ERG Excellence Awards

ERG Excellence Awards

We are looking for impactful initiatives put on by Employee Resource Groups (ERGs).

ABOUT AWARDS

The D&I Changemakers Conference 2021 ended with an ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony

We would like to thank all the initiatives that sent the applications. You make ERGs more visible!

Congratulations to winnings networks:

  • ERG Leadership Award

    Prism Poland (Jacobs Engeneering Group Inc.)

    Special Distinction: Mama Bear (TELUS)

  • ERG Special Award – Most Valuable COVID-19 Response

    Mama Bear (TELUS)

  • ERG Audience Award

    Prism Poland (Jacobs Engeneering Group Inc.)

Congratulations!

ERG Audience Award

See the inspiring initiatives submitted for the ERG Audience Award 2021

Connections

TELUS

Connections is a resource group committed to advancing gender equality at all levels. From the seed of an idea to run a workshop on becoming a better public speaker, blossomed a five-part Self Investment Series that gave members resources to build personal coalitions, grow self-advocacy, empower their voices and own their power. Going beyond the surface, we welcomed members to reflect on what was holding them back as women, both personally and systemically, and provided the tools to start to overcome those challenges. The sessions examined topics of public speaking and storytelling as tools for advocacy, speaking with power and courage, overcoming Imposter Syndrome, and building a personal circle of champions to help members identify and advocate for what they want. Through virtual platforms, the series reached 600 total participants across Canada. Rolling out the sessions as a series of linked events promoted increased engagement and resulted in deeper interconnected conversations.

The Self Investment Series gave members resources to build personal coalitions, grow self-advocacy, empower their voices and own their power. Members were asked to reflect on what was holding them back and were provided tools to overcome those challenges.

  1. Toastmasters for Success – panel discussion on benefits of Toastmasters in honing public speaking skills for personal advocacy
  2. Speaking with Power – workshop focused on speaking with confidence and taking up space focused on challenges faced by women
  3. Crafting Your Story – workshop participants learned essential storytelling techniques to find their voice and use it with clarity and courage
  4. Reframing Imposter Syndrome – workshop focused on understanding and moving through Imposter Syndrome with self-compassion
  5. Building Your Personal Board of Directors – panel discussion on building and engaging personal networks to find mentors and sponsors to maximize professional growth and develop a committee of personal champions

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

GSC Krakow D&I BALANCE

HSBC Service Delivery Polska Sp. z o.o.

GSC Krakow STEP (Striving To Excellence Program) has been designed for the GSC employees to enable employees to develop professional competencies related to the processes / systems in the areas that they would like to specialize as a part of their career development plan. Thus creating a workforce that has the capability to adapt to the changing business demands. The cornerstone of the program is to enable the employees to develop skills and acquire the knowledge about the processes / systems from outside their immediate work environment (team / division) by undertaking hands-on, practical training sessions guided by STEP Trainers/SMEs from the given host team.

D&I BALANCE in GSC Krakow aim to support employees in their career development. Various local activities are undertaken to achieve this goal which are part of Global initiatives like Mentoring, Coaching Circles. We also have local programmes which help individuals progress with their career and make correct choices like STEP (Striving To Excellence Program) or KYCB (Know your Company better).

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

JTI | PRIDE

Tobacco International SA (JTI)

PRIDE, JTI’s first global Employee Resource Group (ERG) supports the LGBTIQ+ community throughout the organization and empowers colleagues in Markets to create meaningful change on the ground. Run by and for employees, PRIDE fosters a peer-to-peer support network amongst employees, grows the support of allies through educational and inclusive activities and works with the business to create a more equal and inclusive JTI. Our mission? To ensure that every employee feels comfortable bringing their uthentic self to work. Because we believe that at JTI, everyone should #BeProud to be themselves.

For 2021, PRIDE has identified greater involvement and visibility for queer women, education on the trans and non-binary community, and professional and personal development opportunities for LGBTIQ+ employees as an priority. Conversations surrounding trans and non-binary employees in the corporate space are still new – yet, for young people these conversations are happening all around us. Therefore, PRIDE created a 3-part trans and non-binary educational video series, PRIDE | Voices Gender Identity, exploring gender identity through stories from non-binary and trans contributors.

