Employee resource groups in 2027 will face growing expectations and a renewed need to demonstrate their value. Once primarily associated with networking, community-building and cultural celebrations, many ERGs now contribute to employee engagement, professional development and workplace culture. Yet these expanding responsibilities also create challenges. Limited resources, inconsistent leadership support and increasing demands on volunteer leaders can make even well-established groups difficult to sustain.
For organizations planning their employee resource group strategy for 2027, the priority should be clear: build groups that employees find valuable and that organizations can realistically support over time.
Research published in 2026 suggests that the future of ERGs will depend less on how many groups an organization has and more on the structures supporting them.
A 2026 Verbate ERG research report surveying more than 100 ERG program managers found that approximately 74% of participating organizations were maintaining their ERG investments, while 15% were increasing them and 12% were decreasing them. Programs with stronger organizational support also reported greater confidence in their strategies. These findings suggest that ERG sustainability is increasingly an operational question, not simply a matter of employee enthusiasm.
What Challenges Will Employee Resource Groups Face in 2027?
The central challenge for employee resource groups in 2027 will be balancing expanding expectations with the time, resources and leadership capacity available to meet them.
Many organizations have introduced ERGs to strengthen inclusion and connection, but their responsibilities can gradually expand to include mentorship, recruitment support, cultural education, employee feedback and business initiatives.
Each additional responsibility may be worthwhile. The problem arises when expectations increase without a corresponding investment in people, planning and organizational support.
Several challenges deserve particular attention.
1. Declining ERG Participation and Inconsistent Engagement
Having a large membership list does not necessarily mean an ERG has an active community. Employees may join a group but rarely attend activities, participate in discussions or contribute to its goals.
A 2026 peer-reviewed study, Diversity Ideologies and Employee Resource Groups: C-Suite Perspectives, surveyed 107 senior HR leaders and found substantial differences between organizations’ most and least active ERGs. While 89.6% of respondents reported moderate or higher participation in their most active group, only 41.9% reported that level of participation in their least active group.
This finding highlights an important distinction: participation can vary considerably within the same organization.
Employees may disengage because programming feels repetitive, meetings conflict with work schedules or the purpose of participating is unclear. Remote employees, frontline workers and colleagues across different locations may face additional barriers.
Organizations should regularly ask members which activities they find useful, what prevents them from participating and whether the group still reflects their needs.
2. ERG Leader Burnout and Growing Workloads
Many ERG leaders manage their groups alongside their regular jobs. They coordinate events, communicate with members, maintain relationships with executives and respond to organizational requests, often without dedicated time or formal recognition.
As expectations grow, this arrangement becomes harder to sustain.
Some studies on ERG leadership have identified concerns about burnout, particularly as groups take on broader organizational responsibilities. Its work emphasizes the importance of leadership development, recognition and organizational support.
The risk is not limited to leaders becoming exhausted. Groups can lose momentum when a highly committed volunteer steps away, especially if that person has been responsible for most activities and institutional knowledge.
Preventing burnout requires organizations to recognize that ERG leadership involves real work, even when the position is voluntary.
3. Limited Resources and Uneven Executive Support
ERG budgets matter, but financial support alone cannot resolve every operational challenge.
Groups also need access to communications teams, HR partners, technology, meeting spaces and managers who allow employees reasonable time to participate.
Verbate’s 2026 research found that 93% of organizations increasing their ERG investments had cross-functional execution partners, compared with 33% of organizations decreasing investment. Although this is an association rather than proof of causation, it suggests that coordinated support may be an important feature of resilient programs.
Executive sponsorship can also vary widely. Some sponsors actively help ERGs navigate organizational processes and secure resources. Others may support a group in name while having little involvement in its work.
For 2027, organizations should evaluate not only whether ERGs have sponsors, but whether those relationships produce meaningful support.
4. Unclear Purpose and Difficulty Demonstrating Impact
An ERG may host successful events yet struggle to explain how those activities support its larger mission.
This often happens when groups operate without clearly defined goals or when leadership expects every ERG to contribute to the same organizational priorities.
A disability-focused ERG might prioritize workplace accessibility, while a women’s network may emphasize mentorship and career development. A veterans’ group might focus on community, professional transition support or knowledge sharing.
Each group can be effective without producing identical outcomes.
The challenge is defining success in a way that reflects the group’s actual purpose.
How Can Organizations Build a Sustainable Employee Resource Group Strategy for 2027?
