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OPM.gov / Policy / Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility / Employee Resource Groups /
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Employee Resource Groups

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) has developed this Employee Resource Group (ERG) Establishment Guide to be used by Federal employees, supervisors, Chief Human Capital Officers, Human Resource Officers, Chief Diversity Officers, senior leaders, or others interested in creating ERGs.

Defining ERGs

ERGs are employee-led groups consisting of members with a common set of interests and goals that support their agency’s efforts to support their workforce. ERGs are (or can be) formed by employees based on a variety of demographics such as race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, education, geography, military status, occupation, or remote work status. ERGs must not, however, prohibit employees from joining their groups on the basis of demographics. Allies must be welcome. ERGs must not discriminate in any of their activities, including outreach to prospective new members, on the basis of sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity), marital status, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or political affiliation.

ERGs should be distinguished from affiliate groups, which are agency-specific chapters of larger, national non-profits. ERGs are also different from Special Emphasis Programs, which are employment related programs which focus special attention on certain groups that are not represented or have less than expected participation rates in specific occupational categories or grade levels within the agency’s workforce. Affiliate groups and Special Emphasis Programs are not addressed in this Guide.

Why ERGs?

Employee Perspective

  • Improvements to workplace culture: ERGs give employees the opportunity to recommend, support, and implement improvements in workplace culture. These improvements may include updates to existing policies, or the creation of new policies. It may also include weighing in on cultural competency technical assistance or training to support inclusive workplace cultures and supporting agency analyses of potential barriers to equal employment opportunity.
  • Community building and networking: ERGs enable employees with shared values and lived experience and their allies to collectively work on shared priorities. ERGs can have positive impacts on employee retention by reinforcing a culture of acceptance and creating strong networks within the agency.
  • Professional learning: ERGs can be a good resource for information sharing, fostering mentorships and navigating organizational culture. By encouraging participants to play more active roles in the agency, ERGs also support employees’ leadership skills and personal development (such as meeting facilitation, communication, strategic thinking and networking skills). Additionally, ERGs can organize professional development events and training seminars open to all agency employees.

Agency Perspective

  • Inform policy decisions: ERGs bring together a wide range of backgrounds, perspectives, and experiences that can help shape or inform policy changes.
  • Increase employee satisfaction: ERGs positively impact employee satisfaction and morale by fostering a supportive workplace culture where employees feel valued and included. Generally, employees perform better when they feel their contributions to the agency are valued and recognized.
  • Advance mission-centered initiatives: ERGs are uniquely positioned to drive innovation by aligning organizational policy with the employee voice and serve as strategic support for advancing agency efforts, including the recruitment of diverse, qualified talent, which promotes a diverse workforce.

Tips for Establishing ERGs

The following are tips for agencies interesting in forming new ERGs.

  • Outline specific application requirements and processes for creating new ERGs:
    • Create an application that allows employees to accurately communicate the mission and goals of their proposed ERG.
    • Create a centralized and transparent system to review ERG applications; identify program offices to serve on a review board to process applications; and ensure employees know applicable deadlines or application requirements.
      • Program offices which might serve on a review board include the agency’s Office of Human Resources, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, Office of General Counsel, Office of Civil Rights, or equivalent offices.
  • Encourage employee participation in ERGs:
    • Educate supervisors on the importance of ERGs. This may include reiterating the importance of respecting desired anonymity and fostering a safe space for employees. Encourage supervisors to support ERG activities whenever appropriate and possible.
    • Clearly define any duty time allowances and/or restrictions, ensuring the allowable time is consistent with the agency’s policies and expected level of engagement.
    • Standardize the approval process for funding requests.
    • Promote general awareness of ERGs by hosting agency-wide events, like an ERG fair, or by advertising ERGs in other agency-wide communications and activities.
    • Establish a forum for consistent engagement between ERG members and others including agency leaders and other interested parties. This could be through an agency townhall meeting, quarterly meetings with the agency’s senior leadership, or other forums.
    • Ensure all information needed to create an ERG is easily accessible to agency employees on the agency’s website and identify a Point-of-Contact who has sufficient subject matter expertise to answer ERG-related questions.
    • Encourage agency senior leaders to get involved with and champion ERGs. ERGs are more likely to succeed when they have support from senior leadership. As often and appropriate as possible, senior leaders should acknowledge the benefits of ERGs and provide support to ERGs.
    • Invite ERGs to participate in any relevant agency councils.
    • OPM recommends that ERGs consist only of Federal employees and contractors within a Federal entity. OPM does not recommend allowing family or friends of employees and contractors to be members of ERGs.

What does a successful ERG look like?

