Employee Resource Groups: Guide for UK Employers 2026/27

Key takeaways

• McKinsey surveyed almost 25,000 US employees in late 2020 and early 2021 and found 83% of those who rated their employee resource group effective reported positive inclusion scores, against 59% of those who rated theirs ineffective.
• In a CIPD survey of 2,102 UK employees, carried out by YouGov between November 2019 and January 2020, 48% of people whose organisations were talking about ethnicity said an employee network group had started those conversations, more than named senior leaders (43%) or HR (42%).
• The same CIPD survey found 77% of UK employees were comfortable talking about race with colleagues, against 56% with senior leaders.
• Great Place To Work surveyed around 80 ERG leaders and executive sponsors at three US Best Workplaces and found 100% of sponsors believed leadership encouraged ERG participation, against 52% of ERG leaders.
• In that Great Place To Work study, 51% of ERG leaders had an annual budget of $5,000 or less.
• Under B Lab Standards V2.1, supporting at least two employee resource or affinity groups is JEDI2.f, one of 19 JEDI actions, and a Medium-sized B Corp needs five actions in place by Year 3.

Employee Resource Groups and Inclusion Working Groups: UK Employer Guide 2026

People who rate their employee resource group as effective are far more likely to feel included at work: 83% against 59%, in McKinsey's survey of almost 25,000 US employees published in December 2022. A group launches with energy, a volunteer chair runs it in the evenings, a senior sponsor signs off the Pride post, and two years later nobody can say what it changed.

What usually goes missing is the structure around the group: no terms of reference, no budget, no protected time, and no route from what members say to a decision someone owns. That is the job an inclusion working group exists to do.

The work reaches wider than HR. Impact and sustainability leads own the B Corp evidence, people and culture leads run the groups day to day, and leaders sponsor them or chair a working group alongside the day job.

What is an employee resource group?

An employee resource group (ERG) is a voluntary, employee-led group of people who share a characteristic, identity or experience, plus their allies, which the organisation supports with time, money and a route to decision-makers.

The CIPD's guide to ERGs and staff networks, updated in November 2025, draws a line between the two terms. In the CIPD's definition, an ERG gives a safe space and a voice to people who share a characteristic, often an under-represented one. A staff network is broader: a channel to share interests or influence policy, such as a working parents' network. Many UK employers use the words interchangeably, and that is fine as long as each group knows which job it is doing.

What is an inclusion working group, and how is it different from an ERG?

An inclusion working group (IWG) is a small, cross-functional group that owns the delivery of an organisation's inclusion action plan. Members are usually appointed rather than self-selected: a senior sponsor, someone from HR or people, operations, internal communications, the impact or sustainability lead where there is one, and the chairs of each ERG.

The two groups do different jobs and need each other.

• Who is in it: an ERG is open to anyone who shares the identity or experience, and their allies. An IWG is a named group of people with the authority to act.
• What it does: an ERG speaks from lived experience and supports its members. An IWG turns what it hears into priorities, owners and deadlines.
• Who it answers to: an ERG answers to its members. An IWG answers to the leadership team or board.
• What it produces: an ERG produces feedback, ideas and community. An IWG produces the action plan and the evidence that it was delivered.

In an organisation of 30 people there may not be enough members for an identity-based group. One working group plus a facilitated discussion, where people can speak anonymously, often does the same job. In a business of 500, the working group is what stops five ERGs running five separate agendas.

What the evidence says about employee resource groups

The strongest UK data on staff networks comes from the CIPD's Race Inclusion Reports, written by the Institute for Employment Studies and published in March 2021. YouGov surveyed 2,102 UK employees between November 2019 and January 2020. Among the 543 respondents whose organisations were having conversations about ethnicity, 48% said an employee network group started them, ahead of senior leaders (43%) and HR (42%). [FLAG: the CIPD deliberately over-sampled ethnic minority employees, who made up 65% of respondents, so read these figures as the views of that sample rather than the UK workforce as a whole.]

In the same CIPD survey, 77% of respondents were comfortable talking about race with colleagues, 67% with their manager, 60% with HR and 56% with senior leaders.

McKinsey's research is the largest study of what effective groups do. Its survey of almost 25,000 employees in US companies with more than 25,000 staff, carried out in late 2020 and early 2021, rated ERGs on five things: external engagement, allyship, connection to leadership, community building and career advancement. Employees were most likely to rate their group effective at community building. Around a third rated their group neutral on each of the other four.

Why do employee resource groups stall?

Employee resource groups stall when the people leading them and the people sponsoring them see the same group differently. Great Place To Work surveyed around 80 ERG leaders and executive sponsors at three US Best Workplaces. [FLAG: Great Place To Work's write-up is dated June 2024, but its text places the fieldwork in 2020, so treat these as 2020 figures.]