A sustainable employee resource group strategy begins with clear objectives, realistic expectations, shared accountability and sufficient organizational support.
Rather than asking ERGs to deliver more activities each year, HR leaders should evaluate whether their current operating model gives groups the capacity to succeed.
Define Clear Goals and ERG Governance
Each ERG should have a documented purpose that explains whom it serves, what it aims to accomplish and how it contributes to employee experience or organizational priorities.
A practical ERG charter should clarify:
- The group’s mission and intended members
- Its main objectives and annual priorities
- Responsibilities of ERG leaders, HR partners and executive sponsors
- Available budgets, resources and decision-making authority
- How leadership transitions and progress reviews will work
Governance should provide direction without removing employee ownership. Groups need flexibility to respond to members’ interests rather than becoming extensions of HR programming.
Organizations should also review whether established groups still meet employee needs. A charter written several years earlier may no longer reflect changes in workforce demographics, working arrangements or organizational priorities.
Protect ERG Leaders’ Time and Recognize Their Contributions
One of the most important ERG best practices for 2027 is making leadership responsibilities manageable.
Organizations can provide designated time for ERG activities, adjust workloads during major initiatives, offer administrative assistance or formally recognize ERG leadership as a professional development contribution.
Where appropriate, compensation or stipends may also be considered.
The right approach will vary by organization, but the underlying principle should remain consistent: employees should not be expected to deliver increasingly complex programs entirely through unpaid, unrecognized effort.
HR teams can begin by estimating how many hours ERG leaders currently spend on planning, communications and events. Comparing that workload with available support can reveal responsibilities that should be reduced, shared or transferred to another team.
Make Executive Sponsorship an Active Responsibility
An executive sponsor should do more than attend an annual event or approve a budget.
Effective sponsorship includes helping ERG leaders connect with relevant departments, navigate organizational barriers, secure resources and receive appropriate recognition.
Sponsors should also understand the group’s specific objectives and avoid pushing unrelated business responsibilities onto volunteers.
A useful approach is to establish regular meetings between ERG leaders and their sponsors, with clear expectations for both parties.
For example, a sponsor supporting a caregivers’ network might help arrange conversations with HR about workplace flexibility. That contribution could be more valuable than simply increasing the number of network events.
Plan for ERG Leadership Succession
ERG sustainability also depends on whether groups can continue functioning when current leaders leave.
Organizations should establish leadership terms, identify potential successors and create opportunities for members to gradually assume responsibilities.
Co-leadership structures can distribute workloads while allowing newer volunteers to build experience.
Maintaining shared documents, event templates, budgets and activity records can also prevent disruptions during transitions.
Succession planning should be treated as a routine part of ERG governance, not something addressed only after a leader announces their departure.
How Can Employee Resource Groups Increase Participation and Engagement in 2027?
Improving employee resource group engagement requires more than attracting new members. Organizations must create experiences that employees find relevant, accessible and worth returning to.
A group with hundreds of registered members may have limited influence if only a small number participate consistently.
A stronger approach is to understand what employees expect from their ERG and remove barriers that prevent them from becoming involved.
Make ERG Participation Accessible
ERG programming should reflect the different ways employees work.
Traditional lunchtime meetings may be convenient for office employees but difficult for shift workers, employees in different time zones or colleagues with caregiving responsibilities.
Organizations can improve accessibility by offering virtual and in-person activities, rotating meeting times, sharing recordings when appropriate and providing opportunities to contribute asynchronously.
Accessibility also includes clear communications, inclusive meeting formats and opportunities for employees who are uncomfortable speaking in large groups.
Offer Meaningful Opportunities Beyond Events
Not every employee wants to attend regular meetings or participate in social activities.
Some may prefer mentoring relationships, professional development workshops, smaller discussion groups or opportunities to contribute ideas.
ERG leaders can increase engagement by offering different levels of involvement, from occasional participation to short-term volunteer projects and leadership opportunities.
Members should also have a voice in deciding what activities the group prioritizes.
A short quarterly survey, for example, can help ERG leaders identify which activities members value and which programs may need to change.
Encourage Collaboration Between ERGs
Collaboration can help groups share resources, reach more employees and explore experiences that cross traditional identity categories.
For example, a disability ERG and a caregivers’ network might collaborate on a discussion about workplace flexibility. A women’s network and a multicultural ERG could jointly organize a mentorship initiative.
These activities can encourage new relationships without requiring every group to independently organize additional programming.
