Employee Resource Group Excellence

6Community Pillar: Collaboration and External Outreach

Of the 4C pillars, Community is the one most likely to stir the soul and generate short‐term wins for an ERG (See Figure 6.1). The year of 2020 brought feelings of uncertainty and anxiety unlike what many ERG members had ever known before. The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent sheltering in place put employees in unprecedented levels of isolation. While Zoom calls and Microsoft Teams webinars allowed us to remain social with coworkers, the same can't be said about the small daily interactions one has with one's fellow employees and broader community. The pandemic took away, at least for a while, those gala dinners supporting nonprofit fundraising events, a friendly chat with a colleague at the company cafeteria, or the social events commonly put on by employee resource groups.

Human beings are social creatures – we are naturally inclined to cooperate in order to not only survive but thrive. Science has proven that social distancing is an effective and necessary way to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but as the world reopens, ERGs are putting their pent‐up communal energy toward reinvigorating their community efforts. Employee resource groups have come to understand that a sense of togetherness is a natural feeling when it comes to being human. This leads to a need for togetherness among people that is fostered by strong community efforts often led by ERGs. When someone surrounds themselves with a support system of ...