Employee resource groups (ERGs) can be integral to helping employees find a sense of community and belonging at an organization, but creating a successful ERG requires clear expectations, meaningful actions, measurable results (aka a change in a company’s benefits, culture, or policies), and feedback from members that they feel seen and heard. We asked our partner companies to share how one of their ERGs is moving the needle for equity at their organization. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at the Lean In Circle group at InfoTrust.
InfoTrust’s Lean In Circle
InfoTrust is a privacy-centric digital analytics solutions company that empowers marketers to make more confident, data-driven decisions. Working with many of the world’s best-known brands, InfoTrust partners with enterprise organizations in the consumer packaged goods (CPG), retail, media, health, and finance spaces. More than half (54 percent) of the company’s employees are women, and they’re currently rated #1 on our Best Companies to Work For list.
Lean In Circles create a space where women can come together in small groups across roles and levels to get peer mentorship, connect with each other, combat gender bias, and build valuable leadership skills. More than 50,000 women have started Lean In Circles in 184 countries. According to Lean In data, 85 percent of women in Circles credit their group with a positive change in their lives.
The Lean In Circle at InfoTrust was originally started by CEO and cofounder Alex Yastrebenetsky, who wanted to facilitate a great place to work for women, and has been led by several women over the years. The goal of creating a safe space for women to share their voice, listen to others' perspectives, and celebrate differences was, and still is, especially important in a tech environment where women remain underrepresented in a number of ways.
Expectation: Their goals
The group’s goal is simple: to help women grow and meet their goals at work and life in general.
In addition to their employee resource groups, InfoTrust is also working toward delivering a diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) roadmap that will be reflected in their goals for the next quarter, year, and years to come. The aim is to identify key areas and look at both the behaviors and systems that support their goals.
Action: Programming they offer
The Lean In Circle is a peer group where women can meet to share, learn, and help each other achieve goals, whether they be in career development, leadership, balance, or whatever else is top of mind for the group. Members discuss various topics in their monthly meetings, and they host additional meetings as desired for team-building and holidays, such as International Women's Day.
Some of the topics the group has covered have included using powerful language, how women's economic advancement can improve the economy as a whole, negotiation, work-life balance, and responding to interruptions.
Employee insight
“I got to do a presentation on the history and importance of Pride in June 2021. Not only the fact that I was able to do the presentation, but that I was teaching my coworkers and managers something new and they were so receptive and welcoming of it. I have never felt like I had to hide my sexuality or anything about myself, and those differences are celebrated instead of ridiculed or ignored, which is honestly just so rare to find. I can be totally me.” —Maddie Cantrell, Strategist Team Lead
Results: Progress they’ve made
InfoTrust says the Lean In Circle has led to a higher overall company awareness of biases, pay gaps, the importance of amplifying voices of team members who identify as women, and areas where the company and their industry might have room to grow in the future.
InfoTrust is sponsoring the Digital Analytics Association's Compensation and Benefits Study to shine a light on pay and benefit standards across the web analytics and technology industry. They also plan to apply the findings to their own compensation plan to ensure fairness in their pay structure.
Loving how InfoTrust is actively trying to improve the workplace for its women employees? Learn more about the company’s support for employees, their ratings, and open jobs here.
