SHERICE TORRES: Hello, everyone.
My name is Sherice Torres.
I'm the Global Director of Inclusion at Google,
and I'm excited to partner with my colleague Ruby
Chang from the GCP K-12 Education team
to speak with you about the role of Employee Resource Groups
in building a culture of inclusion and belonging.
Ruby will kick off our time together with a deep dive
into the Women@GoogleCloud group,
and I'll give an overview of Google's overall approach
to Employee Resource Groups.
Over to you, Ruby.
RUBY CHANG: Thank you, Sherice.
Hi, everyone.
I'm Ruby Chang.
I serve as one of the global leads for Women
at Google Cloud, and I also serve
as a Google Cloud Platform for K-12 Education
lead across North America.
Our chapter of Women@ is a global network of about 850
women and allies that are passionate about building
a diverse and inclusive culture where all of us can thrive
and bring our whole selves to work.
More broadly, Women@ is the largest ERG at Google,
with over 120 chapters at 52 offices globally.
Our start was very grassroots.
Back when we were a small team of what was then
Google Enterprise, three women just
wanted to connect with others across their team.
And even without a designated leader,
they had a desire to get to know one another.
So they just got started with video meetings, which
eventually became face-to-face lunches as the team grew,
and that eventually evolved to the large-scale programming
that we're at today.
It has been incredibly powerful to see this community grow
into a global network.
And looking back at our humble roots and successful years
since then, we've also seen that there
are times when we needed a lot of help, when we needed
to seek out executive sponsorship,
and times when we couldn't find any.
What has really helped us through all of this
is staying centered on a mission.
We're a global network focused on empowering, connecting,
developing, and retaining talent within Google Cloud.
This is not just important for the Cloud team,
but it's also aligned to Google's ERG and Women@ goals.
We have a committed leadership team that meets weekly,
and we get together twice a year for an off-site.
That keeps us true and focused to our mission.
We use that time to evaluate the past few months,
look at the feedback, and plan events and avenues
to bring the full community together again.
You'd be correct to imagine that our professional relationships
very quickly become very personal ones,
as we dedicate time to get to know one another better
and tap into each other's strengths.
We have no budget, so we rely entirely
on our commitment, our creativity, tenacity,
and passion to get things done.
We have three pillars that guide Women@GoogleCloud and connect
back to the heart of everything that we do.
And as I share these pillars and some examples with you,
I also want to share some things that we've
learned along the way.
Our first pillar is to raise awareness.
This speaks to raising awareness around gender diversity
as well as promoting talent to join and develop
with Google Cloud teams.
For example, we maintain a [? cadence ?] with the Cloud
staffing teams and check in quarterly,
and we have a dialogue on how our community can
support their goals.
We want to be intentional about creating connections
and host external recruiting events as one avenue to do so.
That encourages industry talent to consider joining our team.
I mentioned earlier the idea of an executive sponsor.
At one point, we just didn't have women leaders
to take this on with us.
But executive leadership is crucial to ERG success,
and we're so lucky to have Nina Harding, Google Cloud's
Chief of Global Partner Programs and Strategy, to take this on.
And her sponsorship and advocacy are
key to elevating the impact of our women and allies
at the leadership level.
Our second pillar is building the community.
It challenges us to really consider, how do we
create a culture that helps retain women talent
and is inclusive of allies, especially now,
in a digital environment?
This is not something that we can do just once a year,
checking off a box with one event or a big idea.
We approach this as a series of experiences,
and it requires a lot of communication and activation
across our entire global team.
Let me take you through one decision.
A way to represent our unique culture
is with the brand or logo that represents what we stand for,
so we embarked on launching a fun logo contest.
We collected submissions, held a vote,
and our finalist was a great graphic
of a woman avatar with a superhero cape trailing
behind her.
We loved it.
But we also started hearing from our community
that perhaps this was not the most representative icon
to represent all women in Cloud.
The avatar was slim, had a lighter skin tone,
and was able-bodied.
And we took that feedback very seriously.
So we opted, instead, for a more inclusive
colorful text-based logo that we have today,
and it was only second by a few votes anyhow.
Outside of creative choices, there
are a lot of logistical decisions for a community
of hundreds of members.
So to scale, we have to be intentional about aligning
on our communication channels.
We primarily use Google Groups, which
functions both as our message board as well
as our email distribution.
And this group is intentionally created
to be a public and not private group,
so that all Googlers can read and engage.
It allows us to maintain an open culture and approach
to events and discussion.
We also have an internal web page
that serves as a home base for upcoming activities,
past archived events, and more.
There is a unique challenge when your team grows globally.
And in order for that to be effective,
we really need to think global and empower folks to activate
and organize locally.
