How to Set Up a Successful Employee Resource Group

Welcome to Hire Potential with Indeed, a series of fireside chats with experts in diversity and inclusion, employer branding, recruiting, HR and more.

As workplaces continue to embrace and empower more diverse, inclusive teams, Employee Resource Groups are becoming increasingly prevalent – and impactful. ERGs not only provide employees from diverse backgrounds with a platform to connect and have their voices heard. They provide organisations and allies with an opportunity to showcase their support – and their ongoing commitment to truly inclusive workplaces.

So what does it take to launch a truly successful ERG? And with more and more teams moving to more flexible styles of working, how can organisations navigate the changing nature of work – while still keeping teams connected, supported and empowered?

In this episode, Christine Ung, Director, Global Diversity & Inclusion at Aristocrat, shares her insights and tips around creating a successful Employee Resource Group – and how they can make a meaningful difference to employee diversity, inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

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Prologue

Cathy: Welcome to Hire Potential with Indeed. Indeed’s new 2022 D&I Report has just gone live. It's one of the most comprehensive studies into D&I issues in Australian workplaces. Click the link in this episode's description to get your free copy. 

A welcoming workplace is built from the ground up with attention to diversity, inclusion, accessibility and openness. But the way many leaders and companies’ approach this is often full of grey areas, uncertainty and quite possibly, fear. Hire Potential with Indeed is here to help demystify the process through the most powerful channel possible, conversations, groundbreaking ones too. 

I'm your new host, Cathy Ngo, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Changemaker and Presenter. I’ve spent over a decade in HR, Corporate Affairs and Communications but I'm most passionate about pushing the boundaries relating to diversity, equity and inclusion. 

In this podcast series will tackle the issues we face in the modern workplace from diversity and inclusion to remote working, accessibility, fair hiring practices, and more. This podcast is an initiative of Indeed.com, the world's number one job site with over 250 million unique visitors every month from over 60 different countries. 

Introduction

Cathy: Before we dive in, I wish to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we are meeting today, and to any Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who may be listening. I pay my respects to their elders, past, present, and emerging.

Indeed’s 2022 D&I Report has revealed that 81% of working age Australians say it is important their workplace supports diversity and inclusion. And 83% say that this is particularly important when they are looking for a new job. But, despite this, one-in-four Australians say they don’t know what their organisation does to promote diversity and inclusion, and even more alarming, 17% don’t think their organisation does anything at all. The data shows employers can do more to create truly diverse, inclusive and welcoming workplaces that are seen and felt by all their employees. One highly effective means of supporting diversity, inclusion and belonging for your employers, is by creating Employee Resource Groups (or ERGs). ERGs are employee-led groups that serve traditionally marginalised or underrepresented employees. These groups are truly fundamental to creating inclusion at work but need to be formed mindfully because it’s never a one-size fits all process. Often, employers don’t know where or how to begin buIlding ERGs, and therefore might never begin at all.

In this episode, Christine Ung, gives us her insights on what it takes to create a successful ERG, and offers practical actionable steps and examples of ERGs that can make a meaningful difference to employee diversity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace. Christine Ung is the Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion at Aristocrat, a ASX 200 listed company and one of the world's leading providers of gaming solutions. Welcome, Christine.

Christine: Thank you, Cathy. Great to be here.

Cathy: Oh, it's a pleasure to have you. To get things started, please share a little bit about your role at Aristocrat as the Director of Global Diversity, or what does it involve?

Christine: I'd like to begin by acknowledging the traditional custodians of the land on which we're recording this podcast on today. The Gadigal people of the Eora Nation, and pay my respects to elder's past and present. So in terms of my role as the Director of Diversity and Inclusion at Aristocrat, I run a very small team that looks after the development and execution of our diversity and inclusion strategy for the enterprise. So you mentioned that Aristocrat is an ASX listed company, and so we are essentially a global gaming technology company. We have employees, right across the world in many different regions and countries. So the initiatives that we create and execute on are essentially for our teams across the world. And so we're a team that's responsible for creating initiatives and frameworks that are implementable in different regions.