Collaboration should remain purposeful. Combining groups simply to increase attendance may reduce opportunities for focused conversations that members value.
How Is the Role of Employee Resource Groups Evolving Beyond Events and Celebrations?
Employee resource groups can contribute to workplace culture, professional development, organizational learning and business priorities when those activities align with their purpose and receive appropriate support.
Our article on the future of employee resource groups explores how ERGs are evolving beyond traditional networking and cultural celebrations to support professional development, innovation and broader organizational goals.
Cultural celebrations and networking events remain valuable. They can strengthen relationships, increase awareness and create opportunities for employees to connect.
However, current research and organizational practice suggest that ERGs can play a broader role.
At Catalyst’s June 2026 ENERGIZE event, which brought together more than 1,200 ERG leaders, executive sponsors and inclusion professionals, discussions focused on strengthening trust, supporting talent outcomes, improving governance and connecting ERG activities with organizational priorities. The event reflected growing interest in ERGs as contributors to employee experience and business strategy, although it was not itself evidence that all ERGs deliver those outcomes.
Strengthening Employee Connection and Workplace Culture
ERGs can create relationships across departments, locations and job levels that might not otherwise develop.
These connections may be especially useful for employees who have limited opportunities to meet colleagues with similar experiences.
Organizations can support this role by providing welcoming spaces, regular communication and opportunities for members to build lasting professional relationships.
Community-building should not be dismissed simply because its outcomes are less visible than those of a business project.
Supporting Professional Development Through ERGs
ERG leadership can offer experience in project management, communication, collaboration and stakeholder engagement.
Groups may also provide mentoring, career conversations and opportunities to connect with senior leaders.
McKinsey and LeanIn.Org’s Women in the Workplace 2025 report highlighted the continuing role of ERGs in fostering community and supporting professional growth. It also noted concerns among HR executives that broadening identity-based groups without protecting their original purpose could weaken attention to specific advancement barriers.
This suggests that professional development programs should respond to members’ needs rather than follow a standard model across every ERG.
An early-career network might prioritize mentorship and networking, while a women’s ERG could focus on sponsorship, career progression or leadership opportunities.
Contributing to Organizational Learning and Innovation
ERG members may provide perspectives that help organizations recognize barriers, understand employee experiences and improve internal practices.
For example, a disability ERG might identify accessibility challenges in workplace technology. A multicultural network could contribute perspectives to employee communications or customer research.
These contributions can create opportunities for organizational learning and, in some cases, innovation.
However, there is an important distinction between inviting ERG members to contribute and assigning them responsibility for organizational change.
An ERG may help identify an accessibility issue, but responsibility for evaluating and implementing improvements should remain with the appropriate operational teams.
Employees should not become unpaid consultants simply because they belong to a particular community.
This distinction will be essential as organizations consider a broader role for ERGs in 2027.
How Should Organizations Measure Employee Resource Groups’ Impact?
Employee resource group impact should be measured against each group’s stated purpose, using a combination of participation data, member feedback and relevant outcomes.
No single metric can accurately capture the value of every ERG.
Membership growth may be meaningful for a newly established group seeking visibility. It may be less useful for an established group focused on mentoring relationships or workplace improvements.
Organizations should distinguish among three types of measures:
Activity measures show what a group delivers, such as events, communications and mentoring sessions.
Engagement measures show how employees participate, including repeat attendance, volunteer involvement and member satisfaction.
Outcome measures examine whether activities contribute to the group’s intended goals, such as improved professional connections, greater awareness of resources or documented workplace improvements.
The following examples illustrate how measurement can vary by ERG purpose.
| ERG Purpose | Potential Measures of Success |
| Community and belonging | Member feedback, repeat participation, sense of connection |
| Professional development | Mentorship participation, skills development, reported usefulness |
| Accessibility and employee experience | Issues identified, recommendations reviewed, improvements implemented |
| Organizational learning | Employee feedback shared, learning sessions delivered, changes informed by ERG input |
| Leadership development | Emerging leaders trained, leadership transitions completed, skills gained |
These measures should be interpreted carefully.
For example, employees who participate in ERGs may already be more engaged than those who do not. A difference in engagement or retention rates does not automatically demonstrate that ERG participation caused the difference.
Similarly, a group that raises an operational issue should not be held solely accountable for whether another department implements its recommendations.
