This article originally featured in CityAM. You can read the original article here.
Companies are in the firing line for the way they treat their workers. The latest in the long list of companies who are experiencing the sharp end of worker anger is gaming giant Activision Blizzard whose workers are staging a virtual walkout in protest of the lifting of the vaccine mandate, which workers claim creates an unsafe environment for immunocompromised staff. Elsewhere in the US, Disney is facing backlash from its LGBTQ+ employees and allies for its mishandling of Florida’s controversial “Don’t Say, Gay Bill”.
Here in the UK, P&O Ferries has been in the firing line after 800 employees were sacked over Zoom.
Traditionally, these disputes are the bread and butter of Trade Unions. But as many speculate whether their time in the sun has come to an end, there is another force taking up the mantle of agitating for workers’ rights: Employee Resource Groups.
While the acronym ERG evokes a bygone era of the European Research Group, these groups were originally set up in companies to provide education, awareness, community for staff from traditionally marginalised backgrounds. Examples of typical ERG work are events to celebrate diverse cultures, celebrations of religious festivals, or a company celebrating its LGBTQ+ colleagues through a Pride event.
Over the past over two years, however, we have seen the increasing politicisation of ERGs.
The racial reckoning that came with the death of George Floyd in the US in 2020 forced companies into the spotlight. They were being held to account by their employees to look after their black staff, make a stand against racism, and commit to an anti-racist agenda. It was now that ERGs took on a different meaning. They were the saving grace for many companies that were able to point to a cultural group that had little decision making power, but at least they showcased diversity within the company. ERGs had the power to shift a company’s image from being silent to being “anti-racist”.
Now ERGs are harnessing that power.
Members of ERGs have been self-organising to become ingrained structures within organisations – backed by senior management, demanding adequate budget, and, sometimes, but rarely, taking up paid positions to lead the ERG. When companies work with ERGs authentically, they build the potential for a truly inclusive organisation that values diversity and creates routes for its marginalised staff to have genuine decision-making power.
At Unilever, the ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s has turned heads by creating their own in-house activist team with a multi-million dollar budget; they have built their brand on being a business which doesn’t shy away from politics. Elsewhere, Global Pharmaceutical Sanofi has launched the first of its kind in healthcare global Diversity Equity Inclusion board which includes a rotating membership from the ERG leads; NatWest bank provided resources, headcount and organisational heft to its race and ethnicity ERG to create the Racial Equality Taskforce subgroup which was able to create the groundbreaking ‘Banking For Racial Equality Report’. Here, companies have accepted what ERGs can offer, and given them financial backing, senior support and routes for marginalised staff to have genuine decision making-power.
Some companies, however, are using the existence of ERGs within their organisations to excuse slap-dash and tokenistic PR stunts of inclusivity. These ERG groups are taking their lead from trade unions – it was the power behind the LGBTQ+ ERG which organised the walkout at Disney. They won’t accept businesses using them as a badge of honour unless they follow through; they are now political spaces advocating for the most marginalised.
When companies work hand-in-hand with unions, it’s beneficial for both of them. The same is true of ERGs – they are working to improve the conditions for staff and ensure diversity and inclusion schemes are at the heart of the businesses they work with. If it dissolves into a head-to-head between corporate leaders and ERGs, it will antagonise workers and waste precious resources – both in time and money.