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

Mama Bear

TELUS

The Mama Bear Program is a community that uplifts, empowers and celebrates the challenges and capabilities of working mothers. Using our platform, Mama Bear amplifies the voice of the mother as we advocate to improve the lives of working parents. Our vision is to reimagine and institute a world-leading experience for moms at TELUS and beyond. The pandemic turned the workplaces upside down, and has had a disproportionate impact on women, igniting the need for women to connect with other like-minded working mothers. TELUS’ Mama Bear Program was born; a for moms, by moms grassroots to global initiative, designed to champion and support mothers throughout their career and family growth transitions. We’re sprinkling a little “mama magic” across TELUS and we strive to inspire other organizations to do the same

The concept of Mama Mixers started with the simple idea of bringing mothers together to talk, share their victories and vulnerabilities, and lean on one another for support. The Mama Mixers have since been formalized to be an intimate panel of speakers and participants that foster a community of connected moms and influence a culture of support at work. Topics have included managing stress and personal well-being, parenting through a pandemic, the maternity leave journey, and navigating back to school chaos. Panelists have included TELUS mothers and allies through all levels of leadership, including two sessions with our Executive Vice President of Home Solutions, who spoke honestly and compassionately about the struggles of working parents and shared her strategy for finding the synergy between being a working professional and a mindful mother. At our Mama Mixers, everyone joins with a different background and journey – but the thread that connects us all will always be motherhood.

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

One Accenture I&D Team

Accenture

We are the NETWORK of the NETWORKS. What’s so special about us? Accenture in Poland consists of several companies with offices in Warsaw, Kraków, Łódź, Wrocław, Katowice, Gdańsk. We employ 8,600+ staff supporting a complex structure of Strategy&Consulting, Interactive, Technology and Operations services. With several business lines, having separate goals and priorities I&D came during the pandemic times as a unifying factor. In this area we work naturally as One Accenture, building our success on the synergy of cooperation. This is unique! We offer employees educational sessions run by external and internal experts, awareness materials, dedicated networks of trusted employees: Allies of Mental Health and LGBT+, I&D Ambassadors. Our creative ideas arise from collaboration of senior management and field employees working hand in hand to find the solution. Our biggest success is live testimony that diversity combined with inclusion can join people above any divisions to achieve the goals!

We changed International Women’s Day celebrated separately by various parts of organization into I&D Awareness Week for the whole company bringing the attention to variety of I&D topics. We offered events related to health of men and women, inclusive language, mental health, disabilities, pride. Thanks to joint forces we prepared the first event combining all aspects of I&D (usually we run separate topics during the year), the agenda of 20+ online events, 30 hrs of sessions available to all employees regardless of which part of the organization he/she comes from. Inspiring talks, meetings with experts, I&D materials, Accenture resources and internal articles. Sample topics: Men and emotions, Myths about sexual orientation and gender identity, Ableism, Savoir vivre toward people with disabilities, Mental Health and Pride Allyship, wellness tools: Wysa, Calm, Thriving Together. In the program we included areas important during pandemic isolation (like home physical exercises).

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

Pride & Friends Network

State Street Bank Polska

State Street PRIDE & Friends Employee network is focused on LGBTQ+ employee & community support, education and advocacy. Chapters are active in offices around the world, for example: US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Poland, India and Australia as well as other locations. In Poland, we are diversity and inclusion enthusiasts, who day by day challenge the status quo to reach full equity. We work hard to address the needs of LGBT+ community at work and how we can make our workplace more inclusive and what the local communities need to be better.

The biggest project dedicated to the LGBT+ community, and done with their help are interactive city games for Gdansk and Krakow about local LGBT+ history. We engaged local NGOs (Federacja Znaki Rownosci in Krakow and Tolerado in Gdansk) to list remarkable and important places from LGBT+ history, so the history to be told directly by the community. Later on, together with Mapa Pasji Foundation we created historical routes in Krakow and Gdansk available in dedicated application for everyone, as well as printed maps available locally in the company and the NGO offices and community centers. On PRIDE Month in 2021 we released the city game to wider audience during the 2nd birthday of DOM EQ. Routes are available in Polish and English in both interactive and printed way to reach maximum audience. Thanks to the game we brought important, yet often silences parts to of the city histories to the huge audience – on FB – 15K followers, both NGOs – 15K followers. Participants so far – 1K in both.

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

Prism Poland

Jacobs Engineering Group Inc.

