Many leaders talk about the importance of driving employee engagement. But what does that really look like from a cultural perspective?
Kia Rivera believes she has the answer — and it starts with employee resource groups. The senior employee engagement specialist at WHOOP said that ERGs can be a great way to boost employee engagement when used to promote an inclusive workplace, whether that’s through updating internal policies or empowering new hires.
In this way, ERGs can bring employees of different backgrounds together to grow. That’s exactly what Flywire’s ERG, “Flywire Globals,” was created to do, and according to Director of Digital Marketing and Design Tony Camaiani, the group has succeeded in this respect.
By uniting team members across time zones, he shared, Flywire Globals has become an important avenue for connection, enabling employees to discuss challenges they face, share inspiring stories and support each other.
Yet simply establishing ERGs isn’t enough; leaders must take certain measures to maintain these groups and ensure employees’ needs are being met. At MassMutual, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Consultant Miranda McCarthy and her peers ensure that these groups offer the resources and environment needed to empower team members.
She said her team accomplishes this by analyzing critical data points, such as employee self-identification and engagement stats. With this information, McCarthy and her peers ensure the company’s ERG programming allows team members to be their authentic selves and support causes they truly care about.
Below, Rivera, Camaiani and McCarthy share more about what companies should — and shouldn’t — do when establishing a successful ERG program and how to properly maintain these efforts while driving engagement.
WHOOP’s wearable device and platform enables both athletes and everyday consumers to measure and track physical activity and recovery, sleep patterns, stress levels and more.
What are the keys required to establish a successful ERG program?
Finding your why! Lots of ERG programs start with the hopes of pushing employee engagement, but what does that really mean? A successful ERG program is way more than just events; it’s about promoting an inclusive workplace and pushing organizations to really look inward when it comes to policies and procedures. ERGs can also be a space of support for new employees, so it’s important for programs to think about how they welcome in new hires.
“A successful ERG program is way more than just events; it’s about promoting an inclusive workplace and pushing organizations to really look inward when it comes to policies and procedures.”
What are some common mistakes companies make when doing this, and how can ERG leaders avoid these pitfalls?
When establishing an ERG program, most companies think more about events and less about the ERG’s purpose, mission and goals. When ERGs get started, the group often has a ton of ideas, which are all great, but it’s important to start off slowly and intentionally. Get employees involved by holding meetings, confirming leads and establishing the goals of the ERG for at least the next six months up to one year.
When a team member is interested in establishing a new ERG, it’s critical to ask the organization why this particular group is needed, what they’re hoping to achieve by creating it and how they’re going to accomplish this. All of this should happen before the group is scheduled to meet and hold any events. This ensures that anyone interested in joining the group has a clear understanding of its goals and objectives.
How do you maintain an ERG program and adapt it to meet the needs of employees while keeping engagement levels high?
It’s critical for ERG leaders to check in regularly with members to see what they want out of the group. Not every ERG needs to host events every month; a lot of them also serve as support channels and resources for employees. I think it’s important for leaders to remember that and check in with others to ensure they’re doing that. There are a number of ways to do this, such as by surveying the group, which enables team members to give anonymous feedback if needed.
In terms of keeping engagement high, it’s important for ERGs to establish what engagement looks like to them, because it should be about more than just who’s showing up to events. It could involve those contributing in the Slack channel, those generating new ideas for policy changes or perhaps engaging with a local chapter of a national organization that aligns with the ERG’s goals and mission. Defining what engagement means for you and your ERG structure is crucial for maintaining strong participation.
For more than 170 years, MassMutual has helped people secure their future and protect the ones they love. The mutual life insurance company is run for the benefit of its members and participating policyowners.
What are the keys required to establish a successful ERG program?
What I and the MassMutual leaders who’ve come before me have come to learn is that you need to take a people-first approach. Even though there are perks to joining an ERG, this is something that, to work, must be driven by employees: this is what takes an ERG from purely extracurricular to an invaluable resource for your employees. When you’re asking someone to take on the work of leading or participating in an ERG, it’s a two-way street. There needs to be a value proposition for the employees who are giving the company and its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives this extra time above and beyond their role.
At MassMutual, we see these groups as benefits to the company as well as to the employees. That’s why we don’t refer to them as ERGs — we refer to them as BRGs, business resource groups. We’ve evolved our strategy over the past 10 years to really embody this. Everything is still affinity-based, but we know that employees are creating business impact by taking action and lending expertise on the issues that are important to them. In fact, we ask them to track their impact so we can measure tangible results. Their actions make the company a better place to work.
