Month: February 2023

So, you’ve heard the term, ERG, but do you know what it means? In the world of workplace acronyms, this one’s essential to get right.

ERG stands for Employee Resource Group. It’s important for any workplace, or employee, interested in creating an inclusive culture to be aware of ERGs and their benefits. 

We all know that fostering an inclusive culture has long-term positive impacts on employee engagement, retention and productivity. 

Employee resource groups go further and create communities for people to find support, discuss issues and advocate for themselves and others in a safe, proactive group. 

In this guide, we take you through what ERGs are, who can join and the benefits of setting them up. 

What is an Employee Resource Group or ERG? 

Put simply, ERGs bring people together for mutual support in the workplace. They are communities that an organisation will set up to better support employees. 

They can be formed based on shared characteristics such as race, gender, sexuality, religion or any other protected characteristic. 

“ERGs are not clubs, extracurricular work or hobbies. Fighting the status quo is a hard choice to make.” – Cherie Caldwell, Head of DEI (Salesloft)

The group work together to share information, support each other and run events and activities. In larger organisations, multiple ERGs can exist across the business to support a wide range of people. 

What groups can create an ERG? 

As we said, there are many people that can form an employee resource group.

This could be based on a protected characteristic including:

• Age
• Disability
• Gender
• Pregnancy and maternity
• Race
• Religion or belief
• Sex
• Sexual orientation

Or other groups such as carers can form an ERG for mutual support in the workplace.

How do ERGs add value? 

ERGs create a sense of community for people who feel marginalised or underrepresented in the workplace. They also provide a way for employees to advocate for and promote diversity and inclusion at work. 

This adds value to an organisation by improving the employee experience of your people, offering channels of support and creating lasting change. This leads to better retention and offers an attractive benefit to new joiners.

What are the benefits of setting up Employee Resource Groups? 

The benefits of ERGs are wide-ranging. From developing leaders to a more inclusive culture, there are many reasons to start an ERG.

Just some of the benefits you can expect to see include:

• Developing future leaders: Nurture and develop your future leaders by providing opportunities through resource groups. It’s a great way to spot new leaders and nurture talent. 
• Fostering an inclusive culture: ERGs create communities where everyone can feel seen, heard and supported. By creating these groups you can actively foster an inclusive culture.
• Creating safe spaces: Finding ways to support your people can be difficult. Creating safe spaces for employees to talk means they can share and resolve issues, leading to higher retention and employee happiness.
• Raising awareness: ERGs are effective at providing educational opportunities in the workplace on key DE&I topics. They can be a vital tool for advocacy and educating your people across the business.
• Creating pathways to make change: Bringing people together means that no one will be singled out for speaking up. If you want to create people-led change in your workplace, ERGs are a great way to do that.
• Enhancing organisational reputation: By demonstrating your commitment to diversity and inclusion through ERGs, you can improve your external organisational reputation. Building better relationships with customers, suppliers and other external stakeholders that value DE&I has lasting benefits to your bottom line and more. 

Can allies join ERGs? 

The good news is, allies can join an ERG to support their colleagues and drive positive change in their organisation too. This goes a long way to creating a culture of support across the business. 

The important thing to remember is that as an ally your role is to listen and act where you can. As an ally, you should aim to listen more than you speak when participating in a group.

Are ERGs effective? 

Yes! 

According to a Deloitte survey, 79% of companies with ERGs saw an increase in employee engagement as a result. 

On top of this, ERGs have been shown to build trust and create more inclusive workplace cultures.

People thrive when they feel safe to bring their whole selves to work. Creating communities is a fantastic way to improve DE&I in your organisation. 

📖 Find out more key stats on Diversity and Inclusion in our guide 📖

How can I ensure I get the most out of my ERG? 

Three ways to improve the effectiveness of your ERG:

1. Make the purpose clear

ERGs work when there is a clear focus to the group. This means that people can join confidently knowing whether the group is for them.