Prism Poland is about many things, but most especially, social change in wokplace. Corporations like ours can shape their employees’ perceptions, normalise LGBT+ issues and help understanding that tolerance, inclusion and equality should be obvious and universal. The goal of Prism Poland is lead in this regard: share our experiences, support each other, voice issues, educate, fight for inclusion, cooperate with local organisations and have fun. We do so by e.g. discussing company’s policies, improving mental health support, providing trainings on inclusive language, crafting educational culture of caring moments, inviting guests to share their stories and knowledge, appreciating LGBT+ culture and history, charity donations to local initiatives such as Kraków’s Equality March. Not only do we host open events such as Transgender in the Workplace or difficult questions Q&A, but also targeted events such as workshops for HR or trainings for mental health ambassadors. Prism Poland is not only a network, but a home for LGBT+ employees, family and allies.

Starting a new job for an LGBT+ person in Poland is especially challenging because you don’t know the culture and attitudes towards LGBT+ employees in your new workplace. We want to make it easier and at the same time show all our new starters that our company’s “bring your whole self” catchphrase is not only an empty slogan, but a motto we live by. One of the first initiatives this year was a Prism Poland Frequently Asked Questions for new hires. Every new Polish employee in our company receives it as a part of their onboarding package. The colorful, Company-brand leaflet is in two language versions, Polish and English, and it’s a live document, which means we add new items or update this FAQ if needed. Issues explained include e.g. an how to avoid using a dead name in the workplace where possible, company benefits and leaves of absence for same-sex couples and employment of relatives for queer relationships in Poland.

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

Working Parents Club

State Street Bank Polska

The Working Parents Club employee network supports State Street in driving Inclusion, Diversity & Equity in creating even more inclusive workplace. Our goal, amongst others, is to drive gender balance and support the parenting transition. Supporting female employees during the parental transition is imperative to balance representation and retain talent into the senior grades as well as supporting more males to take the parental leave. Network members share their passion and are actively involved in organizing webinars, meetings, mentoring and coaching programs. They fully reflect our values and thanks to their commitment (including volunteering with local community partners), we are stronger together.

The goals have been presented in more details above. Last year, we organized a number of events that we would like to highlight: series of webinars on Working from Home with children onboard and battery charging while multitasking (combining parental duties during lockdown with work); development workshop for parents (incl. sessions with child psychologists); partnering Share the Care Foundation, incl. content editing at #TeamRodzina platform (promotion of a family partnership model); membership in the “Men the Care” project by Diversity Hub and Jagiellonian University; conducting e-coffee support group for working parents and organizing online workshops for parents and their children. Members of our network are also heavily involved in social and charitable activities. For many years we have been supporting the Mamo Pracuj foundation in the implementation of their project “Odważ się mamo”, e.g. by implementing a mentoring program for mothers returning to work after a long break relate.

  • Voting closed, thank you! The results will be announced on ERG Excellence Awards Ceremony, on 3 December at 2 pm CET, during the D&I Changemakers Conference 2021.

OUR EXPERTS

Meet the jury for the ERG Excellence Awards

Anna Kostecka

Global Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategist, ERGs Center Lead

Daniel Yeung

Director, Customer Experience Strategy and Operations at Telus, Chair of the MOSAIC Employee Resource Group

Margaret Amaka Ohia-Nowak (Ph.D.)

Inclusive Language, Anti-Racism & Belonging in the Workplace Consultant

Tomasz Dąbrowski (Ph.D.)

Co-founder and VP at Diversity Hub

Natalia Selinger

Managing Director, Luxoft Poland Sp. z o.o

DETAILS

Rules and regulations

Terms

SAVE THE DATE

The competition starts on 01.10.2021 at 9.00 a.m. and ends on 31.10.2021 at 23.59.

Rules

DOCS

All details about the competition can be found in the Awards Regulations. If you have any questions, please contact us: awards@ergscenter.com.

Fees

HOW MUCH?

The participation is free of charge, no fee is required.

Who can apply?

PARTICIPANTS

We invite all Employee Resource Groups to submit an ongoing or finished initiative that helped advance organizational goals related to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Your initiative cannot start before January 1st, 2019 and should be either finished or have completed a minimum of 50% of planned activities.

Awards

WHAT YOU CAN WIN?

You can apply for three awards:

  • ERG Leadership Award
  • ERG Special Award – Most Valuable COVID-19 Response
  • ERG Audience Award

The last award will be selected by the public through our website. Remember to tell a compelling story to inspire others to vote for your initiative.