About Us

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) are groups led by employees who share interests, issues, and a common bond or background. Members of these groups create a positive work environment at MIT by actively contributing to the Institute’s mission, values, and efforts specific to inclusion, such as recruitment and retention.

Employee Resource Group (ERG) and Affinity Group/Network are terms often used interchangeably.  At MIT we mean different things for each term.

• ERGs are groups that are formally constituted with mission statements, officers, etc. and are expected to contribute to the mission of the Institute
• Affinity Groups are self-organized, informal networks of MIT employees with common identities or interests

Both types of groups contribute to MIT as an inclusive workplace. All ERGs are open to all MIT employees.      

What are the benefits of having ERGs at MIT?

ERGs help to create an inclusive workplace by:

• Serving as a vehicle for leveraging MIT’s distributed leadership model
• Contributing to an inclusive workplace through recruiting and retention, and by providing an informal welcome to new employees and networking and mentoring opportunities for their members
• Providing a resource to MIT leadership regarding staff/community issues, needs, and policies