Maintain alignment and direction of your ERGs by setting out clearly what the purpose, goals and structure of your group will be. This includes aligning with wider DE&I strategies to avoid mis-matched priorities.

2. Get senior leadership buy-in 

This goes for any company wide initiative, from mentoring to employee resource groups. Getting support from senior leaders ensures visibility of the initiative and that ERG leaders receive the recognition they deserve.

3. Manage expectations 

ERGs can be incredibly effective at tackling a number of issues in the workplace. However, it’s important that those joining the group are getting the right information about what to expect.

If you’re starting a group to improve career progression for a community underrepresented in leadership, it’s important that this is clearly communicated and that it stays a top priority for the group. Otherwise, members may become disillusioned with the groups progress.

So, what are you waiting for? If you’re a DE&I lead or other people professional, setting up an employee resource group could be the key to unlocking potential in your people and creating an environment in which everyone can thrive. 

And, with Guider’s software, you can easily facilitate connections between your people – we do more than just mentoring! 

Want to connect your ERGs and spark relationships that get results? Speak to our team to find out more. 

It’s increasingly vital to create diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. 

Organisations worldwide are not only realising the value of diverse and inclusive teams but, more and more, it’s what employees are demanding from their employers. 

So, if you’re looking to back up your case for DE&I at your organisation and show why diversity and inclusion are important, then look no further. 

Here are the key diversity and inclusion statistics you need to bookmark in 2023:

Diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace

• Almost half (47%) of UK employers don’t have a D&I strategy in place.
• 25% of employers described their D&I plans as reactive rather than proactive, responding to outside influences such as Black Lives Matter protests or mandatory reporting requirements.
• Mental health (29%), race/ethnicity (23%) and gender (21%) were the top D&I priorities for businesses with a strategy already in place.
• Research from Deloitte shows, when employees cannot trust their employers to fulfil DE&I commitments, levels of engagement can decrease. 
• When employees trust their employer’s commitment to DE&I, their engagement can increase by  20% and the likelihood they will leave their organisation can decrease by 87%. 

The business case for diversity and inclusion

• Companies with diverse management teams make 19% more revenue according to a study by BCG. 
• Organisations with inclusive cultures are: 2x as likely to meet or exceed financial targets, 3x as likely to be high-performing, 6x more likely to be innovative, and 8x more likely to achieve better business outcomes according to research from Deloitte. 
• 43% of businesses with diverse boards saw increased profits.
• Diverse companies are 70% more likely to capture new markets.
• Diverse teams make better decisions 87% of the time compared to individuals.
• 85% of CEOs with diverse and inclusive workforces said they noticed increased profits.
• Feeling included in the workplace translates to a 17% increase in perceived team performance, a 20% increase in decision-making quality and a 29% increase in collaboration. 
• In a Deloitte survey, 80% of respondents said that inclusion is important when choosing an employer and 39% said they would leave their current organisation for a more inclusive one. 

Let’s break diversity and inclusion in the workplace down…

Ageism in the workplace

• 41% of IT and tech workers have witnessed age discrimination in the workplace.
• 32% fear losing their roles due to ageism.
• Nearly 2 out 3 workers over 45 have seen or experienced age discrimination at work according to AARP. 
• 10% of women polled by The Fawcett Society and Channel 4 have left their jobs due to menopause. Of women that spoke up, 47% said their employer had done nothing to provide support and only 7% received specific interventions. 

Gender inequality in the workplace

• Diverse hiring improves innovation: By improving female representation in management by 2.5% innovation revenue would improve by a whole percentage point, as would hiring 1.5% of the team from a country different from where the company is based. 
• Despite making up almost half of the workforce, just 33% of senior leadership roles are held by women. 
• For every 100 men promoted from entry-level roles to management, only 87 women are promoted and only 82 women of colour. 
• 43% of women leaders experience burnout, compared to 31% of men at the same level. 
• Deloitte’s women at work global survey showed that 40% of women are listing burnout as their primary driver for finding a new job.
• According to the ONS, the median pay for all employees was 14.9% less for women than for men in April 2022. 