• 100% of executive sponsors said leadership encouraged people to take part in ERGs. 52% of ERG leaders agreed.
• 78% of sponsors believed ERG involvement helped careers. 40% of ERG leaders agreed.
• 91% of sponsors felt a sense of belonging at work, against 76% of ERG leaders.
• Three in five ERG leaders had no management role or formal authority.
• 51% of ERG leaders had an annual budget of $5,000 or less.

McKinsey's case study of a life sciences company shows the fix that company used: it wrote ERG leadership into annual performance goals, allowed chairs 20% of their working time for the role, shared budget fairly across its 40-plus groups, and asked each group to report membership, participation and spend in return.

Employee resource groups, B Corp and JEDI

JEDI is Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Under B Lab's V2 standards it is one of the Impact Topics every B Corp has to meet, and it has two parts.

• JEDI1, collecting data. Companies collect data on how workers' experiences differ between groups, through a worker survey, a facilitated discussion or existing people measures. It applies to Small companies and above.
• JEDI2, taking action. Companies choose and implement actions from a list of 19, split into three sets: Foundation (JEDI2.a to e), Within the Workplace (JEDI2.f to l) and Beyond the Workplace (JEDI2.m to s).

JEDI2.f is the employee resource group action. B Lab's Knowledge Hub, in its August 2025 summary of Standards V2.1, words it as: "The company supports at least two employee resource or affinity groups." B Lab U.S. and Canada adds that the two groups should represent different social identities and be chosen through worker feedback. It is open to every company with workers.

The number of actions depends on size and on where a company is in its five-year cycle.

Source: B Lab, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Impact Topic Summary, Release 2, 25 August 2025, based on Standards V2.1. [FLAG: B Lab is now on V2.2 for some documents. Check these counts against the current standard before publishing, and at each standards revision.]

From Small companies upwards, B Lab asks for actions to be chosen using data and stakeholder feedback and recorded in a written plan. That is where ERGs and inclusion working groups meet the standard. ERGs are one of the clearest stakeholder feedback routes a company can show. An inclusion working group is the natural owner of the written JEDI plan, the deadlines and the record of what was delivered.

Organisations that are not B Corps can use the same structure as plain good practice. Two supported groups, a working group that owns a plan, and a record of what changed is a sound inclusion setup whatever badge sits on the website.

Employee resource groups in practice: Pepper Money's neurodivergence group

Pepper Money UK started its neurodivergence ERG from data rather than enthusiasm. Writing for BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, in October 2025, Paul Ginsberg of the BCS Neurodiverse IT Specialist Group and Laura Harris, Database Manager at Pepper Money UK, describe how a staff survey showed demand for the group. The company already ran an LGBTQ+ group.

Laura Harris helped set two aims: support members, and raise awareness across the business. The group alternates between the two each month, with sharing sessions, some open to allies and some closed, and lunch-and-learns held in working hours.

The group also works with HR to write down how reasonable adjustments are requested and agreed, so the next person does not start from nothing. It supports recruitment by making the workforce's diversity visible to candidates.

The BCS piece points to a structure worth borrowing for any group with allies. The UK charity ADHD Aware has two chairs, one neurodivergent and one neurotypical, while keeping some of its support groups for ADHDers only. Terms of reference can set out the same split for any group.

Five employee resource group actions for this quarter

1. Write terms of reference for every group by the end of this month. Purpose, who can join, who sponsors it, what it is resourced with, and how its feedback reaches decision-makers.
2. Name an executive sponsor for each ERG and for the inclusion working group. Give each sponsor a standing slot at a leadership meeting every quarter, so what the group raises has somewhere to land.
3. Protect time for chairs within working hours. Agree the time with their line manager and write the role into their objectives before the next review cycle.
4. Set a budget per group before the next financial year starts. Keep any recognition or payment for chairs separate from the group's budget.
5. Start a close the loop record this quarter. Log every issue a group raises, what was decided, who owns it, and when the group was told.

The employee resource group evidence to keep for B Corp and board reporting

The same records serve a B Lab verifier, an auditor and a board.

• Terms of reference for each group and for the inclusion working group
• The worker feedback that led to the groups being chosen
• Named sponsors and the dates they met each group
• Budget and protected time allocated, and how much was used
• Membership and attendance numbers, reported without identifying individuals
• The written JEDI or inclusion action plan, with owners and deadlines
• The close the loop record, showing what changed because a group raised it
• Member feedback on whether the group is working, gathered at least once a year

Where to find ideas for your employee resource groups and inclusion working groups

Groups run out of ideas faster than they run out of goodwill. Two Includability sessions are built for that.

