October 2021

Networkology - Part Two

October - Networkology - Part Two

We call the 'art and science' of running a high-performing disability Employee Resource Group/Network 'Networkology'. 

This month, we build on April’s Networkology – Part One as we continue to explore the essential elements required to run a successful Disability ERG/Network. 

How do you recognise and reward your disability ERG/Network leaders’ efforts and resource their activity? 

ERG/Network reward and recognition has been in the headlines this year. You probably noticed LinkedIn’s announcement that they will start to pay their global ERG leaders

Whilst the $10,000 a year payment grabbed the headlines, the financial reward is part of a package of professional development and management insights that support LinkedIn’s ERG leaders to create impact for the communities they represent. 

One of the key findings from our Great Global Impact Report 2021 was that the greatest challenge for disability ERG/Network leaders is making time for their volunteer role and recruiting other volunteers. 

It prompted the question, how do organisations recognise, reward and resource those individuals who are making the most valuable contribution to internal change?

It’s complex terrain.

For example, creative employers recognise the value that an ERG/Network brings to the organisation and many of them provide ‘protected time’ for ERG / Network activity. 

However, over the years we’ve found that bidding for such time can be time-consuming itself and the result often sounds better on paper than in practice. Some ERG/Network leaders have found they are sometimes better served by getting their line managers on side and delivering their day jobs alongside their network activity. 

In October, we’ll be following up on our ‘Five Trust Tests’ briefing with a new provocation about how disability ERG/Networks are recognised, rewarded and resourced. 

Learning and development opportunities in October

The Global ERG Forum is chaired by Darren Rowan, Global Program Manager & Accessibility Lead at Eli Lilly and supports us to accelerate cultural change for employees with disabilities around the world via the power of ERGs. Through the Forum we work in partnership with global organisations from the PurpleSpace community and the UN’s International Labour Organisation to develop a range of resources that will support multinationals to develop their approach to ERGs across their operations

  • Learn directly from Carden Wyckoff and Tom Frantz from Salesforce in our Spotlight On interview as they share their insights on ERG/Network recognition, reward and resourcing.
  • Share what works (and what doesn’t) in relation to disability ERG/Network recognition, reward and resourcing with others from the PurpleSpace community at one of our popular Peer Learning Group meetings at:

And finally…

PurpleSpace member Twitter is another example of an organisation that has taken steps to recognise and reward it’s Business Resource Groups which it sees as ‘the lifeblood of inclusion efforts at Twitter’.

Remember the words of Andrew Hayward, Co-Chair of Twitter’s disability Business Resource Group Twitter Able, ‘you cannot have a truly global conversation if people are being excluded’. 

As a member of the PurpleSpace community, you are supporting organisations (not just your own) to improve the experiences of employees and customers with a disability around the world

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