Employee Resource Groups

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are safe places for people of with disability and chronic illness to share experiences and offer each other support and information.

They are a low cost and high visibility way that employers can demonstrate their commitment to diversity and inclusion to people living with long term health conditions.

However, ERGs need to be established with a clear purpose in mind, and their function within an organisation's broader inclusion agenda needs to be well integrated in order to be successful.

Establishing an ERG

Thinking about setting up an ERG for your employees who have a chronic illness? These are some of the things you should be mindful of:

Employees can be wary of an organisation that wants to set up an ERG if they are a low maturity culture that has very few policies in place to support people living with chronic illness - so don't set up an ERG if it is a DEI box-ticking exercise.

Due to fears of being stigmatised, employees with chronic illness may be reluctant to participate in an ERG; this doesn't mean there isn't a demand for one but it does mean you will need to work sensitively towards its establishment.

Be clear of your objectives - is the ERG intended to be a space for support and information sharing, or is it also intended to function as a space for consultation and input into company policy, procedure and communications?

Use language and communication methods that are appropriate for your target audience; e.g., a 'disability' labelled ERG will not necessarily attract people who are living with chronic illness or chronic pain who may not identify as disabled.

Ask yourself what kind of resources will be made available to support the ERG. The group needs to see an ongoing commitment to its longevity and success; making funding available for events or social activities is one way to do this.

How we can help

We often find that bringing in an external, independent party can be a critical success factor in the establishing an engaged and sustainable ERG.

We can assist you by:

assessing the appropriate ERG set-up pathway based on your organisation's maturity and and previous outreach to chronically ill employees,

running awareness-raising activities including panels and discussing forums to establish levels of interest and identify possible local champions.

facilitating initial ERG sessions so that the burden of responsibility does not fall to particular individuals,

assisting the ERGs to establish their purpose, inclusion criteria, scope of activity, communication channels, and key operating procedures.

Reach out to us if you have any questions or would like to have a no obligations chat.

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