Diversity and inclusion programs are good for business. These make employees feel welcome and secure in the workplace. Their need to be heard is satisfied and their loyalty to the company is developed. The best companies take D&I seriously because they know how much it can help them over the long term. Encouraging employee resource groups is a big part of all these. They can promote diversity and tolerance in the company while providing employees with the support that they need. ERG software can help these groups grow their numbers and improve engagement while allowing businesses to optimize their resources. Their features may include the following:
Event Management
ERGs will sometimes put up events inside and outside of the workplace. They might invite speakers for certain important occasions or hold discussions around a hot topic. These could be open to the entire company or exclusive to the group members. Some might even be publicly accessible with the support of outside partners. The software can manage these events by scheduling them all in a calendar, sending invitations, gauging participation, configuring access, and encouraging feedback. Everything needed to manage the programs are in one tool.
Online Collaboration
The software can encourage the employees to hold discussions around key topics. This allows everyone’s voice to be heard. These might be done within public groups where anyone can view the posts or within private groups with limited access. The members may wish to create subgroups according to their interests and personal identification. For example, there might be groups for different ethnicities and other groups for sexual orientation. This segmentation can help people feel a deeper inclusion with the members of their chosen groups. Different segments can still collaborate on projects if they agree on certain principles.
Budget Tracking
The software may include budget tracking to make sure that the resources are properly allocated. These can also take care of the requests for funding and the approvals process. It may contain the financial targets as guiding light. It should track where the program funds are going and if the targets are being followed closely. All these should make it possible to ascertain whether the funds are having a positive impact on the business.
Real-time Reports
The data obtained by the ERG software can be used to generate reports about the status of each program. Visualizations through charts and graphs make it easy to evaluate at a glance. The reports are always up-to-date with real-time data.