We have an incredible network of ambassadors who help lead
the Women@ presence in their local home offices as part
of this effort.
We're also very proud of our recently formed
regional chapters in EMEA and APAC
and functional chapters that are organizational or team-based,
like Women@Coreinfrastructure.
We tap into each other's platforms
and connect as a stronger global network of women and allies.
We also want to recognize that community
is inside and outside.
There needs to be a balance between the work
that we do here at Google and how we share and invite
other leaders to join us in that mission.
Last year, we partnered with the Kellogg School of Management
to launch a global speaker series,
where we brought their professors who
were experts in the field to deliver
sprints of professional development topics.
We had about 200 members attend each talk,
and it sparked internal dialogue with one another,
in addition to offering external networking opportunities.
Our third and last pillar is empower and develop.
This is centered on providing opportunities
for professional development and training,
as well as supporting the promotion of women
to leadership positions.
It is so important to create a culture of celebration
and recognition for the growth and accomplishments of what
we do.
Our members every day go well beyond just our teams
or our customers.
We have an opportunity to share knowledge, learn
from one another, and create stronger impact when
we act together.
So every quarter, we highlight the awesome work happening
around the world in a newsletter and encourage recognition
across teams into our senior leadership.
This is another place where executive sponsorship really
comes in.
We want to lift, amplify, and build trust
across Google Cloud.
If there's one lesson we've picked up since 2014,
it's that we're always learning, we're always growing,
and it never hurts to have some fun along the way.
Looking ahead, while we're all navigating the remote working
situation, we especially want to lean into listening
to our community.
In March, we took steps to re-evaluate all our 2020
programming, thinking should we scrap and replan our events?
And if that occurred, why don't we just ask our folks?
What's important to Googlers now?
How do we support our women and allies doing work from home?
After that poll, we heard that our priority really
fell into three-fold.
One, to have a better understanding of the company
resources available to them during COVID-19.
So we hosted an open Q&A dialogue
with our partners on the People Operations team
to promote discussion and information sharing
for the unique situations that a lot of our members
are actively managing today.
Second, Googlers want to spend more time with Cloud leaders,
so we launched Candid Cloud, and opened discussion
with two regional Cloud leaders every month.
And, third, Googlers don't want to slow down
when it comes to internal and external networking
opportunities.
So we always ask ourselves, how can we integrate
this in everything that we do?
One thing we did learn that folks really don't want right
now is another group chat.
It seems that a lot of us are experiencing chat fatigue.
So while we're pivoting over toward a digital workplace,
at least for now, we found unexpected opportunities.
While the past few months have not been easy for most of us,
in some ways it's become easier to think
beyond the walls of our office and come together
as one global team.
Now that you know more about Women@GoogleCloud, Sherice,
I want to welcome you to share more of Google's broader ERG
strategy.
SHERICE TORRES: Thanks, Ruby.
I'll start with a brief overview of the ERG structure at Google
and the role of ERGs in fostering a sense of community
within underrepresented groups.
I'll close with a few case studies of how organizations
can partner with ERGs to foster a sense of belonging,
both within underrepresented communities
and across the company.
And just a caveat, while we are excited to share
some of our learnings with you today, we
are by no means experts in this space.
Let's start with an overview of ERGs at Google.
We have 16 Employee Resource Groups
with over 35,000 members in 50 offices around the world.
In addition to the employees who volunteer their time
to serve as leaders for our Employee Resource Groups,
each of our ERGs is supported by a team
of global and regional community advisors dedicated
to supporting the ERGs by driving
opportunities for connection, personal,
and professional development.
Community advisors drive this work in three ways.
First, they empower ERG leaders by providing
strategic advisory support and centralized cross-ERG
functions, such as budgeting, governance,
and quarterly Leads Summits to share best practices.
Community advisors help ERG leaders to recognize and apply
the leadership skills that they're
gaining in their community role and apply them
to their core jobs.
They also form a bridge between our ERGs, which typically serve
early to mid-level career Googlers,
and executive councils comprised of senior leaders
from each community, serving as advocates and sponsors for ERG
initiatives, as well as mentors for more junior members
of each community.
Second, community advisors supplement the programs
created by local ERG chapters with programs
designed to benefit ERG members around the globe.
For example, community advisors host annual Women
of Color summits, an ERG buddy program
to assist in onboarding new employees, allyship workshops,
and pilot sponsorship programs to support
career progression for underrepresented communities.
Finally, community advisors help to strengthen Google's business
by partnering with ERG and executive council leaders
to infuse the perspectives and needs
of underrepresented communities into new and existing Google
platforms, products, and policies.
Next, I'll move into a few examples
of how ERGs help to foster community
within underrepresented groups.
