PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Espresa, the company that powers great workplaces, today announced a new feature to address benefits teams’ growing need to foster and promote employee resources groups (ERGs). The new ERG management feature will allow benefits teams to manage ERGs on the same automated platform that manages all of their other workplace programs, providing them with an unprecedented level of insight into the groups that exist, employee group discovery and signup, attendance tracking, and employee satisfaction with them.
“When an employee has a network of colleagues they view as friends, it makes it more difficult for them to be tempted by other employment opportunities,” said Alex Shubat, CEO of Espresa. “This is the value of ERGs, which are also important tools for bridging the gap between siloed employees. Until now, there hasn’t been a way for HR teams to effectively manage, promote and scale their ERGs, so we built that into the Espresa platform. HR benefits will continue to evolve, and it’s important for HR technology to keep up.”
ERGs are affiliated subgroups of employees within an organization who share distinctive qualities, interests or goals — including volunteer programs, diversity groups, affinity clubs, professional development groups, or new hire cohorts. They are valuable tools for increasing employee retention, engagement and inclusion, which is why 90 percent of Fortune 500 companies and many top employers — including Pandora, Workday and Pinterest — have them.
- Pinterest hosts Knit Con, a two-day conference in which employees lead sessions on their personal areas of expertise
- Employee Belonging Councils at Workday seek to celebrate employees’ passions
- Google has tens of thousands of special interest groups, 19 of which are financially supported by the company
- Pandora’s ERGs represent a wide variety of professional topics, personal hobbies and interests
However, few are managing them effectively.
Using the Espresa platform, employees can easily discover ERGs — and whatever else is happening on campus — along with information about how and when to sign up and where to provide feedback, all from one platform with a consumer-grade UI experience. Additionally, benefits administrators can:
- Authorize employees to create, manage and promote events
- Centralize and monitor ERGs to ensure compliance with company policy
- Monitor how many of their employees are engaged and at what level
- Look at the cost per user and determine which programs are most popular
- See directly how their programs relate to employee satisfaction and retention
- Quickly expand current programs
Companies already using the Espresa Platform see nearly 100 percent employee participation in workplace wellness programs supported by an allowance model.
“ERGs and employee clubs are essential components of a successful corporate culture. They bond employees, break down silos and encourage engagement,” said Doug Inamine, former Chief People Officer at Kabam. “Today's companies now expand the scope of traditional ERGs like diversity and inclusion to include employee clubs like intramural sports, wine Thursdays and travel groups.”
A recent IDG white paper concluded that “a well-run and managed ERG program benefits both employees and the business. Employees get the benefit of building interpersonal relationships that make the workplace more welcoming and enjoyable, while the business reaps the rewards from having a more diverse and engaged workforce.”
“Espresa is the leading technology addressing the HR needs of modern companies,” added Raghavan Menon, CTO of Espresa. “The platform features everything the benefits department needs to effortlessly support, manage and scale employee resources groups — in addition to all the other complex workplace programs.”
About Espresa
Espresa empowers companies to provide world-class on-site programs that employees love and associate with the best places to work. As the world’s first employee programs automation platform, Espresa is dedicated to helping benefits teams manage, scale and measure all their workplace employee programs. Companies can now easily manage their health, fitness and wellness programs; company events; lifestyle services; employee resources groups; and rewards, recognition and reimbursement programs.
Espresa is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. Learn more at Espresa.com