USC’s Center for Effective Organizations continued its ERG research initiative in 2026, examining impacts on talent management, organizational culture and company vitality across individual, organizational and external stakeholder perspectives. This broader measurement approach reinforces the importance of looking beyond event counts.
Organizations can strengthen measurement by setting a small number of goals at the beginning of the year, collecting feedback periodically and reviewing results with both ERG leaders and executive sponsors.
Measurement should help groups make better decisions, not become another administrative burden.
How Can Organizations Improve Employee Resource Groups’ Sustainability in 2027?
ERG sustainability means maintaining a group’s ability to serve its members and pursue its mission without depending on excessive volunteer effort or unstable organizational support.
For 2027, HR leaders should assess whether their ERG programs have the structures needed to remain effective through changing business priorities, leadership transitions and fluctuations in participation.
The 2027 ERG Sustainability Assessment
HR leaders and ERG program managers can evaluate their groups using eight key questions:
- Purpose and relevance: Does each ERG have a clear mission that reflects current member needs?
- Governance: Are leadership roles, decision-making processes and responsibilities documented?
- Resources and workload: Do ERG leaders have manageable workloads and access to appropriate organizational support?
- Executive sponsorship: Do sponsors understand their responsibilities and actively help remove barriers?
- Member engagement: Do groups offer accessible activities and collect feedback regularly?
- Collaboration: Can ERGs access shared resources and collaborate with other groups when useful?
- Leadership succession: Are potential future leaders supported, and are transition plans in place?
- Measurement: Does each ERG have success measures that reflect its specific mission rather than a universal target?
This assessment can guide conversations between HR teams, executive sponsors and ERG leaders before annual plans are finalized.
Organizations do not need to address every gap simultaneously. Groups experiencing leadership burnout may need immediate workload adjustments, while groups with low engagement may benefit from reviewing their mission and programming.
The goal is to identify the factors most likely to affect each group’s continued effectiveness.
Review ERG Expectations Before Expanding Responsibilities
Before introducing new initiatives, organizations should determine whether ERGs have the capacity to deliver them.
A new mentorship program, for example, may require scheduling support, communications resources and administrative coordination.
If those resources are unavailable, the initiative may be more sustainable as a pilot or a collaboration with an existing learning and development team.
It is also reasonable for ERGs to decline activities that do not fit their mission or capacity.
Establish Regular Reviews Without Excessive Reporting
A quarterly discussion between ERG leaders, HR and executive sponsors can provide an opportunity to review participation, progress, resources and emerging challenges.
These discussions should focus on practical questions: What is working? What are members asking for? Where are leaders spending too much time? Which activities should continue, change or stop?
A concise progress summary is often more useful than an extensive report that volunteers struggle to complete.
Adapt ERG Programs as Employee Needs Change
The employee resource group strategy that worked several years ago may not remain effective in 2027.
Workforce demographics, organizational structures, technology and employee expectations continue to change.
The 2026 Verbate study also identified growing interest in ERGs organized around shared experiences, including neurodiversity and mental health, alongside more established identity-based networks. This suggests that organizations may need to reassess whether their existing groups reflect the needs of their workforce.
However, creating additional ERGs should not automatically be the response to every emerging need.
Sometimes an existing group can expand its programming, collaborate with another network or help employees access resources already available within the organization.
The decision should depend on employee demand, purpose and the support required to maintain the group.
What Makes Employee Resource Groups Successful in 2027?
Successful employee resource groups in 2027 are likely to be defined less by the volume of their activities and more by their relevance, consistent participation, capable leadership and organizational support.
The evidence available in 2026 does not establish one model that every organization should adopt. It does, however, identify practical areas for improvement: stronger infrastructure, clear expectations, active sponsorship, manageable leadership responsibilities and measures of success that reflect each group’s goals.
For some ERGs, success may mean helping employees build professional networks. For others, it may involve improving workplace accessibility, supporting career development or creating opportunities for employees to share experiences with organizational leaders.
These outcomes are different, but they can all represent meaningful value.
The most important shift organizations can make is to stop treating ERG sustainability as the responsibility of volunteer leaders alone.
HR teams, executive sponsors, people managers and operational departments all have roles in creating conditions where groups can remain active.
As organizations prepare for 2027, the question is not simply whether their employee resource groups are doing enough. It is whether those groups have a clear purpose, meaningful employee support and the resources necessary to continue delivering value.
Building that foundation will help employee resource groups remain relevant, active and sustainable as workplace needs evolve.