The team working on FullConTech 2016 Play 7.1 has completed its project and developed step-by-step recommendations for creating Employee Resource Groups (ERGs). Other companies will be able to use this document to develop or improve their own diversity charters. Team members for this play are Nishat Akhter (F5), Cindee Chadwick (F5), Carolina Duclos (Logic 2020), Jamila Conley (F5), and Manmeet Sandhu (Amazon).

Although the play’s original scope was broader, the team decided in its first meeting to focus the project on ERGs. Three of the team’s members are employees at F5 Networks, a company that began piloting ERGs last year. The team wanted to take advantage of its members’ own experience with ERGs and draw on the knowledge of other people at F5.

As Nishat, a principal systems analyst at F5, explained, “Building a diversity charter that many companies could use is a huge project that could cover everything under the sun. Our group was small, but, collectively, we had a lot of experience with ERGs. So, we thought, why not highlight that and use it to create something that other organizations could use?”

Here’s more from my conversation with Nishat about F5’s ERG program and her experience with FullConTech:

Anne:  What did you discover about F5’s ERGs? Why did the company start the program?

Nishat:  The program was started by a former HR leader who noted that our employee diversity had something missing, that there wasn’t enough focus on diversity and inclusion. This was an area in which she had experience. She got executive support, as well as executive sponsors for all the F5 ERGs.

Our company now has four groups — Women, Multi-Cultural, Veterans, and LGBTQ. They’re open to all F5 employees, and we’ll add more groups as the program grows and we develop best practices.

Anne:  What’s “Multi-Cultural”?

Nishat:  That’s the group I’m involved with. The Multi-Cultural ERG provides an opportunity to learn from people from different regions — both inside and outside the US – and of different races, cultures, and religions. It’s also a group where people can showcase their own cultures and learn to work better with different people.

I like that the group gives us a diversity of topics to explore and work through. I’m excited right now because we’ve started a Culture Club, similar to something the Gates Foundation is doing.  Every two months the Club meets to cover an assigned topic, like unconscious bias, and we have a safe, candid discussion. We started with fun, easy topics, like different eating customs around the world, to get people comfortable talking to each other.

Anne:  You mentioned the Gates Foundation. What its connection to F5’s ERGs?

Nishat:  The Gates Foundation has a number of initiatives in this space, so F5 is collaborating with the organization to share ideas and learn from each other. This is an important part of the F5 program, learning from other organizations. We’re also working with organizations like HERE Seattle and SM Diversity.

Anne:  What has been the impact so far of ERGs at F5?

Nishat:  More and more people are reaching out beyond their day-to-day work lives, connecting with each other, and talking more about important topics. One of the great opportunities of ERGs is to build self-awareness and drive yourself to learn. People want that, and so membership is growing. Plus, our ERGs give employees the chance to network with other organizations. This is also powerful. When you interact with other groups and work together, you learn from each other and share thoughts and ideas. Not everybody needs to start from scratch. And when you join together, you create something bigger.

Anne:  How did you get involved with WTIA?

NIshat:  I discovered WTIA through my employee resource group at F5. I joined the group in August 2016, after I returned from maternity leave. F5 was a WTIA sponsor. and through that relationship, I had the opportunity to attend FullConTech.

Anne:  What did you think of FullConTech?

Nishat:  The conversations I had there were different from those I usually have. The breakout discussions intrigued me and were really fascinating. And being at FullConTech and continuing to work with WTIA has given me the opportunity to explore so many new things in the tech space outside my day-to-day job and find out how I can get more involved with the community.

Learn how to set up ERGs in your own organization here.

Want to join the FullConTech conversation? Register for the May 22 event which will focus on Civic Collaboration.