What are some common mistakes companies make when doing this, and how can ERG leaders avoid these pitfalls?
One common mistake is only having a top-down approach. If one leader is driving your entire BRG strategy, you’re not allowing for the flow of passion and creativity, and this hinders the development of the other BRG members and leaders as well.
Intersectionality is also crucial. We have eight BRGs at MassMutual: open to allies and those representing Black/African American, Asian, and Hispanic/Latino/Latinx communities; members of the LGBTQIA+ community; individuals with disabilities and their caregivers; members of the armed forces, veterans, and military family members; young professionals; and women. We empower them to operate as a cohesive DEI matrix. There are so many issues that need to be tackled from a multidimensional approach, and employees can be part of multiple BRGs representing different parts of their identity.
Lastly, as a community, we acknowledge that employees don’t leave outside burdens at the door. We want to support them through that, whether it means holding talks with external speakers or running Brave Space events where they can share their feelings without judgment and the company can provide support and resources. Being an ally is important to our culture.
“As a community, we acknowledge that employees don’t leave outside burdens at the door.”
How do you maintain an ERG program and adapt it to meet the needs of employees while keeping engagement levels high?
Data is essential. A few years ago, one in three MassMutual employees were in a BRG. Now it’s up to 40 percent. By looking at annual self-identification and employee engagement stats, you’ll realize that needs and desires across BRGs have massive overlap. Everyone needs mentors, career development, exposure, a place where you can be yourself at work. If you keep that in mind, you’ll be able to create intersectional resources that offer value to your employees.
And when you pinpoint what matters to each group, you can involve them in initiatives they’re passionate about. This, in turn, will lead to business results: the true impact the BRGs have on the company — as resources, as leaders. And those results not only serve to motivate BRG leadership — they show executives and the outside world just how important these groups are to our company’s ecosystem.
In sum, give BRG members a safe space to be themselves and initiatives they care about where they can make a difference. That will lead to business results, and most importantly, a wellness benefit for the employees when you’re giving them the resources they need. That’s what brings the idea of an ERG and a BRG together.
Businesses and educational institutions use Flywire’s global payments platform to enable customers to transfer money securely across more than 240 countries and territories.
What are the keys required to establish a successful ERG program?
The key is to find a purpose and mission statement that’s close to employees and aligned with the business. One of our ERGs, “Flywire Globals,” was created because of the universal theme that brings our business and employees, or “FlyMates,” together: being a part of a global ecosystem, supporting global citizens and being a global citizen ourselves.
We work daily with clients, customers, partners and colleagues from all over the globe who speak different languages, live in different time zones and countries and have different cultural backgrounds and experiences. This can often bring challenges yet also a lot of commonalities. The goal of Flywire Globals is to bring people together to talk about both challenging and enriching cultural experiences so we feel like we’re a part of a community and can support and learn from each other.
What are some common mistakes companies make when doing this, and how can ERG leaders avoid these pitfalls?
Leaders should encourage employees to participate in ERGs and make them feel good about participating in events and meetings while getting actively involved themselves. At Flywire, all ERGs have executive sponsorship, which goes a long way to validate and send that message.
“Leaders should encourage employees to participate in ERGs and make them feel good about attending events and meetings while getting actively involved themselves.”
Just because you have an ERG with a cool purpose and mission statement doesn’t mean people will naturally participate. You need to water the seed to make it grow. You need to create content and events that matter to your members and also appeal to other FlyMates. Share these events outside of the ERG group, and make sure the whole company is aware.
We also find success in collaborating with other ERGs. There are often overlapping topics that produce more interesting conversations with a broader audience. Lastly, make sure new employees know about ERGs as a part of your onboarding process.
How do you maintain an ERG program and adapt it to meet the needs of employees while keeping engagement levels high?
We try to create events and initiatives with content and topics that matter and resonate with our FlyMates. Most importantly, we try to allow for active participation from everyone and give them a chance to share their stories.
ERGs shouldn’t be about having one-way speeches in which leaders talk to members. It has to be a conversation, and members or not should be welcome to stand up and speak and share their voices and experiences. When leaders join the conversation, make sure it’s less business-centric and more personal.
