Employee Resource Groups with Cassie Whitlock, director of HR at BambooHR

Join Michael and Robin on 4/28/2021 when they discuss Employee Resource Groups and how to make them more effective with Cassie Whitlock, director of HR at software company BambooHR. An answer for workplace inclusivity in the past has often been affinity groups or employee resource groups (ERGs). Need more women in leadership or initiatives more LGBTQ+ friendly? Make a group for that. 

Cassie Whitlock believes that while there’s an opportunity for ERGs to provide value within an organization, they’re not an end-all solution. At some point there becomes a scaling issue -- a group can’t be made for every possible delineation. And on top of that, ERGs can inadvertently exclude employees, creating the opposite desired effect.

ERGs can have a positive impact -- it all comes down to how they’re structured and if there is an internal locus of control and employees feel empowered to affect change. Here are the core elements Cassie believes companies need to focus on when creating/refining ERGs:

1. Establish a clearly defined purpose for each ERG that are aligned with a business need, and actively work toward that purpose 

2. Each group needs an involved executive sponsor

3. Group leaders need to be knowledgeable and not waste time being counterproductive