A strong ERG has:

  • A clear mission and vision statement that ties its functionality to the agency’s strategic objectives and works to further the agency’s mission.
  • A charter that defines the ERG’s purpose, clearly sets expectations for member participation, and defines roles and responsibilities for leadership positions.
  • A senior champion to serve as a liaison between the ERG and agency leadership.
  • Executive leadership support, reinforcing that the ERG’s mission aligns with the agency’s goals.
  • A communications plan to grow membership (i.e. sending out a newsletter to interested parties or establishing a regular meeting cadence).
  • A strategic plan (multi-year or annual) that outlines the group’s goals, measures of success and clear roles and responsibilities for ERG leadership positions.
  • A process and practice of connecting with other ERGs at the agency and the ability to leverage the historical knowledge of internal and external interested parties.
  • An approach to fostering allies who can amplify the goals of the ERG across the agency.
  • A continuous and open line of communication with its agency’s ethics and fiscal officers.

Agency Resources

Have more questions? Reach out to your agency’s Chief Diversity Officer, Chief Human Capital Officer, Office of Civil Rights, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, Office of Human Resources, ethics officers, or fiscal officers.

Note: This is an example of what an Employee Resource Group Charter could look like. We encourage agencies to adapt this document to best fit their mission and strategic goals. We encourage approving officials to be respectful and flexible to all employees, including ERGs that may have anonymous members and anonymity clauses. 

ARTICLE I: Employee Resource Group (INSERT NAME)  

In accordance with the [AGENCY] Guidelines for Establishing Employee Resource Groups, Employee Resource Group, known as “NAME,” is hereby established.     

ARTICLE II: MISSION 

The Mission of the [NAME] ERG is to be a strategic partner with [AGENCY] to support the [AGENCY’S] mission, goals, and policies. 

The [NAME] ERG will be a valuable mechanism to: (1) build a culture that fosters innovation; (2) offer employees access to leadership opportunities; (3) establish programs and activities aligned with the mission of [AGENCY]; (4) provide employees opportunities to develop and grow, and enable managers to access innovative concepts and unique solutions to challenges faced by [AGENCY]. 

[ERG may add its own mission statement, reflecting the purpose of the group, the work it intends to achieve, and/or the principles or beliefs that guide the ERG's work.] 

Article III:  ERG Purpose 

[NAME] is chartered to work with [AGENCY] leadership to achieve the following: 

  1. Enable collaboration and communication among its members within the [AGENCY] community through information-sharing, mentorship, networking, and outreach efforts. 
  2. Identify and address issues and concerns and create innovative solutions (or requests) to resolve those issues and concerns or elevate to management for resolution.   
  3. Support [AGENCY] in the development and implementation of effective policies and practices toward promoting a culture of inclusion to include policies and practices that affect recruitment, training and development, educational opportunities, and employee retention.   
  4. Collectively understand the [AGENCY] work environment, career changes, and career challenges, to aid in recruitment/outreach and retention of talent. 
  5. Provide professional development and educational forums for ERG members and [AGENCY] employees.  
  6. Focus on recruitment and retention of [AGENCY] employees for the ERG in order to advance the [Agency’s] mission. 

Article IV:  Membership and Eligibility  

[NAME] membership is open to all [AGENCY] employees, including [AGENCY] contractors (with concurrence from their management); however, contractors may not hold elected officer positions, chair committees, or represent the group before management.   

The [NAME] board is responsible for recording names and email addresses of all members for the purpose of maintaining a member directory to distribute information regarding activities, events and meetings pertaining to [NAME] order of business. The [NAME] board is also responsible for respecting and protecting the anonymity of members who wish to remain anonymous.  

[NAME] shall not discriminate in any of its activities, including outreach to prospective new members, on the basis of sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation and gender identity) marital status, race, color, religion, national origin, disability, genetic information, age, or political affiliation. 

Article V:  Leadership, Roles, and Responsibilities 

The [NAME] Board will consist of the following: 

  1. President – [AGENCY] employee that heads the ERG and guides and oversees the ERG priorities. 
  2. Vice President – [AGENCY] employee that serves with the ERG President and helps to guide and oversee key ERG priorities. 
  3. Executive Secretary – [AGENCY] employee that assists the ERG in developing meeting agenda and minutes and maintaining ERG records. 
  4. Communications/Public Relations Officer – [AGENCY] employee that makes arrangements to publicize ERG programs and events, and coordinates outreach to increase ERG participation. 

Other officers “ERG NAME” may consider are: 

  1. Treasurer – submit and track resource requests to [AGENCY] HR to execute ERG programs and events.  
  2. Leadership Development, Mentorship Officer – conduct research and propose leadership development and other training opportunities for ERG members and [AGENCY] employees.  
  3. Outreach, Communications Officer – Develops contacts with professional organizations with similar missions which can include other Federal groups, professional organizations, or student groups. 
  4. Elections Officer – Prepares the ERG election ballot and provides the ballot to all active members of the ERG. 

