Employee Resource Group
An Employee Resource Group workspace for defining mission and roles, planning events, coordinating members, and reviewing impact across the year.
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Overview
The Employee Resource Group template gives an ERG a shared workspace for its mission, people, programs, decisions, and ongoing improvement. It includes workflow-specific channels for kickoff and orientation, member connection, events and programs, decisions and governance, and retrospectives and feedback. The structure avoids a generic catch-all channel and makes it easier to route conversations to the place where they can be acted on.
The workspace also includes stage-based task lists: Set Up the ERG, Plan the Year, Deliver Each Event, and Review and Improve. Milestones track the operating arc from approving the mission and working agreements through publishing annual priorities, delivering the first event, completing quarterly impact reviews, and preparing leadership transition. Weekly, monthly, and quarterly check-ins provide a defined cadence rather than leaving coordination to sporadic messages.
Use this template when an ERG has recurring activities, multiple organizers, or a need to preserve decisions and handoffs. It is especially useful when roles need to be mapped by function, such as ERG Chair, Events Lead, Communications Lead, Member Engagement Lead, Executive Sponsor, and People Partner. It is not a substitute for an HR case-management process, confidential complaint channel, or formal legal review. Keep sensitive member data and individual employee issues in approved restricted systems.
Standards & compliance context
- Use the Working Agreements and Participation Guidance to set respectful participation expectations and align the ERG with applicable workplace conduct and anti-discrimination policies.
- Keep personal disclosures, complaints, accommodation requests, and potential investigations in approved restricted HR or ethics channels rather than shared ERG spaces.
- Limit member feedback reporting to the minimum information needed for program improvement and follow organizational privacy, retention, and access-control requirements.
- Have HR, legal, or the appropriate policy owner review the ERG scope when activities involve regulated topics, external advocacy, political activity, or sensitive employee data.
General regulatory context for orientation only — verify current requirements with counsel or the relevant agency before relying on this template for compliance.
What's inside this template
Members
Role-based members make accountability durable by mapping the ERG's work to functions such as Chair, Events Lead, Communications Lead, and Executive Sponsor.
Channels
Workflow-specific channels separate orientation, connection, programs, governance, and feedback so each conversation has a clear destination.
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kickoff-and-orientation
Workspace for launching the ERG, introducing its purpose, and orienting new members.
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member-connection
Member-run channel for introductions, peer connection, resources, questions, and community conversation.
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events-and-programs
Coordinate event ideas, speakers, logistics, promotion, attendance, and follow-up.
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decisions-and-governance
Record proposals, decisions, role changes, funding requests, and operating agreements.
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retrospectives-and-feedback
Collect feedback after events and review the ERG’s health, reach, and effectiveness.
Check ins
Defined weekly, monthly, and quarterly cadences turn ERG coordination, member listening, and impact review into repeatable routines.
- Weekly ERG Operations Check-in
- Monthly Member Pulse
- Quarterly ERG Retrospective
Milestones
Milestones show progress from mission approval and annual planning through event delivery, impact review, and leadership transition.
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ERG mission, roles, and working agreements approved
The group has a documented purpose, role ownership, decision rights, and participation standards.
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Annual priorities and event calendar published
Members can see the year’s intended activities, owners, success measures, and key dates.
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First member event delivered
The first event is completed with accessibility support, participation tracking, and a feedback follow-up.
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Quarterly impact review completed
The ERG reviews member feedback, participation, progress, capacity, and updated priorities.
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Annual plan renewal and leadership transition ready
The next annual cycle, succession plan, and lessons learned are documented before the current cycle ends.
Task lists
Stage-based task lists move the ERG from setup to planning, event delivery, and continuous improvement with a DRI for each action.
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Set Up the ERG
Stage-based launch work to establish purpose, roles, working agreements, and the first member experience.
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Plan the Year
Create a lightweight annual plan using member needs, organizational priorities, and available capacity.
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Deliver Each Event
Reusable event-delivery stage with a clear DRI and observable completion criteria.
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Review and Improve
Recurring review stage for learning, accountability, and sustainable ERG operations.
Hill charts
The Annual ERG Program Plan hill chart shows which priorities are still being explored and which are ready for execution.
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Annual ERG Program Plan
Track confidence and progress across the ERG’s major workstreams from discovery through delivery.
Default apps
The default apps provide the working surfaces for discussions, tasks, documents, and check-ins without separating the ERG's operating record.
Integrations
Calendar, document storage, surveys, and internal communications connect the workspace to the systems where ERG work already happens.
- Calendar
- Google Drive or Microsoft SharePoint
- Survey or Forms tool
- Email or Internal Communications
Pinned resources
Pinned resources keep the mission, working agreements, RACI matrix, event brief, and feedback log visible at the point of work.
