seem like a waste of time for many employees–resulting in a lack of consistency and engagement from staff. Something that every administrator of an employee engagement system should do is coordinate a schedule of upcoming events to avoid the mundane meetings and aim for employee engagement and retention within the group. This could be anything from book clubs on similar topics to the ERG, cultural celebrations, networking events, employee recognition events, professional development courses, and even lunch and learn.
Shift: A Must-Have Essential For Every Employee Resource Group
A content management system like Shift can be a great benefit for employee resource groups!
Shift is a great system to use to help organize meetings, events, and welcome new members to any employee resource group. Image courtesy of Shift.
Content management systems are a great way to bring a team together, stay organized and on top of events, and even to develop closer connections with them. Shift is a unique content management system that can help not only companies have deeper relationships with their staff, but it could also be a great way for employee resource groups to do the same.
Shift: A Content Management System Making a Change
It’s important for employee resource groups to be familiar with all of their members, to get to know them, and their passion behind the group’s mission. Whether you are a business manager, HR leader, or are a staff member who started an employee resource group, Shift can help you to get to know your members and even organize events and a set meeting schedule the group can follow.
Shift’s main goal is to build strong, deeper connections through the use of a content management system that can do just about anything. This content management system can benefit employee resource groups by sending out reminders of meetings and upcoming events to mark on your calendar, while also highlighting staff birthdays, work anniversaries, and milestone achievements that make everyone involved feel appreciated and recognized.
Unique Features Shift Has to Benefit Employee Resource Groups
There are a number of features that Shift offers employee resource groups that can personally help benefit them and their group. Some of these features include the following:
- Boost employee engagement through recognition and appreciation
- Celebrate staff birthdays, work anniversaries, and other achievements
- Show training videos
- Employee spotlights
- Interactive polls for staff to anonymously complete
- Expands internal communications
- Allows staff to retrain and re-skill in key trainings
- Helps leaders learn more about staff
- Encourages employees to do work harder
- Increases productivity
Build an Employee Resource Group That Has Strong Members and Incites a Change
Employee resource groups are essential to many businesses to create a safe space for people of similar backgrounds to gather. Not only can they help staff be more productive and improve employee retention, but they also have a way of creating a positive work environment full of inclusivity so no one feels left out.
Consider Shift as the best way to manage everything your employee resource group does, along with these must-have essentials for administrators to make their team stronger!
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