Draft an employee resource group charter that defines remit, membership and decision-making authority.
Human Resources & Personal Development
Establishing and Governing Employee Resource Groups
Set up employee resource groups with clear charters, sponsorship and budgets, and govern them so they influence policy and business decisions rather than running as unsupported social clubs.
🗓️Duration5 training days
📚Content4 modules · 8 sessions
🎓On completionAccredited attendance certificate
About the programme
Course Overview
Employee resource groups often start with real energy, a handful of committed volunteers organising events in their own time, and then stall within a year because nobody defined what the group is accountable for, who sponsors it, or how its recommendations reach anyone with the authority to act on them. Volunteer leads burn out running social calendars that never connect to policy, budget or business decisions, and leadership loses confidence in groups it cannot see delivering measurable value. This course gives HR professionals, diversity and inclusion leads and prospective group leaders a governance model for establishing or resetting employee resource groups: writing a charter with a defined remit, securing an executive sponsor and a realistic budget, and building a reporting line that feeds group insight directly into policy and business decisions. Participants draft a charter, design a sponsorship agreement and build a scorecard that tracks influence and member outcomes rather than event attendance alone.
Expected Learning Outcomes
Secure an executive sponsor and agree a sponsorship role that goes beyond attending occasional events.
Build a realistic annual budget and resourcing plan that avoids overloading volunteer group leads.
Design a reporting structure that routes group recommendations into policy and business decision-making forums.
Prevent volunteer burnout by rotating leadership roles and formally recognising contribution in performance reviews.
Coordinate multiple employee networks to avoid duplicated effort and competition for executive attention and budget.
Build a scorecard measuring policy influence, member retention and business outcomes rather than attendance alone.
Who Should Attend
HR business partners supporting employee resource group formation
Diversity, equity and inclusion leads overseeing multiple employee networks
Volunteer employee resource group chairs and committee members
Executive sponsors newly assigned to an employee resource group
Internal communications specialists supporting network visibility and events
People analytics teams measuring the impact of inclusion initiatives
Course Modules
Select any module to see its sessions and points.
01Establishing the Employee Resource Group Charter
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Defining Purpose, Remit and Membership
- Write a charter statement that distinguishes the group's purpose from a general social or affinity gathering.
- Define membership criteria, ally participation rules and how leadership roles are selected or rotated.
- Clarify what decisions the group can make independently versus what requires HR or executive sign-off.
- Align the charter with existing diversity, inclusion and employee voice strategies to avoid duplication.
Session 2Securing Sponsorship and Budget
- Recruit an executive sponsor and agree specific responsibilities, including advocacy and unblocking resource requests.
- Negotiate an annual budget covering events, communications and any external speaker or facilitation costs.
- Set expectations for how much time volunteer leads can reasonably commit alongside their substantive role.
- Formalise recognition of group leadership contribution within performance and development conversations.
02Building Governance and Reporting Structures
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Connecting Groups to Policy and Decision-Making
- Map a reporting line from group recommendations into relevant policy committees, such as reward or recruitment forums.
- Design a template for submitting feedback on policies before they are finalised, not after launch.
- Agree service-level expectations for how quickly sponsors or HR respond to issues raised by the group.
- Document decisions where group input directly changed a policy or practice to demonstrate influence.
Session 2Coordinating Multiple Employee Resource Groups
- Establish a cross-group forum to coordinate calendars, share resources and avoid competing asks of the same executives.
- Set consistent budget and reporting templates across groups to allow fair comparison and resource allocation.
- Identify intersectional overlaps between groups and coordinate joint initiatives where relevant.
- Resolve conflicts over event timing, budget allocation or executive sponsor availability transparently.
03Running the Group Sustainably
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Preventing Volunteer Burnout
- Rotate leadership roles on a defined cycle to prevent burnout and refresh group direction.
- Distribute event planning, communications and administrative tasks across a wider committee rather than one lead.
- Set realistic termly or quarterly plans rather than an unbroken calendar of monthly events.
- Build a handover document that preserves institutional knowledge when leadership roles change.
Session 2Communicating Impact and Growing Membership
- Develop a communications plan that reaches potential members beyond the group's existing network.
- Share concrete examples of policy or practice changes influenced by the group to build organisational credibility.
- Coordinate with internal communications to secure regular visibility in company-wide channels and events.
- Address concerns from employees who question the value or fairness of resourcing employee resource groups.
04Measuring and Evolving Group Impact
2 sessions · 8 points
Session 1Building a Meaningful Impact Scorecard
- Design a scorecard tracking policy influence, membership retention and career progression of active members.
- Distinguish vanity metrics, such as event attendance, from outcome metrics that matter to executive sponsors.
- Collect member feedback on psychological safety and perceived value at defined intervals.
- Benchmark group structures and outcomes against comparable organisations in the sector.
Session 2Reviewing and Renewing the Charter
- Review the charter annually against actual group activity and adjust remit or governance as needed.
- Retire or merge groups that have lost momentum or overlap significantly with another network.
- Refresh sponsorship agreements when executive sponsors change roles or leave the organisation.
- Report consolidated employee resource group impact across the organisation to the board or executive committee.
What the participant receives
4 course modules
A structured syllabus
8 training sessions
across 5 days
32 detailed points
Applied, detailed content
Accredited attendance certificate
On completing the programme
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