I'll use Hola as an example.
Hola is our global ERG focused on the Hispanic and Latinx
community, with a mission to progress inclusion,
advancement, and representation of Hispanic, Latinx,
and their allies across Google.
Hola fosters community through a combination
of informal gatherings, such as First Tuesdays, where
community members gather for lunch at designated
cafes in each office on the first Tuesday of each month.
They also have book clubs and spoken-word open mic nights.
We combine the informal programs with formal programming,
such as the annual Hola Leadership Summit,
providing the unique space for Hola members
to build community, develop, and better position
each other to lead both within and outside the context
of the Hispanic and Latinx community.
The annual Latinas at Google summit, a two-day event
created for Latinas by Latinas, with the intention
of building community, providing networking opportunities,
and developing career growth, as well
as annual Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations.
Hola also holds annual service trips,
such as their 2019 volunteer mission to Puerto Rico
to assist the community in recovery efforts
after Hurricane Maria.
I'd like to close with two case studies of how community
advisors partner with ERG leaders and executive councils
to foster a sense of belonging, specifically
by supporting underrepresented communities in times of crisis.
My first example relates to the Asian community.
As many of you may know, the Asian community,
particularly in the United States,
experience heightened xenophobia in the context of COVID-19.
Our community advisors work hand-in-hand with the leads
from the Asian Google Network, our ERG dedicated
to supporting the diverse multicultural Asian community,
and the Asian Leadership Group, our executive council
of senior Asian Google leaders, to provide a combination
of resources to support the Asian community
in the midst of this crisis.
First, advisors partnered with the Asian Leadership Group
and other Google senior leaders outside of the Asian community
to send messages of acknowledgment, support,
and solidarity to Asian Googlers.
Next, we paired community support sessions and wellness
resources for the Asian community
with a digital AGN COVID-19 community support hub,
centralizing AGN programming, resources, and communications
to support Asian Googlers through COVID-19 and related
issues of racism and xenophobia.
An AGN giving campaign was set up
to raise funds for six US-based nonprofits supporting
Asian community relief efforts, with Google matching up
to $10,000 in donations per Googler.
Finally, we affirmed, along with over 100 corporations
and partner organizations, the COVID-19 Action Agenda penned
by Ascend, the largest nonprofit pan-Asian organization
for business professionals in North America.
This combination of internal support with external advocacy
is helping to create a culture where Asian Googlers feel
seen, connected, and supported in the midst of crisis.
My second example relates to the Black community.
Over the past several years, particularly in the summer
of 2020, violent and racist attacks
against the Black community are forcing the world
to reckon with the structural and systemic racism Black
people have experienced over generations.
Specifically in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd,
community advisors partnered with global leads
from the Black Googler Network, an ERG
designed to cultivate Black leaders,
empower communities, and transform technology,
and the Black Leadership Advisory Group,
our executive council of senior Black Google leaders,
to step up for the Black community
and reaffirm Google's commitments
to inclusion and racial equity.
Similar to our approach with the Asian community,
we began by acknowledging the pain of the Black Googler
community through messages of support from the Black
Leadership Advisory Group, senior leaders outside
of the Black community, as well as organic notes of solidarity
from other ERGs and executive councils.
We're following with a series of community support, allyship,
and anti-racism education resources,
centering first on supporting Black Googlers
with community-building, mental, and physical well-being tools,
then following with a series of company-wide and small group
sessions to assist Googlers at every stage of their allyship
journey, specifically in the context of racial equity.
Our internal sessions focus on bias, privilege,
and immediate steps Googlers can take
to show up for their colleagues, in times of crisis
and at all times.
We followed our internal programming
with a dedicated Search for Racial Equity
series on the public Talks at Google platform,
featuring experts in the field of anti-racism, civil and human
rights.
Most importantly, we went beyond words to concrete actions
in support of both Black Googlers and Black communities
around the world by publicly committing to build sustainable
equity for Google's Black+ community and to make
our products and programs more helpful in the moments that
matter most to Black users.
You can learn more about these commitments
at google.com/racial-equity.
I'd like to close our time today with a definition
from the Center for Talent Innovation.
According to the CTI, organizations
can foster a sense of belonging, particularly
among underrepresented communities,
by creating a culture where all employees feel seen, connected,
supported, and proud to be a part of their organization.
As you can see from Ruby's deep dive into Women@Cloud,
as well as my overview of Employee Resource Groups
at Google, ERGs are just one way that we
work to create a culture of belonging at Google.
Beyond fostering a sense of community
within underrepresented groups, ERGs
can be a powerful tool to drive advocacy, accountability,
and change across your organization.
For additional learning, you can take a look
at the Resources section of this session on our website.
Thank you so much for your time today.