- ERG Mission, Scope, and Annual Plan
- Working Agreements and Participation Guidance
- ERG Roles and RACI Matrix
- Event Planning Brief
- Member Feedback and Retrospective Log
How to use this template
- Clone the workspace, replace placeholder members with role-based assignments, and set default visibility for each channel before inviting participants.
- Complete the ERG Mission, Scope, and Annual Plan, Working Agreements, and ERG Roles and RACI Matrix so members understand purpose, boundaries, decision rights, and escalation paths.
- Work through Set Up the ERG and Plan the Year by assigning a DRI to each task, recording annual priorities, and publishing the event calendar through the calendar integration.
- Use the member-connection and events-and-programs channels to coordinate participation and delivery, while recording governance decisions in decisions-and-governance instead of burying them in chat.
- Run the Weekly ERG Operations Check-in, Monthly Member Pulse, and Quarterly ERG Retrospective, then convert findings into owned tasks in Review and Improve.
- Complete the annual impact review and leadership transition tasks by updating the plan, documenting lessons learned, and confirming the next ERG leadership team.
Best practices
- Assign every event, decision follow-up, and improvement action to one DRI even when several members contribute.
- Use role labels such as ERG Chair, Events Lead, and Communications Lead in the member list so the workspace survives leadership changes.
- Keep kickoff-and-orientation focused on onboarding and purpose, and move ongoing conversation to member-connection rather than creating a general channel.
- Write event tasks in delivery stages such as concept, logistics, promotion, delivery, and follow-up instead of grouping them by department.
- Publish a concrete welcome message explaining the ERG mission, who can participate, where events are listed, and how members can raise feedback.
- Record decisions with the decision, accountable role, consulted roles, date, and next review point in decisions-and-governance.
- Use RICE prioritization when choosing among proposed programs, considering reach, impact, confidence, and effort before committing the annual plan.
- Review channel activity and task ownership at each quarterly retrospective, archiving unused spaces and correcting unclear responsibility.
What this template typically catches
Issues teams running this template most often surface in practice:
Common use cases
Frequently asked questions
Who is this Employee Resource Group template for?
This template is designed for employee-led affinity groups, inclusion networks, and resource groups with recurring programs or events. It supports an ERG chair, program leads, communications lead, executive sponsor, and other role-based members. Replace the placeholders with roles in your organization rather than naming individual people.
How often should an ERG use the check-ins?
Use the Weekly ERG Operations Check-in for active coordination, the Monthly Member Pulse to understand participation and needs, and the Quarterly ERG Retrospective to review outcomes and improve the program. Adjust the cadence when the ERG is in a planning or transition period. Keep each check-in tied to an agenda, owner, and follow-up task.
Who should run the workspace?
The ERG chair or program lead is usually the accountable owner, while event, communications, and member-engagement leads can be responsible for specific task lists. Use the ERG Roles and RACI Matrix to distinguish who is Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, and Informed. The executive sponsor should provide support without becoming the owner of member-led work.
Can this template support confidential or sensitive member feedback?
It can organize feedback workflows, but default visibility should be reviewed before launch. Keep sensitive personal information, complaints, or case details in an approved restricted system rather than open channels. Link to the authorized survey or case-management process and record only the aggregate themes needed for planning.
What is the most common ERG workspace pitfall?
The most common pitfall is assigning every task to the ERG as a whole instead of naming a DRI. Another is treating the member-connection channel as a catch-all for decisions, event logistics, and feedback. Keep channels aligned to the workflow and convert decisions, risks, and follow-up actions into owned tasks.
How much can I customize the template?
You can rename channels, change task-list stages, add programs, and adapt check-in cadences to the ERG's operating model. Keep the core separation between kickoff, member connection, events, governance, and retrospectives unless your group is very small. Update the welcome message, default visibility, RACI roles, and annual milestones before inviting members.
Can this ERG workspace connect to calendars, documents, surveys, and email?
Yes. Use the Calendar integration for events and check-ins, Google Drive or Microsoft SharePoint for working documents, a survey or forms tool for member pulses, and email or internal communications for announcements. Treat each integration as an integration touchpoint with a clear owner so information does not become split across systems.
How should we roll this out to a new ERG?
Start with the ERG mission, scope, working agreements, and role assignments before opening broad participation. Publish the annual priorities and event calendar, then run the first member event and collect feedback. Review the workspace after the first quarter and prepare leadership transition materials before the annual plan renewal.
Why use this instead of an ad-hoc chat channel and spreadsheet?
An ad-hoc channel can support conversation, but it often hides decisions, owners, event stages, and follow-up work. This template separates member connection from governance and retrospectives while providing milestones, stage-based task lists, and defined check-ins. It gives the ERG a reusable operating record without requiring every participant to manage the same tools.
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