Cathy: Oh, that's really interesting that you said that. It's all across the world as well. I've always thought that Aristocrat was just Australian based, but clearly not. What other parts of the world is that Aristocrat also located in?

Christine: Yes, we have grown significantly over the last few years, and quite quickly as well. We are an Australian company, started off in Australia, and have since expanded to many different countries. We have a significant number of our workforce today, located in the US, in India, and in the UK, across Europe, as well, and across other parts of Asia.

What is an employee resource group

Cathy: Wow, that's very exciting. So this episode talks about employee resource groups. How to form one? What is it? That sort of thing. For those who may not be familiar with the term, what is an employee resource group?

Christine: I'd like to just preface that by saying that we call employee resource groups, employee impact groups. I probably will go back and forth between calling them employee impact groups and employee resource groups, but essentially, they mean the same thing. So what is an employee resource group? They are groups that aim to foster a diverse and inclusive workplace. They are groups that comprise employees of an organisation, and they come together to create and execute on initiatives that are meaningful to their groups and their communities. ERGs are typically created around a demographic characteristic that's typically underrepresented in an organisation. So for example, it's really common to see ERG's that centre around LGBTQ+ inclusion, race and ethnicity, women in leadership, gender equality. And so ERGs give employees an opportunity to come together to talk about things that are meaningful to them, and that are important to them. And to also execute on those ideas.

Cathy: Wonderful. Like you mentioned, there's just so many diverse groups of people in an organisation and an employee resource group, or an employee impact group, in your case that is built around that. I'm interested to know what impact groups are at Aristocrat?

Christine: We actually launched employee impact groups about 12 months ago, at Aristocrat. Before that we did have something like employee resource groups. We called them leadership circles, but they weren't necessarily just about diversity and inclusion. They were about different things, as well. But about 12 months ago, we refreshed the diversity and inclusion governance framework. As a part of that refreshed governance framework, we created the idea of employee resource groups, and went out and launched the idea of employee resource groups under four categories. We started off with four categories that employees could create employee impact groups around. The four categories being gender equality, LGBTQ+, race and ethnicity, and the fourth one is around ally ship. The idea of us wanting to create that fourth pillar of ally ship was so that employees who are passionate about D&I in general, but didn't want to align themselves necessarily with just one category could go and do something under the ally ship pillar.

Cathy: That's truly inclusive.

Christine: And so we're about 12 months since we launched now, and currently we have 14 employee impact group chapters around the world with a few falling under each of those four categories.

Cathy: Yeah. Oh, that's amazing. That's so good. In each part of the world, did you mention that they encompass each four of those categories, or in some regions a bit different?

Christine: I would say more or less, they do fall under those four categories. The way that we see things is that if something doesn't fall neatly under one of the other three categories, we consider it an ally ship category.

Cathy: Wonderful. Oh, congratulations on that.

Christine: Thank you.

Cathy: You must be so proud?

Christine: Yeah, it's something that I'm super proud of.

Why is having a governance framework important when setting up an ERG group

Cathy: You mentioned earlier about the governance framework. I think that's really important to ensure the success of an ERG group. Can you share a little bit about what that involves?

Christine: Essentially, the idea of having a governance framework is to enable anyone who's involved in diversity and inclusion within the organisation, either in a formal D&I role capacity or not, such as through membership of an employee impact group, or membership on one of our regional diversity and inclusion councils. So that everyone involved knows what the role of their group's involvement is, in the grand scheme of things. For example, if I belong in an employee impact group, what does that mean in terms of how I should be interacting with or communicating with my regional diversity and inclusion council? In our situation, with the employee impact groups that have been created in the US region, for example, they work closely with our America's diversity and inclusion council. And so what that means is they keep each other informed on the various things that are going on. They talk to each other about what that strategy in that particular region looks like. Make sure that activities are aligned to not just the regional diversity and inclusion strategy that the D&I Council works on, but it's also aligned to the global diversity and inclusion strategy.

