Intro

As Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) drive culture efforts, influence company policy and more, it’s important to create goals that set ERGs up for success. The future of work is changing rapidly, and so, the 'future of culture' is too. ERGs are a critical part of that future as they foster a greater sense of belonging, purpose and employee engagement. Effective and empowered ERGs also contribute to better retention and recruitment for employers - a key factor in today's competitive talent market.

At Verbate, we're here to give your teams the tools to maintain a healthy company culture. Check out our guide on effective ERG goal setting here for some more details on frameworks, actionable steps and best practices. 

In this article, we give you some concrete goal examples to get those creative ideas going!

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Example ERG Goals

Build company community by holding 1 community-building event per quarter (i.e. happy hours, heritage events, off-site).

Alignment: Build ERG Community, Showcase Culture, Decrease ‘Burnout’ 

Stakeholders: ERG Co-Leads, ERG Community Chair, Events Planning Team, HR Team

Timeline: 1 Per Quarter, 6 per year (2 in collaboration with other ERGs)

Demonstrate & Improve: Invite Email, Verbate Calendar, Slack cross-post, Town Hall announcement, Post-event Retros

Raise cultural awareness and strengthen allyship by hosting 2 company-wide speaker events per year. 

Alignment: Build Ally Community, Foster Culture, Raise Awareness 

Stakeholders: ERG Co-Lead, ERG Exec. Sponsor, HR Team, DE&I Team

Timeline: 2 speakers per year (1 during our heritage month)

Demonstrate & Improve: Company Newsletter, General Slack Channel, Verbate Calendar, Post-event Retro, Leadership sync

Showcase talent and culture by creating an educational video for our heritage month sharing experiences of our different members. 

Alignment: Strengthen Culture, Build Awareness, Showcase Diverse Leaders

Stakeholders: ERG Volunteer Member, Recruitment Team

Timeline: Plan in Q1, Execute in Q2, Release in Q3 in time for Heritage Month

Demonstrate & Improve: Company ListServ, Premiere at Q3 Town Hall, Company Nominations on who to Feature

Further career development by hosting 2 career development workshops for entry level and mid-level employees.

Alignment: Professional Career Development, Recruitment/Rentention

Stakeholders: ERG Co-Lead, Exec Sponsor, HR Team, Recruitment Team

Timeline: Host entry-level workshop in Q1 and host mid-level workshop in Q3

Demonstrate & Improve: Verbate Calendar, Leadership Email Listserv, ERG Slack Channels, Post-event Retros,

Raise company-wide awareness of timely issues centering on discrimination & hate crimes. 

Alignment: Raise Awareness, Show Solidarity, Begin Dialogue around policies that can help 

Stakeholders: ERG Exec Sponsor, ERG President, C-Suite Representative

Timeline: Q2 in line with the rise in hate attacks we’re seeing. Timely, so quick turnaround.

Demonstrate & Improve: Company-wide email from CEO co-sponsored by ERG Leads, Public Letter, LinkedIn Post, Quarterly Action Revisits

Align business objectives with employee interests by conducting two company wide polls on what employees want to learn more about in regards to our ERG’s expertise/experience. 

Alignment: Align business objectives with community efforts, Increase Transparency 

Stakeholders: ERG Co-Leads, ERG Exec Sponsor, HR Leadership Team

Timeline: One poll in Q1, One in Q4

Demonstrate & Improve: Survey distributed through email, collected on Verbate platform or Confluence