You may wonder, what exactly is an Employee Resource Group?
Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) began in the United States, largely in reaction to race and gender dynamics in the 1960's and 70's. Today however, ERGs are proactive in nature, and work to drive inclusion and diversity in many areas beyond race and gender.
At Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), we believe that our business success is directly tied to our employees diverse experiences, skills and backgrounds. To further strengthen this diversity, our ERGs are global and operate in over 30 countries across the world. We currently have over 110 chapters and 9 constituencies:
- African American/Black
- Abilities
- Generations
- Hispanic/Latino
- Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender (LGBT) & Allies
- Multi-cultural
- Pan Asian
- Veterans
- Women
ERGs are volunteer communities of employees that purposely come together to help build an even more inclusive culture at HPE through strategic focus on attracting and retaining talent, career development, employee engagement and supporting the business.
ERGs support our employees, our businesses, our culture and helps us win all facets. They partner with leadership to help raise awareness of the impact that diverse teams can have on the bottom line, and they support our employees, strengthen our culture and exemplify winning the right way. ERGs are the essence of inclusion which is so critical for today's business environment.
We are proud to share that we currently have over 400 employees leading different employee resource groups across the whole world and more than 8000 employees participating in their events, programs and initiatives. Leading an HPE ERG gives our employees significant leadership knowledge, expands their skills and provides a safe environment to learn, grow and develop.
Members of ERGs can participate in a myriad of activities including professional development, networking, mentoring, community and educational outreach as well as product support. Recent programs have included career development workshops, speaker series, community service projects, cultural competency and heritage celebrations.
Together will all of the local events ERGs organize each and every month at our HPE sites, we had some fantastic global and signature events throughout 2017.
Our ERG leaders shared their thoughts:
"Our first ever HPE Spirit Week made a huge impact at HPE. The pan-ERG initiative resulted in over 125 events at 40 office locations worldwide - engaging thousands for employees across the company. In addition, the event garnered substantial digital engagement through internal social media vehicles. The ERG community came together like never before, and I hope it's a tradition we continue for years to come." Hala Taha - FY 17 Global Young Employee Network (YEN) Co-Chair
"The HPE Women's Network hosted its first International Women's Day at the HPE HQ in Palo Alto this past March, recognizing our female senior leaders with a well-attended podium discussion. Our HPE Women's Excellence Award was given to 10 successful women selected from over 700 global nominations. We continue to deliver a quarterly webcast and news magazines to all employees, providing valuable information and inspiration for personal and professional growth." Steffi Thorlichen, HPE Women's Network Chair
"What started as an idea, developed into a plan and grew into an inspiring Inclusive Mentoring Program. The framework is based on the success closure of the FY16 wave, with over 1,000 employees registered as a mentor and mentee. In collaboration with HR and Inclusion, Diversity and Engagement, a brand-new platform was created to support revamped leadership development and build inclusive leadership capability across the organization. It is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in someone else's life while sharing your own professional journey." - Polina Shumanova, European Women's Leadership Council Chair
"North Texas PRIDE organized a successful global panel webcast, Everyone has a Story, featuring distinguished speakers including external industry and HPE leaders. Our ERG chapters enthusiastically participated in PRIDE festivities throughout the world. including the US, Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Taiwan and many more. Three members of our team represented HPE at the annual Out & Equal Workplace Summit in Philadelphia this past October." - Juan Pablo Hurtado, HPE PRIDE ERG chair
"2017 was our first year as an ERG and it was full of thrilling achievements - executive talks with senior HPE leaders , roundtable events, rewarding moments at sporting events and finalizing the Hispanic Heritage Month webcast which included participation from HPE senior executives. In summary, we began strong on building a presence , and are looking forward to continuing to grow while developing a global unity for the Hispanic/Latina members of our company." - Raul Carlos Ruiz, Juntos (HPE Hispanic Employee Resource Group) Chair
"The HPE Black Employee Leadership Council (BELC) kicked off 2017 with the 8th annual HPE Black History Month Celebration featuring our CEO And General Manager, Meg Whitman, delivering comments to an overflowing audience in the main auditiorium at our HPE corporate headquarters in Palo Alto. Meg Whitman also participated in honoring Roy Clay Senior with the 1st Black Employee Network (BEN) Legacy Award in recognition of this service to Hewlett Packard." - Jambey Clinkscales - HPE Black Employee Leadership Council (BELC), President
On behalf the HPE ERG program, we wish you a happy holiday. We are looking forward to an even more exciting, successful and inclusive 2018!
About the author
Mariya Peeva is the Global Employee Resource Group lead for HPE. She supports all the 110 ERGs to succeed through various development programs, global governance, strategy and business alignment. In her previous role, Mariya was leading the Inclusion and Diversity program for the EMEA region.
With her free time, Mariya loves to travel, enjoy the outdoors and spend time with friends and family. Stay connected to Mariya via LinkedIn
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