Most workplaces have groups that seem to form naturally. The coffee people. The runners. The parents comparing sleep schedules. Employee Resource Groups take that sense of connection a little further.
An ERG, or Employee Resource Group, is a voluntary, employee-led group built around a shared identity, experience, background or interest. These groups give employees a place to meet people who understand where they are coming from while creating opportunities to learn, contribute and get involved beyond their usual roles.
Some ERGs focus on women, LGBTQ+ employees, cultural communities or employees with disabilities. Others bring together working parents, caregivers, veterans, young professionals or people with shared interests.
Different groups may have very different priorities, but the basic idea is simple: help people find community at work and give that community room to grow.
So, what does that look like in practice?
What Is an ERG?
ERG stands for Employee Resource Group. Unlike a regular workplace club, an ERG usually has a clear purpose connected to the employee experience.
ERGs are typically led by employees rather than HR or senior leadership. The organization can still support them with funding, communication tools, meeting spaces, executive sponsors or learning opportunities without taking over how the group operates.
Many ERGs center on communities that have historically been underrepresented at work, but they are not limited to demographic identities. Groups can also form around life experiences, career stages or shared interests. Depending on the ERG, allies may also take part.
In short:
An ERG is a voluntary, employee-led community built around shared identities, experiences or interests, with a purpose that goes beyond simply socializing.
What Do Employee Resource Groups Do?
he answer depends on the group. A working parents ERG probably will not have the same agenda as a young professionals network, and it should not have to.
In practice, ERGs may:
- Organize events and conversations: From guest speakers to informal meetups, ERGs can create regular opportunities for members to come together.
- Create networking and mentoring opportunities: Members can meet colleagues across teams, roles and levels of seniority.
- Offer development activities: Workshops, mentoring programs and leadership roles within the group can give employees new ways to build skills.
- Surface employee perspectives: ERGs can share recurring concerns, ideas and experiences with HR teams or organizational leaders.
- Raise awareness: Groups can help the wider organization learn more about experiences, communities or workplace issues that employees care about.
- Contribute to workplace initiatives: Some ERGs provide input on employee experience, inclusion, accessibility or internal programs.
An ERG does not need to do everything on this list. Its activities should follow the needs of the community, not a checklist.
Benefits of Employee Resource Groups
The real value of an ERG is not how many events it runs. It is what changes for the people who take part and, over time, for the workplace around them.
A Place to Feel Less Like the Only One
Work can feel very different when you know there are people around you who understand parts of your experience without needing a long explanation.
ERG communities can make it easier for employees to find those people, especially in large, distributed or diverse organizations. That sense of recognition can turn a workplace from somewhere people simply work into somewhere they feel they have a place.
Workplace connection does not always happen automatically. In this episode of WorkLife, Adam Grant explores what happens when people feel isolated at work and how small communities can create a stronger sense of belonging. One story follows an employee who built a community around shared cultural experiences after feeling increasingly isolated in her workplace.
More Ways to Be Seen and Heard
Not every workplace experience makes its way into an engagement survey or a meeting with HR.
ERGs can bring recurring experiences, concerns and ideas into view, giving employees another way to contribute to conversations that affect them. For leaders, that can mean hearing perspectives that might otherwise stay scattered across individual teams.
Access to Relationships That Help People Grow
Some of the most useful career opportunities start with knowing the right person to ask.
Through ERGs, employees can meet colleagues outside their immediate teams, learn from people at different career stages and find mentors, peers or collaborators they may never have encountered through their day-to-day work.
A Better Understanding of the People You Work With
ERGs are not valuable only to their members. When groups choose to share their experiences through events, conversations or resources, they can help colleagues understand perspectives beyond their own.
That does not mean turning employees into educators. It means creating more opportunities to listen, ask better questions and understand how work can feel different depending on who is experiencing it.
Common Types of Employee Resource Groups
There is no universal ERG menu. The right groups depend on the people inside the organization and what they want to build together.