Cathy: Wonderful. Should leaders within the business be highly involved in ERGs, or just let the employees run with it?

Christine: I think that it needs to be a bit of both. I don't think that we could have leaders who are completely hands off in that situation. I think that it's important for employees to ultimately be empowered to do the things that they think need to happen in order to create impact and change. I think it's important for them to know that the leadership support is there, if they ever need it. When I say leadership support, I don't mean just leaders paying lip service to the idea that, "Yeah, it's great that we have employee resource groups, or impact groups, then I always support this initiative." But it's actually them being visible and active supporters in that as well. For that reason, we make sure that each and every one of our employee impact groups has an executive sponsor.

The importance of having leadership roles in ERG groups

Cathy: Wonderful. Yeah. In these ERG groups, are there leadership roles in them as well? Let's just say the lead of comms or finance?

Christine: Yeah, for sure. Yeah, so a part of the governance framework, or the support that we make sure is in place for our employee impact groups, so that they are set up for success is that at the point of creation, where someone says, "I'm interested in creating an employee impact group." Or X, Y, or Z. Then we give them a playbook that essentially outlines the things that they need to make sure happen in order for their group to be successful. One of those things is making sure that they identify people for some key roles so that the group can be set up for success. A couple of those roles that we make sure each group has is a chair or a co-chair, and a communications person.

Cathy: Yeah, so it sounds as though it's a little mini organisation within an organisation where you've got these almost like board positions. I know that we've said that leaders and employees need to be both involved, but what about HR and your role as well? To what extent are you involved?

Christine: Yeah, to be honest, the part where we have been most involved in was the framework creation stage. The D&I team was responsible for establishing that framework and bringing our stakeholders along on the journey to make sure that it was a framework that would resonate with our business, and that was going to be able to be operationalized, effectively. It's also about making sure that we've got the framework set up so that we can help employees go off and create something, but know that they were guided. Not just through the resources we provided them, but knowing that if they ever needed any additional support, they not only had the executive sponsor there to support them, but they had the D&I team there to support them as well. Once an ERG is established, we take a step back and let them do what they think needs to be done. But let them know that we're always there if they need anything. I think that the success of ERGs really is reliant on making sure that the D&I team is properly resourced so that if we ever need to step in for that extra support, they have that as well. 

How can employees create an ERG at their organisation

Cathy: If creating a safe space to allow employees to establish their own ERGs is essential, how do employees go about doing that?

Christine: I think that when it comes to a safe space, what that means in my mind is that the EIGs are set up for success and have the support. So that they I know that they can go forth and conquer, but knowing that they had the support of our leaders as well as the D&I team if they ever needed it. How we've gone about that at Aristocrat, and I've already touched on a couple of the ways in which we've done that including making sure that we have the framework and the resources in place for the EIGs, such as the EIG playbook that we make available to all employees. That playbook essentially outlines how anyone can go about creating an ERG. And then once that EIG is created, how do they maintain that EIG chapter to make sure it's successful in the long run? We also make sure that there's budget for each and every one of our EIGs, we make sure that they know at the outset, what their mission and vision is for the EIG? What is it that they want to achieve as an EIG? We ask them to have a think about that as a group, and to have a think about what those roles and responsibilities are and who they want to assign to those roles and responsibilities? Whether they have an executive sponsor? And if they want help in identifying a leader to support them in that way, then we offer that help as well. So it's really about giving them the tools and the resources and the budget to be successful, and then taking that step back, to allow them to do their own thing.

Cathy: You touched on budget, which is so important, because I've worked in other organisations where the intention was there to create these ERG groups, but there was not much executive sponsorship. Also, when it came to budgets, it was all crickets, which is extremely awkward and disappointing at the same time. What would be your advice for other organisations in terms of time and resources?

