Intro: Why ERG Events are so important 

Employee Resource Groups events are quickly becoming a key part of how company culture is defined and maintained. With remote and distributed work becoming more common, companies can no longer depend on post-work happy hours and break-room chats to define culture. And, today’s employees expect the companies they work for to align with their values, purpose and identities. 

With all this in mind, it’s no surprise that companies started investing more resources, time and budget into their ERGs. These ERGs represent employee perspective, put in extra work to plan events that showcase their passions and give employees a collective voice on issues they care about. 

But planning these events is no easy task. ERGs are run by employees that are already working a full time job, and so running or participating in an ERG can sometimes feel like an entirely new role on top of their regular responsibilities. With a record number of employees quitting their jobs  in “The Great Resignation,” and so many citing burnout as a primary reason, it’s important to implement efficient systems around how ERG events are created, planned and tracked. In this guide, we walk through some best practices to help think through ERG events.

As with our goal-setting guide, Verbate uses the 4C and OKR framework to give you a concrete set of considerations when planning your ERGs events.

Measuring ERG Event Success

In this Guide, we walk through how to set goals for your ERG at a high-level. Events are closely linked to goal-setting, so it’s worth checking out that guide first if you haven’t already. We’ll cover some of the same frameworks here again. 

We first introduced the 4C framework in that Goal-Setting Guide and it’s important to keep it in mind as you plan events for your ERG. The 4Cs are a framework commonly used to benchmark ERG success. Here’s a quick refresher on the 4Cs and how to apply them as you think through events. 

ERG Event Best Practices

1. Alignment

Establish how this event accomplishes key goals.

• Does this event ladder up to one of the 4Cs: Career, Culture, Community or Commerce? (Pst: Need a refresher on the 4C Framework? Click Here.)
• Does it work towards one of your goals as an ERG?
• Does the event address a timely concern in your organization? 
  

2. Execution

Determine the key tasks and stakeholders involved in completing them in order to successfully complete the event.

• Who are the key stakeholders planning and leading the event?
• How are leaders delegating tasks to members helping with the event?
• What is the timeline of the event?
• How is the event being communicated to the rest of the company? 
• Are other ERGs involved in the event?
• Are there educational materials that need to be distributed before, after or during the event?
  

3. Reporting

Create a plan to demonstrate success and communicate room for improvement into the future. 

• What are your key metrics you’re tracking throughout the event?
• Which metrics are quantitative? How will you be tracking them? (i.e. attendance)
• Which metrics are qualitative? How will you be tracking them? (i.e. employee awareness of systemic issues)
• How are you demonstrating success internally within your ERG?
• How are you demonstrating success to the whole company?
• How are you tracking room for improvement?

Check out our examples of ERG events here for inspiration. If you need a better way to manage all this, be sure to reach out to us at Verbate. Our job is to make ERG management easier and more effective!