Women’s ERGs
Women’s ERGs often focus on networking, career development, mentoring and leadership opportunities while creating space to discuss shared workplace experiences.
LGBTQ+ ERGs
These groups can create community and visibility for LGBTQ+ employees while supporting awareness and allyship across the organization.
Cultural and Ethnic ERGs
Cultural and ethnic ERGs bring employees together around shared backgrounds and experiences. They may focus on community, cultural awareness, representation or professional networks.
Disability and Accessibility ERGs
These ERGs can connect employees with disabilities and allies while opening conversations around accessibility and workplace experience.
Parents and Caregiver ERGs
Parents and caregivers often face very specific challenges at work. These groups can provide peer support, shared resources and opportunities to learn from others managing similar responsibilities.
Veteran ERGs
Veteran ERGs can help current and former military personnel build professional connections, share experiences and navigate civilian workplaces.
Young Professional and Multigenerational ERGs
These groups connect employees across career stages or generations, often through networking, knowledge sharing and mentoring.
Not every ERG has to center on identity or life experience. Organizations may also support groups focused on sustainability, volunteering, mental health or professional interests.
How to Support Successful ERGs
Starting an ERG is one thing. Keeping it useful six months later is usually the harder part.
Organizations can help without turning an employee-led community into another corporate initiative. Research from McKinsey suggests that effective ERGs benefit from a clear purpose, strong organizational support and meaningful connections with leadership.
- Give employees room to lead: Let members shape priorities, activities and the direction of the group.
- Set a clear purpose: A simple mission and a few realistic goals make it easier to decide what the ERG should actually spend time on.
- Provide leadership support: Executive sponsors can help groups access resources and bring relevant issues into wider organizational conversations.
- Make resources available: Budget matters, but so do time, meeting spaces and communication tools.
- Keep communication open: ERG leaders, members, HR teams and sponsors need clear ways to exchange feedback and raise challenges.
- Look beyond attendance: A packed event is nice. It does not automatically mean the ERG is working. Member feedback, repeat participation and progress toward the group’s goals can tell you much more.
How Mentoring Can Strengthen Employee Resource Groups
ERGs already bring people together. Mentoring gives some of those relationships somewhere to go.
A mentoring program can connect members across different roles and levels of seniority, create more structured opportunities for knowledge sharing and support career development within the community. Peer mentoring can work particularly well when members want to exchange experiences with colleagues navigating similar situations.
It can also help an ERG move beyond occasional events. Instead of every connection ending at “nice to meet you,” mentoring gives people a reason to keep talking.
The Real Test of an ERG
Having an ERG on the company directory is the easy part. The real test is whether employees want to come back, contribute and trust the group enough to make it their own.
That means successful ERGs will not all look the same. Some may become large communities with mentoring programs and events. Others may stay small and focus on a very specific need. Both can work.
What matters is whether the ERG is still useful to the people it was created for. If it is, the rest tends to follow.
Frequently Asked Questions About ERGs
What makes an ERG actually work?
A successful ERG needs three things: a clear purpose, employees who genuinely want to shape it and enough organizational support to keep it going. The best ERGs respond to what members actually need instead of trying to fill a calendar with activities.
Should ERGs be open to everyone?
It depends on the group. Some ERGs are primarily designed for employees who share a particular identity or lived experience, while others actively welcome allies. What matters is that the people the ERG was created to support remain at the center of its decisions and activities.
How do you know if an ERG is making a real impact?
Start by looking beyond attendance. Member feedback, repeat participation, progress toward the group’s goals and opportunities created through mentoring, networking or development can give a much clearer picture of whether the ERG is useful.
What happens when an ERG loses momentum?
It is normal for participation to change over time. When an ERG starts losing energy, revisit its purpose and ask members what they actually want from the group. Sometimes the answer is not more events or initiatives. It is doing fewer things that people genuinely care about.
