Making the Most of Employee Affinity Groups

This is your HR News Flash, your briefing on talent management and the world of work from HRCI. Fostering diversity, equity and inclusion, known as DEI, is vital for any business. Supporting employee affinity groups with DEI as a guiding principle is an effective way to enrich your organizational culture. Here are some ideas to cultivate mutually beneficial results for affinity groups in your organization.   First, develop a succession plan. Part of succession planning is to identify and include diverse talent for leadership roles. Encourage and invest resources to develop affinity group leaders, such as attending conferences or offering professional certification scholarships. Second, align expectations. Properly align expectations and set boundaries for the benefit of affinity groups. For instance, organizations should not assign affinity groups the role of writing DEI policies. Rather, they should be contributors to the DEI strategy.  Lastly, encourage diverse voices. Highlight diverse perspectives and the voicing of DEI topics as part of an affinity group platform. Affinity groups can help your organization leverage assimilation and dispel separation, which is vital to your successful DEI strategy. This concludes your HR News Flash. HRCI prepares HR leaders for the digital age. Thanks for listening. Check back soon for the workplace news you need. Learn more at HRCI.org.