There are 386 million people of working age with a disability across the globe. Many of them work in organisations of a size where the best way of learning directly from their own people to create an inclusive workplace is through the establishment of disability employee resource groups or networks.

This month saw us focus on 'Networkology', the phrase invented by our Founder and CEO Kate Nash OBE to describes the 'art and science' of running a high-performing disability network/Employee Resource Group. 

Ask yourself some big questions about impact

Why not dive back into the PurpleSpace Great Global Impact Report 2020-2021 (sponsored by Barclays) and consider how you might apply lessons to enhance your own ERG or network’s performance? There were five key takeaways from the research:

• The #PurpleLightUp movement has kickstarted more internal “change programmes” than any other recent instrument of change.
  How can your network or ERG ‘mine’ the opportunity of systemic change that the #PurpleLightUp movement presents?
• The greatest challenge for ERG/Network leaders is making time for their volunteer role and recruiting other volunteers.
  How could your organisation better reward network/ERG leaders? How else might the business support network activity with practical challenges around time and resources?
• Story-telling campaigns are one of the most used methods for driving change.
  How can your network or resource group enable more disabled colleagues to share their own stories?
• The greatest value of PurpleSpace is in delivering unique Networkology know-how.
  How can you cascade our resources to reach every ERG committee member, ally and champion in your organisation?
• Disability employee resource groups/networks had a central role to play in supporting employees and allies during the peak times of Covid-19 lockdowns and remote working.
  How can your ERG support senior leaders to continue to learn directly from the experience of employees with disabilities as new structures evolve? 

Learning and development opportunities in April 

This month we had an exciting range of activities to support you:

• Members could learn directly from Rob Loseby, chair of Fujitsu’s Ability Network. Rob shared his experiences of running a high performing disability network as part of our ‘Spotlight On’ series.
• Members had the opportunity to share what works (what doesn’t!) with others from the PurpleSpace community at our popular Peer Learning Group session on Wednesday 21 April at 11am BST.
• For those of you working in multinationals, there was the opportunity to register for our ERG Global Forum Meeting Roundtable on 28 April 2021 at 12:00 (BST. The Global ERG Forum is chaired by Darren Rowan, Global Program Manager & Accessibility Lead at Eli Lilly and convenes members who have experience in establishing or leading global and / or local country ERG / BRG / Network chapters.

And finally…

As we saw during the 2020 #PurpleLightUp 24-hour global broadcast, PurpleSpace members are now part of a global community of change agents. Enjoy your month and be open to the challenges that it brings in the knowledge that in meeting them, you are helping to build a better working world for everyone.