The weather has changed along with the colors of the leaves in the Northern Hemisphere. As the seasons have changed, so too has the news cycle. Now, news of the U.S. general election, spikes in the pandemic and the SCOTUS nominee confirmation hearings crowd out space for continued dialogue about systemic racism and unconscious bias. However, we cannot consider the former without reckoning with the latter at both macro- and micro- levels.
In the typical law firm workplace, for example, a small majority (55%) of respondents indicated in a recent survey by legal industry consultant Calibrate Legal that their firms’ Employee Resource Groups (also known as Affinity Groups or Business Resource Groups) combine lawyers and business services professionals. This data point begs the question: why is this percentage so small? Why would law firms build walls between people based on which degrees (or none) that hang on their walls while they are ostensibly trying to bring together similarly situated individuals to create safe spaces for historically disadvantaged and underrepresented groups?
Especially during times when people are physically distanced from one another, it’s imperative that businesses do everything they can to create opportunities for groups of people to come together in safe spaces. Employee Resource Groups create opportunities for firm personnel to discuss matters that are of the utmost importance to those discrete groups and help them form community while working remotely. With the line separating work-life from home-life for white-collar professionals becoming increasingly opaque during this pandemic, the need for such communities could not be more acute.
Firm executives need to play a highly visible role in the creation and support of such groups for them to have any chance at success. Their visible involvement and support will help all firm personnel, from the senior-most rainmaker to the most junior member of the mailroom team, understand why such groups are necessary and supported by firm leadership. Based on my experience, ERGs at law firms’ largest clients intentionally bring together everyone from business unit executives through the most junior interns because they understand that it’s both the right thing to do and because the business case for diverse and inclusive teams consistently shows that more diverse teams are more profitable.
In the spirit of National Coming Out Day, which was observed earlier this week, I ask you to consider this: No one on the train on my way to work necessarily knows that I’m married to another man and raising a Black daughter, nor do they know whether or not I practice law, finance deals or coach leaders and their teams to help them get from where they are to where they want to be. Similarly, it doesn’t matter whether one is a lawyer, marketing manager or an assistant to know what it’s like to go through the internal risk analysis of simply choosing to display a photo of one’s family on your desk because the person with whom you formed your family is the same sex as you. But, other LGBT people understand that conundrum regardless their rank or role within their organization.
Here’s the thing, most of us have similar aspirations when it comes to work: to do work that challenges and fulfills us, learn new skills, advance in our careers and work with people we generally like. When they’re designed, rolled out and supported appropriately, ERGs can help with many of these goals, especially when their members do indeed create and maintain community through them.