8 Ways to Build an Employee Resource Group for Parents

Covid-19 has created a working-parent crisis. Since you’re reading this, you’re probably an HR practitioner, senior leader, or enterprising parent who wants to get your organization’s employee resource group (ERG) for employees with children up and running — or make the one that’s already in place more visible, active, and useful. But you’re probably also (circle all that apply): Not sure what to do, practically speaking Concerned about overpromising or about not meeting employee expectations Thin on resources (time, money, staff) Uncertain of best practices or what other companies are doing Debating how the group should be structured, sponsored, or marketed Already managing several ERGs and unsure how this one should fit in And thus you’re left hesitating — and you’re not alone. Working-parent ERGs are a last-few-years phenomenon, and in many organizations they’re informal and grassroots in nature. This means there’s simply no playbook for the complex process of starting up and running one. Yet the stakes are high: chances are good that you’re either personally committed or under institutional pressure to do something for colleagues who are combining children and career. And if your organization exits the pandemic without getting anything in place, it could become a risk for your employer brand. (Do you really want to be known as a company that, in the face of this crisis, didn’t demonstrably support its caregivers?) Instead of hesitating any further or pushing yourself to come up with a comprehensive five-year plan, let’s map out your next steps, keeping things efficient and simple. The eight questions below are our prompts. These aren’t the only considerations in setting up a high-impact group, of course, but they are core and immediate. And whether you’re the sole human-capital practitioner at a startup, part of an ERG committee at a large multinational, or have any other role in shaping a working-parent group, they’ll help you hone in on key decisions, push past obstacles, and get into action mode. What’s a reasonable right-now goal? Your ERG can’t end the pandemic or solve all the working-parent problems it has created. But it can set some specific goals and start moving toward them. For example, it might successfully make clear that leadership is committed to helping employees through the crisis; identify ways your colleagues are “making it work” — and share those techniques so they become common knowledge; or, for mothers and fathers who are working remotely, connect them to one another so they have a stronger support network. What efforts are already working? Identify what’s going well, and scale up from there. Maybe there’s an informal dads’ group that has been meeting for a few years over lunches in the conference room. If so, broaden it out by organizing informal caregiver discussion hours over Zoom. Maybe there’s a working-parents Slack channel that people use regularly. Set up subgroups for parents who are managing distance learning, grappling with eldercare, or facing other challenges. And if speaker-led events in your company’s ERGs have proven popular, do more of them — and focus on parents’ right-now concerns. Is the face of the effort inclusive and relatable? You might be fortunate enough to have an active ERG with one or more senior executive sponsors. That’s great; it sends a powerful message from the top. What it might not do, however, is allow all employees with children to see themselves in the effort. Remember, working parents come in all types: male, female, biological, adoptive, gay, straight, from every conceivable background, from all parts of the organization, and from every income level. If the ERG’s leadership doesn’t reflect this range, it may be time to add a sponsor, create (or broaden) an ERG committee, or seek out different event hosts — and to deliberately use language that signals inclusion. What’s the right medium? Given how your organization gets work done and where you are eight months into the pandemic, think about the best ways to reach your working parents. If long hours and Zoom calls are the norm, maybe caregivers won’t want to be onscreen for a seminar session, and a Q&A on a messaging platform is a better bet. Maybe peer-to-peer outreach or small group discussion among parents facing similar challenges (distance learning, parenting toddlers) will be more powerful than large group events. The guiding words here are accessible, easy, effective, and fast. What are the top working-parent needs right now? Distance learning, scheduling, boundary-setting, and self-care are likely top of mind for your colleagues. But there may also be other concerns — less discussed but equally present — like how to talk to managers and colleagues about caregiving pressures, or how to feel and stay in charge of career matters heading into 2021. Ensure that you’ve got a finger on the pulse of the group. That could happen by surveying people anonymously, gathering insight from frontline managers, setting up a focus group, or, best of all, simply asking a few caregiver colleagues about their needs. Whatever issues they raise, organize the ERG’s efforts and programming around them. What resources can we access or borrow? All right, so maybe you don’t have the budget to bring in outside speakers or the time to set up a new company intranet page. But what about putting together a panel of employees who have changed care arrangements during the pandemic and are willing to talk about their experiences? Or having someone from IT do a session on the best apps and tech hacks for parents and caregivers? Or pointing your membership toward a distance learning survival guide? There are any number of ways to provide value with your current budget and head count. What can we amplify? If your organization has good family benefits in place, the working-parent ERG should actively showcase them, such as with a distribution to members on “what the employee assistance program can actually do for you.” If senior leadership is supportive of working parents, have a member of the C-team make welcoming remarks at the next online session. In other words, use your ERG to make positive messages louder. What can we do in the next two weeks? Pick specific actions that would be the most immediately feasible and the most powerful in developing your ERG. Then commit to getting them done — soon. Still daunted? Remember: the answers to these questions don’t have to be perfect or final. In fact, you’ll want to revisit them over time to keep momentum, keep the network relevant, and continue providing value. Your response to “What’s the right medium?” will likely change as the Covid situation does, for example. And revisiting the last question will help you avoid the all-too-common situation of launching your network with a big, senior-leader-heavy splash…and then losing momentum (and credibility) after. With your attention on the right things, you’ll be able to make your working-parents group a sustained success.

8 Ways to Build an Employee Resource Group for Parents

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