The President shall: 

  1. Perform as leader of the group, delegating duty responsibilities among members at their discretion.  
  2. Have a seat on any relevant agency advisory councils. 
  3. Maintain effective communications and productive working relationship with the [AGENCY] Human Resources office. 
  4. Officially represent the ERG at meetings, and across [AGENCY]. 
  5. Approve and verify agenda items for upcoming meetings. 
  6. Call the group’s meetings to order. 
  7. Cast the final vote in any item brought up to the board for action; and 
  8. During elections, is a member of the election committee. 

The ERG Officers, or Members Provided the Delegated Authority Shall: 

  1. Stand in for the President should they not be available for any relevant meetings. 
  2. Vote on items brought up for action to the board.  
  3. During elections, is a member of the election committee.  
  4. Publicize and inform [AGENCY] employees to increase membership and participation in the ERG.  
  5. Make arrangements to publicize ERG via email, social media (consistent with [AGENCY] guidelines) or articles and information boards. 
  6. Develop information to share about group activities on [AGENCY] Intranet and other media if available or applicable. 
  7. Identify development programs and training opportunities to benefit members and employees.  
  8. Foster an environment of formal or informal mentorship by utilizing the talents and skills of current membership. 
  9. Coordinate with other groups, offices, or divisions in [AGENCY] for joint efforts.  
  10. Develop contacts with professional organizations with similar missions which can assist or be of assistance to the ERG to include other federal groups, professional organizations, or student groups. 

Article VI: ERG Meetings 

  1. There shall be regular business meetings of the ERG on a date and place to be designated by the assigned board member on a monthly basis. 
  2. The requirement for a quorum is a protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by an unduly small number of persons. As such, for the conduct of business or a vote by [NAME], a minimum of 50% vote of membership is required to proceed. 
  3. Business meetings shall be announced to members of the ERG by e-mail from the Executive Secretary of the group.  
  4. Should [NAME] be invited to attend or participate in outside activities taking place during regular business hours, members may volunteer for and, with supervisory approval, participate in activities where the representation of [NAME] members on behalf of [AGENCY] in local communities would be of benefit to [AGENCY] and to the group. Examples of these activities may include but are not limited to: 
  5. Events planned to conduct outreach and interact directly with communities such as job fairs, information fairs, and commemorative events.  
  6. Events planned to provide information to or interact with community or professional organizations. Examples of these include but are not limited education, employment, professional advancement opportunities, and with student organizations. 

Article VII: ERG Elections of the Board 

Section A: Elections Meeting 

  1. Elections shall be held annually and will be held no later than the second week of November. 
  2. Members of the board shall hold office for the term of two years. 
  3. The official term for those elected starts on January 1 and ends on December 31.  
  4. During the formation period, an Interim President will hold the position to guide the establishment of the charter. This Interim Board shall serve through the first election. 
  5. The Board will be elected by the members of the group. 
  6. In the case of a resignation of the President from office, the Vice President will assume this position. Dependent upon the time of the year, a special election meeting may be held to fill the post until the end of the current term. Should this resignation take place within one calendar quarter (three months) from the next election, the Vice President will remain in the position in order to avoid multiple elections in the same calendar year. 
  7. Those members who are not present to cast their vote on election day will email their votes to the Executive Secretary who will provide them to the election committee. 
  8. The election committee shall be comprised of the existing board members. The election committee will receive the absentee ballots from the Executive Secretary, validate the election results, and present them to the membership. 

Section B: Nomination to the Board 

  1. At least four months (1st week of September) before the end of the current term, an email will go out from the Executive Secretary looking for volunteers to run for office. 
  2. The election committee shall convene at least three months (1st week of October) before the end of the current term to confirm eligibility of nominees, prepare a list of nominations, and notify active members of the nominations at least 30 days prior to the election meeting via email.  
  3. All members may vote. 

Article VII:  Charter Approval 

[NAME] will be established upon the approval and signatures from [AGENCY]’s Office of Human Resources, Office of Equal Employment Opportunity, and the Office of the General Counsel, and is effective on the date of last signature. The ERG may be disbanded with the consensus of the [AGENCY] approving offices. Notice of disbandment will be sent to [NAME] Board and its membership by the [AGENCY] Human Resources Office.  

Article VIII:  Charter Amendment  

Once signed and approved, this Charter stands until revised by [AGENCY] or [NAME]. Proposed amendments must be presented by a simple majority vote of the Board, and a two-thirds majority vote of the membership. Final approval must be granted by [AGENCY]’s relevant approving officials.  

*Insert Approving Officials Signatures Here* 

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