If you’ve found your way to this blog, you probably are familiar with Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), sometimes called Affinity Groups or Employee Networks. For those who aren’t, a quick overview: ERGs are workplace groups created by and for people who share some identity, experience, or affiliation.

I am Abhishek, a Senior Consultant at Seen@Work and through my work I help Seen@Work’s clients investigate their organization’s performance on diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging and help them make targeted interventions to improve them. Today, I want to talk about Earth Day.

In recent years, neurodiversity advocates have made significant progress in renaming Autism Awareness month to Autism Acceptance month, celebrated annually in April. While this may seem like a slight difference, this change represents a massive shift of trying to “fix” individuals and instead focuses on creating changes in society to support and include people who are neurodiverse.

For Transgender Day of Visibility, we are centering the important topic of how managers can support transgender (trans) employees who choose to come out in the workplace. In 2022, almost 1.5 million adults in the US reported transgender identities.

A McKinsey report states that 42% of women report higher rates of burn out, compared to 35% for men. Furthermore, the same research points to the greater impact of the circumstances on women of color, who reported a greater inclination to leave their current employer within the next 6 month compared to their white counterparts. 

In the final installment of Seen@Work’s celebration of Black History Month, we are shining a spotlight on a small number of the numerous Black business leaders who have defined, and redefined how to run successful organizations. 

As part of Black History Month, we are spotlighting some of the amazing Black trailblazers of both past and present, leaving their mark in American history and paving the way for the future.  

As part of Black History Month, we are spotlighting some of the amazing Black trailblazers of both past and present, leaving their mark in American history and paving the way for the future.  

This Latinx Heritage Month, many of us might be thinking about the many terms we've heard used to describe the community being celebrated this time of year. Perhaps you've wondered, but haven't had someone to ask: Why do some people use Hispanic? Latino? What about Latinx? Does it matter?

Social class is a conversation topic that is often considered taboo in office settings.  Yet, socioeconomic status can influence a number of daily happenings as they relate to physical and mental health, family life, education, and general social interactions. 

By now we have all seen the company statements. We’ve likely heard the words from our senior leaders. It’s possible we ourselves have even acknowledged the recent and ongoing acts of police brutality against Black lives in a recent email or virtual meeting. But here’s the thing: words aren’t enough.

The first Disability Pride Day was held in 1990 in Boston to celebrate the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act and has since grown and expanded both in geography and meaning. Disability pride is described as increasing the visibility of the disability community through a celebration of disability culture and recognizing how disabled people have contributed to society.

Whether they’ve known about your company for ten years or ten minutes, the first time new employees experience your company culture for themselves is during the recruiting process. Hiring managers and recruiters know that the start of the process is an important opportunity to tell candidates what kind of organization they would be joining. 

Employee Resource Groups, or ERGs, are a familiar feature of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. ERGs (sometimes called Affinity Groups or Business Resource Groups) represent employees with a shared identity, affiliation, or interest. They offer a sense of community to members as well as a platform to advance DEI efforts within an organization.  

During May, we see an increased discussion around mental health in support of Mental Health Awareness Month. While this is great, it is important that we dive deeper--not only to become aware of mental health but to also create workplaces that truly support employees’ wellbeing.  

Managers seeking to be inclusive leaders should make keeping up with abhorrent occurrences like this one a top priority. They should attempt to stay abreast of not just the criminalization of Black people, which has persisted for hundreds of years, but of all of the ways communities are systemically oppressed…

We had just learned that women perform better in negotiations when they negotiate on behalf of others than when they negotiate on behalf of themselves. Society doesn’t expect women to advocate for themselves, but they do expect women to caretake others.