📖 Find out more about attracting and retaining female talent in our guide 📖

Racial inequality in the workplace

• There are currently zero black women leading Fortune 500 companies.
• Only 4 Fortune 500 companies are run by black CEOs.
• 37% of UK-listed businesses in the FTSE 100 have zero non-white board members.
• Black professionals held just 3.3% of all executive or senior leadership roles in the US in 2018.
• 68% of people from ethnic minority groups working in financial services had experienced workplace discrimination in the last year. 
• 25% said racial jokes were still tolerated where they work. 
• 49% had to take time off for experiencing discrimination, while 56% had to seek counselling as a result. 
• Job applicants with ‘black sounding names’ receive 14% less callbacks than ‘white sounding names’.
• All BAME groups are more likely to be overqualified than white ethnic groups, but white employees are more likely to be promoted than all other groups.
• 1/3 of black employees in the UK feel their careers have been hampered by discrimination.

📖 Find out more about boosting racial diversity in the workforce here 📖

LGBTQ+ discrimination in the workplace

• In the US, 46% of LGBTQ+ employees have experienced discrimination at work. 
• While in the UK, almost 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ staff have been the target of negative comments or conduct from colleagues in the last year because they are LGBTQ+. 
• More than a third of people have hidden that they are LGBTQ+ at work for fear of discrimination. 
• 2 in 5 bi people are not out at work.
• 1 in 10 BAME LGBTQ+ employees were physically attacked at work by customers or colleagues. 
• 1 in 8 trans people have been physically attacked by customers or colleagues in the last year because of being trans. 
• Almost a third of non-binary people and 1 in 5 trans people don’t feel able to wear work attire representing their gender expression. 
• Around 40% of LGBT+ staff feel their organisation’s policies are inadequate, and a significant minority would not feel confident reporting homophobic or biphobic bullying in the workplace. 

Yet, diversity and inclusion in the workplace done right means:

• LGBTQ+ people are more likely to be satisfied with their work and life in general when they have a supportive manager and co-workers.

• This leads to more positive feelings towards their workplace and functions as a powerful signal to LGBTQ+ people to be open about their identity. 
• Embedding LGBTQ+ policies, such as anti-discrimination and same-sex partner benefits, has been shown to positively increase performance and productivity. 

📖 Read our guide to supporting LGBTQ+ staff through mentoring for more 📖

Disability and ableism at work

• In the UK, there is a disability employment gap with an employment rate of 53.1% for disabled women compared to 84.2% of non-disabled women and 51.3% for disabled men compared to 77.8% of non-disabled men. 
• There is a 47.5% point employment gap for people disabled by mental health conditions. 
• A 2019 study showed that inclusive working environments for disabled employees generated on average 28% higher revenue than those that didn’t. 

Mental health at work

• Following the effects of the pandemic in 2020, feelings of loneliness reached a record high in UK adults.
• 1 in 6 people of working age in the UK experience symptoms of mental ill health. 
• 50% of employees have experienced at least 1 symptom of burnout at work. 
• Poor mental health costs UK employers approx. £56 billion each year. This has increased by 25% since 2019. 
• For every pound spent by employers on mental health support, £5.30 is returned through reduced; absence, presenteeism, and staff turnover. 
• Harvard Business Review conducted a study researching the positive effects of mentoring on mentors. People who served as mentors experienced lower levels of anxiety, and described their job as more meaningful, than those who did not mentor. 

📖 Read our guide to designing mentoring programs to support mental health for more 📖

Workplace social mobility

• In a survey at KPMG, it was found that class was the biggest barrier to career progression.
• It took on average 19% longer to progress from one grade structure to the next for people from low-socio-economic backgrounds. 
• The Social Mobility Foundation has found that professionals from lower socioeconomic backgrounds earn on average £6,718 less a year than those from higher backgrounds. 

We hope that these statistics empower you and your business case for DE&I, helping to build a more equitable future for all 🙌

To find out more about how mentoring can support diversity and inclusion at your organisation, speak to our team today.