EDI TOR’SLE T TER
;ENHANCING RELATIONSHIPS;
Are Employee-Resource
Groups Still
Relevant?
Acompany that’s been in the upper half of the DiversityInc Top 50 for years had a decline in ranking this year, which the chief diversity officer primarily attributed to ur increased emphasis and prevalence of questions on employee-resource groups.
“As soon as I saw all of those
questions—and that level of detail—
I knew we were in trouble,” she
said. She then said that her company
believed employee-resource groups
weren’t as important as they used to
be and that they no longer wanted to
“emphasize differences.”
Our data does not support her
allegation. Our interviews with com-
panies whose human-capital results
and multicultural-market penetra-
tion are increasing show they also
would not agree with her.
The percentage of DiversityInc
Top 50 companies that have
employee-resource groups has tri-
pled in recent years, while the per-
centage whose ERG leaders meet
directly with the CEO has dou-
bled. Five years ago, only half the
DiversityInc Top 50 had ERGs for
LGBT and allied employees; now
all of them do. Five years ago, only
a quarter had ERGs for people with
disabilities and allies; now more than
three-quarters of them do. The prev-
alence of global ERGs has increased
eightfold, while generational and
religious groups have increased
fourfold.
Barbara Frankel
editor@DiversityInc.com
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT,
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
To better understand the stages of corporate diversity, contact Barbara Frankel at bfrankel@DiversityInc.com
12 DiversityInc