Christine: I would recommend probably a couple of things that come to mind, budget, for sure. It's also about helping the EIGs understand that, yes, we have this budget for each and every one of our EIGs. We also help them understand that how they spend that money, they need to take into consideration what impact that would have as well. Whether it's an initiative that causes any money or not, we ask them to make sure that it aligns to things like education and enablement, or talent or brand. As long as the initiative that they're looking at either helps to raise awareness or it helps to enable employees to understand how that promotes the development or the engagement of underrepresented groups, or that it helps advocate our brand as an inclusive employer, then that's something worth doing. Budgets are important, it's also important to give them some guardrails, in terms of what initiatives would be more or less impactful. It's also making sure that the D&I team is resourced appropriately as well, because we could have D&I people heavily involved in every single little aspect that employee impact groups do. Or we could choose to make sure that it's appropriately resourced in the sense that if we ever needed to roll our sleeves up and help them out with anything, that that resource is there.

Is it vital to have a D&I team at your organisation? 

Cathy: You mentioned you've got a D&I team, which is great. I've also seen a lot of organisations where they've only got one person. Would you recommend how many D&I professionals in an organisation?

Christine: I think it really depends on the organisation itself. It will come down to the size of the workforce. How geographically distributed the workforce is. What regions the workforce is in? How is the business set up? Different lines of operating businesses could inform how the D&I team needs to be set up and how many. It could take a more centralised approach, or it could take a more decentralised approach. At the moment, we're part of the centralised diversity and inclusion team, which means that everything that we create and implement is for the whole enterprise. That's not to say that what we roll out shouldn't be tweaked at the local level and communicated in a nuanced way to that group of employees so that it can have an even greater impact. Because employees depending on where you're located or which line of business you work for, you're going to want to receive that information differently. We work with our people and culture teams to make sure that the information is communicated and cascaded locally.

Cathy: That's a really good point, because you could have the strategy, but it needs to be localised, according to the location, the dominant employees in that region, that sort of thing.

Christine: That's right.

Cathy: You've got 14, employee impact groups in total, which is, I think, a massive achievement. Can you share any other sort of milestones or achievements in the past year?

Christine: We actually held Meet and Greet sessions for our CEO with every one of our employee impact groups. We had representatives from each of our employee impact groups meet with the CEO and our chief people and culture. The purpose of that really was for our EIGs to showcase their vision, and the work that they had done and the work that they were planning to do to our leaders. They were able to showcase their achievements there. Just to name a few, we've had some of our EIG's establish partnerships with local universities. For example, our women in engineering EIG, are very active with regards to working with local universities to make sure that women who are studying STEM subjects are aware of career opportunities at Aristocrat.

We have had some of our employee impact groups, creating opportunities for our mature age workers to take part in transition to retirement workshops. We've had our veterans employees speaking with other veterans who are looking to transition or integrate, and are looking to potentially work at Aristocrat. We've had some of our EIG chapters, raising awareness about the different cultures and ethnicities of various different groups.

Unexpected benefits of having ERGs at your organisation

Cathy: I like how you've given the example of the women and engineering group, how they've partnered with local universities, because sometimes people think ERGs, oh, you only need to do something within the organisation, but the impact actually extends beyond that. There's just so many opportunities. What are some of the unexpected or unforeseen benefits ERGs might create in the workplace? For example, is it common to see greater innovation as a result of forming these groups?

Christine: For sure, I think that so many amazing ideas come out of employee impact groups. It's important for us to realise that not just quantity of ideas, but it's also about leveraging diverse voices and elevating those voices that we otherwise would not hear if it weren't for employee impact groups. One of the key benefits of us having employee impact groups is for us to have the opportunity to elevate the voices of minority groups so that we can take into account their perspectives, their lived experiences, the different ideas that they generate and implement. It's some of the other unexpected benefits as well, the people who take part in the EIGs. They gain leadership skills by serving in various roles within an EIG. They get to connect with other people in the organisation that they don't necessarily work with on a day to day basis. They get great visibility of the great work that they do. Work that isn't a part of their day job, but that is meaningful.

