Employees should be encouraged to pursue initiatives and ideas at work that will allow them to engage in the office. From ERGs (employee resource groups) to grassroots initiatives, here are five benefits of encouraging volunteer & employee-led activities at the workplace!

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Benefits of Encouraging ERGs & Grassroots Initiatives  🌱

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1. Empowering Employees 💖

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• Employees who take the lead in their own ERGs and grassroots initiatives will feel a sense of leadership and ownership.
• By encouraging them to pursue their event ideas, your employees will feel validated in taking on initiatives that are important to them.

2. Building Community 🙌🏻

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• Participating in the planning of events and grassroots initiatives allows like-minded employees with similar goals to connect with each other in a safe space.
• These events will often provide an opportunity for any employee to attend and learn about other groups, show support, build community, or even network!

3. Increased Engagement 📈

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• Encouraging these opportunities gives a chance for individual employees to come together and engage with one another, and in the office, by getting involved in community-building for the purpose of creating a more inclusive and diverse workplace!
• Not only do these events engage the employees that are involved in the planning process, but they also bring out the employees that are motivated to come out and participate in the various activities.

4. More Time for Initiatives ⏰

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• Event planning is time-demanding. When your employees volunteer their own time to help plan events, this takes the responsibilities of planning dozens of initiatives off of your hands and allows you to focus on other tasks at work, rather than spreading yourself thin with too many events.
• While it’s great to have a hands-off approach, definitely provide your employees with the necessary resources and support (and funding!) they need to get their events and activities running on their own.
  

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5. Reaching Local Groups 🌍

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• Encouraging individuals to take the initiative at their local offices will provide an opportunity for employees to feel empowered to bring their great ideas to reality. Due to the unique cultures and subcultures at every office, having various groups across locations will allow events and initiatives to reach location-specific ideas that you might think!
• This is especially important for global offices, from Istanbul to Tokyo to Paris, where your generic (read: U.S.-based) framework can be super different from how other countries may operate and approach things. This is true for offices through acquisition as well.

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More Resources 🌟

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We have more articles on our blog to help you empower virtual ERGs and support the implementation of successful ERGs at your workplace. Are you looking to create an ERG for a specific community? We have a simple step-by-step guide to creating ERGs as well - which includes examples of common ERGs in the workplace!