Community Support Groups run on the last Wednesday of every month, 10:30 to 11:30am, on Zoom. Three speakers each take ten minutes on a practical topic, from neurodiversity at work to financial wellbeing, and the aim is one thing you can take back and use straight away. They are free and open to anyone in your organisation, so an ERG chair, a group member and a working group sponsor can all attend. Questions and introductions go in the chat, which is where attendees swap contacts with organisations that have already tried what you are planning. Past sessions are on the Includability YouTube channel, sorted by pillar.

HIT sessions (Hot Inclusion Topics) launched in October 2026 for Committed Employers. They are small, invite-only sessions on one current topic, with a Partner Expert in the room. They are not recorded, which makes them the right place for a working group chair to test a live issue before it goes to the board.

Employee resource groups: frequently asked questions

What is the difference between an employee resource group and a staff network?

In the CIPD's definition, an ERG supports people who share a characteristic, often an under-represented one, while a staff network is a wider channel to share interests or influence policy. Many UK employers use both terms for the same thing.

How many employee resource groups does a B Corp need?

None are compulsory. JEDI2.f, supporting at least two employee resource or affinity groups, is one of 19 actions a B Corp can choose, and the number of actions required depends on company size and where the company is in its five-year cycle.

Should employee resource group leaders be paid?

At minimum, chairs need protected time and the role written into their objectives. Some organisations also pay an allowance; McKinsey's case study company gave chairs 20% of their working time.

Can a small organisation have an employee resource group?

Yes, though very small teams may not have enough members for identity-based groups. An inclusion working group plus an anonymous facilitated discussion often does the same job, and B Lab treats a facilitated discussion as a valid way to collect JEDI data.

Can allies join employee resource groups?

Usually, yes. Some groups keep certain sessions closed to members only, as the charity ADHD Aware does with some of its support groups, and terms of reference should say which.

Do employee resource groups need a budget?

Yes. In Great Place To Work's study, 51% of ERG leaders had $5,000 a year or less, and leaders named time, money, support and recognition as what would help most.

Where Includability fits

Most organisations already have the goodwill. What they are missing is a clear view of whether their groups connect to anything: who sponsors them, what they cost, and what has changed because of them. As a Committed Employer, you get a Cultural Roadmap built from six calls with independent Partner Experts, including a Diversity and Inclusion call led by Sara Matthews, and a JEDI Gap Analysis that shows where your groups and your evidence stand against the JEDI criteria.

Where the roadmap shows gaps, the JEDI Toolkit closes them. Its Gathering Worker and Stakeholder Feedback section covers feedback routes, employee resource groups and inclusion working groups, with terms of reference you can adapt, and every section names the criteria it supports and the evidence it produces. The toolkit is £999, or £650 for Committed Employers, plus VAT. Between roadmaps, your chairs and sponsors can bring ideas back from the monthly Community Support Groups, and Committed Employers can take live issues to HIT sessions.

If you want to talk it through, book a call with Dave and James.

About Includability

Includability | B Corp is a UK B Corp workplace culture business. We partner with organisations to build inclusive, diverse, mentally healthy, evidence-based workplace cultures, and we do that by developing Cultural Roadmaps. We work alongside clients as a strategic partner to leadership teams, a colleague to the people doing the work, and a community of Partner Experts and over 100 Committed Employers and Partners learning from each other. B Lab certifies B Corps; we help organisations do the work behind the evidence.

Sources and references

1. McKinsey and Company, Catalino, N., Gardner, N., Goldstein, D. and Wong, J., Effective employee resource groups are key to inclusion at work. Here's how to get them right, 7 December 2022. Survey and conversations with almost 25,000 US employees in companies of more than 25,000 staff, late 2020 to early 2021. mckinsey.com
2. CIPD and Institute for Employment Studies, Race Inclusion Reports, Report 1: Talking about race at work, March 2021. YouGov survey of 2,102 UK employees, 29 November 2019 to 10 January 2020. cipd.org
3. CIPD, ERGs and staff networks: How to set up and run business groups, guide, 19 November 2025. cipd.org
4. Great Place To Work, Erb, M., Leaders Are Missing the Promise and Problems of Employee Resource Groups, dated 30 June 2024, fieldwork around 2020. Around 80 ERG leaders and executive sponsors at three US Best Workplaces. greatplacetowork.com
5. B Lab, Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Impact Topic Summary, Release 2, 25 August 2025, based on B Lab Standards V2.1. kb.bimpactassessment.net
6. B Lab U.S. and Canada, The Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Standards, Simplified, 2025. usca.bcorporation.net
7. BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, Ginsberg, P. and Harris, L., Why employee resource groups matter, and how to build one that works, 31 October 2025. bcs.org