🎙 Watch this ERG Movement Podcast Episode for context on why we recommend setting up a single ERG at small companies.

Launching an Employee Resource Group (ERG) program can be a challenging task for small companies, particularly those with less than 400 employees. Despite the potential benefits of an ERG program, such as increased employee engagement and improved diversity and inclusion efforts, small companies may encounter difficulties after launching the program. These difficulties include finding volunteers to lead the ERG, limited resources to effectively promote and market the program to employees and stakeholders, and limited resources to sustain the program.

This article will help set your ERG Program up for success by providing a clear roadmap for establishing a solid foundation for your program. It will guide you through the process of defining the vision and purpose of the ERG program, creating a leadership structure, and developing a strategy and success metrics for the program. By following these steps, small companies can ensure that their ERG program is well-structured, well-promoted, and well-sustained, setting it up for long-term success.

“The foundation of your ERG’s success lies in the pre-work of the ERG program.”  - The ERG Movement

Step One: The Why

It’s important that you are first clear with the vision of the ERG before presenting it to employees and stakeholders.

Ideal state, what will be the outcomes of the ERG Program on members, leaders, stakeholders, and the business once it is stood up and fully operational?

Questions to Answer:

• What is the purpose of the ERG Program? What problem or need are you trying to solve or address by establishing the ERG Program?
• What sets the ERG Program apart from other employee engagement programs at your company? What values does the ERG Program hold that differentiate it from other company employee engagement programs? How will the ERG Program interact with other company employee engagement programs?
• How do you want ERG Members to feel when they interact with the ERG Program? What impact do you want the ERG Program to have on their lives?
• How do you want the ERG Program to be remembered by its members and stakeholders?
• How will the ERG Program impact the broader world specific to your company’s business?

Recommended Activity:

• Brainstorm 10 ways your workplace can be more inclusive for employees.
• Identify 5 other companies with ERGs in your company’s industry and note some initiatives and events that have come from them.
• Identify 10 events and initiatives that other ERGs have executed (industry agnostic) that you would love to see brought to life by the ERG.

Step Two: The Foundation

Ideal state, how will the ERG Program operate once it is stood up and fully operational?

Most companies skip this step when establishing their ERG/ERG and it is one of the single greatest reasons why their programs later fail. The foundation for your ERG program is made up of four parts:

1. The ERG Vision and Strategy: Take the learning from Step One: The Why and create a document that outlines the vision of the ERG Program clearly. Create a multi-year timeline with relevant milestones that will outline how your ERG will reach that vision. This strategy will evolve as the ERG develops post-launch.
2. ERG FAQ Doc: Create a list of questions that you anticipate future leaders, members, and stakeholders to have. Build on the list as needed.
3. ERG Leadership Structure: Assuming the ERG Leaders are volunteers, you want them to be able to execute with as little friction as possible. Outline each role the ERG will need. Specify the duties of each role. Create “how to docs” aka standardized operating procedures (SOPs) for each duty of each role.
   Optional Activity: Create a 5W’s Doc for each role (to serve as a starting point / summarized SOP guide for each role).

Answer the following questions:

1. WHO is needed for this role? What are the characteristics, interests, or desired growth areas of someone who would be successful in this role? What are the qualifications for applying for this role?
2. WHY does this role matter? Why is this role important for the success of the ERG? How will this role benefit the person who is accepted?
3. WHAT will they do? What are the responsibilities of this role?
4. WHEN are they expected to participate? What is the frequency of participation requirement? Roughly how many hours per week?
5. WHERE will activity happen? Specify what platform they’ll need to use to prevent future misunderstandings.
6. HOW will they execute on their responsibilities? What are the step by step instructions that detail how each lead is to execute their role.

1. ERG Success Metrics: What metrics will you be monitoring at each phase of the ERG’s growth? What metrics will the ERG Leaders have access to? How will they submit data (what systems will be in place) to ensure the integrity of the metrics?

Step Three: Selling the ERG

Now that the Diversity Resource Group is clear on its message and foundation, it is almost ready to launch. Before the Program formally launches, leaders will need to be onboarded and some brand work will need to be completed. To get to that point, the ERG will now need buy-in from its future members and leaders. This is where a pre-launch strategy is key.

The 3 W’s of a Successful Prelaunch

• Webinar - Host a live event (or prerecord one) detailing the upcoming ERG. Coming from this webinar, members should experience “Know, Like, and Trust.” This includes:
• Knowing the basics around the ERG Program through a brief walkthrough of the Program vision and strategy
• Feeling bought in to the idea that this will make the company a better place by driving diversity and increasing the sense of community through use of testimonials from other ERG Leaders and/or examples of ERG output at other companies (aka Liking)
• Trusting that the company will execute on the promise of delivering this program that fulfills their desire to drive diversity and increase the sense of community at the company (include a timeline to rollout, a link to an FAQ doc, etc)
• Waitlist - Create a form as a waitlist for those interested in joining the future ERG. Use the waitlist as a way to collect basic info about the audience with a question such as: What excites you most about the upcoming ERG? What change are you hoping to see? As a best practice, keep the form to one question + name and email to prevent overwhelming people from participating. Provide templated multiple choice responses with an optional area where respondents can elaborate.
• Ways to Get Further Involved - At the bottom of the waitlist form (or in a follow up email) offer respondents the opportunity to be considered for ERG Leadership.

Continuing success for the ERG

After ERG Leaders have been onboarded, please know that this is not the end of your journey interacting closely with the ERG. Although you won’t be as involved in the day to day, as the ERG DRI there is still more work needed to earn your right to step back completely. For the next 6-12 months, Leaders will need constant reminders of their role in bringing the ERG vision to life. They will look to you as the ERG DRI for feedback and to update the SOPs for the roles. As a recommendation, set up monthly meetings with the ERG Leadership cohort to ensure plans are in effect to bring forth consistent areas of engagement for members.