Future-Proof Your ERGs: Four Ways to Meet New Business Demands

As inclusion efforts face increased legal scrutiny and pressure to demonstrate business value, it’s no secret that ERGs are the glue holding inclusion strategies together. As one CDO of a global consumer products company put it:

It’s time to redesign ERGs

Although expectations of ERGs have changed, their infrastructure has not. Seramount’s survey of more than 40 organizations found that 67 percent of respondents think that ERG leaders need additional support. This is a consequence of ERGs being tasked with achieving enterprise-level impact with an infrastructure designed for a different era. In other words, their current roles and processes cannot handle the volume and types of work now demanded of them.

To meet these expectations and demonstrate business value, inclusion leaders must redesign ERGs from the inside out. The following four shifts are essential:

1. Define and align roles

Many ERGs began as grassroots communities. They were formed individually as needs arose, focusing on shared experiences and well-being. For example, Xerox created the first ERG for Black employees in 1970 following the Civil Rights Movement. While this organic growth built strong individual communities, it also led to inconsistent governance as each ERG developed its own leadership structure.

In the current climate, these structural discrepancies leave ERGs vulnerable to scrutiny. Therefore, roles must be reevaluated holistically by:

• Clarifying responsibilities and accountability: Define what an ERG does and does not own, what outcomes it’s accountable for, and how success is measured to prove value.
• Integrating into business planning cycles: Ideas that come out of ERGs often go unheard because they operate outside of enterprise forecasting. To turn ideas into value, groups need visibility into business priorities.
• Standardizing structures: Although ERGs serve a variety of communities, ERGs should have similar leadership roles, planning processes, and governance expectations.

2. Reimagine executive sponsorship

Executive sponsorship remains a key predictor of ERG success, but today’s sponsorship model is unsustainable. Put simply, there are not enough sponsors to go around. Seramount research found that one in three executives is expected to leave within two years, and 75 percent of those who remain say they need help managing their responsibilities.

To equip executive sponsors to champion ERGs’ value, the sponsorship model must be updated to keep pace with shifting needs. This requires:  

• Providing structured onboarding: Onboarding should reflect current expectations and pressures and allow time for leaders to ask candid questions.
• Understanding what’s possible: Effective sponsors can identify their groups’ strengths, priority gaps, and high-effort areas that have low impact. The Seramount Employee Group Maturity Assessment (SEGMA) can show sponsors an ERG’s current state, what it’s set up to achieve, and what support is needed to reach other goals.

3. Elevate leadership into a career opportunity

The next generation of leaders expects more than an intranet shoutout—it wants career advancement. Younger talent won’t lead for free, as 75 percent of Gen Zers say that growth opportunities drive their job decisions. To recruit budding talent, inclusion leaders must rebrand ERG leadership roles, which were formerly regarded as side commitments, as career scaffolding, reevaluating:

• Selection: Establish leadership criteria and identify people who can drive community and enterprise impact.
• Investment: Strengthen leadership’s value proposition by offering additional compensation, protected time, and development opportunities.
• Integration: Include ERG management in performance and talent reviews so it can contribute to advancement.
• Recruitment: Design a structured talent pipeline to build a continuous bench of leaders and advisors.

4. Embed ERGs into business processes

A lot of ERGs are embedded in individual working relationships but not in larger business processes. The same handful of leaders will sporadically ask for support, but the ERG isn’t being tasked with regular work that affects the broader organization. 

Shifting to a process-based integration means that workflows need more structure. In practice, this looks like:

• Identifying a high-impact business unit: Find a home for an ERG where it can add measurable value, such as a product development division or a talent acquisition division.
• Mapping workflows: Pinpoint where decisions happen and where ERG ideas can influence outcomes.
• Designing repeatable touchpoints: Determine when and how groups can provide input, such as during a quarterly business review meeting.
• Measuring and refining: Track impact alongside business metrics, link input to decisions, and iterate as needed.

As you redesign your ERGs, explore Seramount’s How Leading ERGs Are Driving Business, Workforce, and Workplace Impact guide. Featuring examples from past ERG Impact Award winners, it showcases proven strategies that can help leaders position their ERGs to deliver business results. 

Unlock ERG success by fixing what’s under the hood

The organizations that thrive won’t just ask more of their ERGs—they’ll redesign them so that they’re poised to deliver enterprise impact through inclusion. Standardized governance, greater sponsorship and leadership investment, and integration into business processes can help ensure that ERGs foster community and business value.

Through research-backed frameworks, tools, and guidance, Seramount helps inclusion leaders strengthen the employee experience and business outcomes for today’s workplace and beyond. Whether you’re refining an existing model or reimagining your strategy, we can help you enter a new era of ERG success.