Cathy: Yeah, absolutely. I love how it just creates that networking opportunity because, like I've been in businesses where it's quite siloed. And so when you go into these EIGs, it's just, oh, you get to meet someone that you wouldn't ordinarily meet. You get to learn so much about them, which is basically what diversity and inclusion is about, isn't it? Getting to know each other to form this inclusion. According to Indeed, 2022 D&I report, workers within minority groups are more likely than those not in minority groups to have experienced improvements during the pandemic. With that in mind, has the pandemic or even remote working, made EIGs more or less important?

Christine: I think that's a really interesting research finding, and I wonder why that's the case. I do think that EIGs are just as important, if not more important today. Like we touched on earlier, that ability to create connection has become even more important during the pandemic. I think that during the pandemic, the topic of purpose and meaning in one's work has become quite topical as well. I think that involvement in EIGs during the pandemic definitely, has given people a sense of purpose or something that they can contribute to, and making meaningful impact in.

Cathy: Yeah, that's a really good point. Because often when we're working from home, there's that end to end meetings about our actual work. This brings that sense of purpose into your role at the organisation, definitely. 

Christine: Yeah.

How to help ERGs feel connected in remote teams

Cathy: Face to face time in EIGs seemed like an important point of connection. How do we compensate that with remote teams?

Christine: It's not an easy one, but I think it's also about trying to get creative about the ways that we can connect virtually. My own personal example is that I have been working almost fully remote for the last couple of years. But having teams that are geographically dispersed means that we've had to find ways to connect with each other not in person, but virtually and to make it work for us as well. I have an example, as well of us holding our annual company wide diversity and inclusion summit for two years running now. Where the first time ever we held this event, it was a virtual event. Prior to that, we had never held a company wide diversity and inclusion summit. We did it for the second time this year, virtually again. And that makes me think about how it would have been so much harder for us to have achieved something on that scale, if we had done it pre pandemic, where the expectation or the practice would have been to try to hold things in person. We would never have been able to involve or include as many employees that way, if we hadn't done it virtually.

I think that in terms of our EIGs connecting with one another in a remote environment, it's about finding the opportunities to connect in person as well, because our EIGs at the moment do operate regionally. So many of them would be able to pop into the office and have that in person connection, if it is safe to do so. If we're not in a lockdown situation, for example. The way that they're set up means that they are able to connect in person, as things start to open up more and people start returning to the office more. That might create other opportunities for those initiatives or events to move to more of a physical and in person scenario. But for the time being, it's about getting creative and thinking outside the box about what we can achieve in a virtual environment.

Cathy: The final question I have, which is how we finish every episode of Hire Potential with Indeed is, what will it ultimately take to ensure a better and more inclusive workplace in the future? What's your thoughts on that?

Christine: It sounds simple, but I think in practice, it's much harder. We exercise some curiosity, and to open up our minds and be willing to hear about others experiences and perspectives. I think that then creates awareness about the experience of someone who may not be like yourself. Once we have awareness, we then have the option to either do something about that or to not do anything about it. If we choose the option to do something about it, that's when change happens.

Cathy: Wonderful advice. Curiosity and open our hearts and minds to hear about other people's experience. That's such great advice. I really enjoyed our conversation. Christine, thank you so much for joining us today.

Christine: Thanks, Cathy.

Conclusion 

Cathy: Thank you for listening to Hire Potential with Indeed. Before you go and start building a better workplace, don't forget to hit subscribe, and leave a review if you found this podcast helpful. If you'd like to read our full D&I report, click the link in this episode's description and fill out the form. 

Just a quick note, the views and opinions expressed in this episode by the guest do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Indeed. Additionally, the information in this episode does not and is not intended to constitute legal advice. Instead, all content we discuss is for general informational purposes only, and you should consult with a legal professional for any legal issues you may be experiencing.

Sources: Indeed is the world's #1 job site according to Comscore, Total Visits, January 2022.

Sources: Over 250 million unique visitors every month, Google Analytics, Unique Visitors, February 2020.

Sources: The research in the report referenced in this episode was commissioned by That Comms Co. on behalf of Indeed and conducted by YouGov. The study was conducted online between 11 - 17 January 2022, involving 2,076 participants.