Employee resource groups drive inclusion, connection, and career growth at Scotiabank

That’s because these groups foster inclusion, connection, and even career development for members across the organization. “They are part of the fabric of what makes a Scotiabanker,” she said. “They’re really about connecting and advocating for positive movement within their ethnic or socioeconomic or abilities community.”

Scotiabank’s ERGs, 15 in total, span multiple regions and encompass a diverse array of communities. These groups aren’t confined to specific countries or even limited to North America. “I’m really proud to say that they range in every region,” Das said. “It’s not just North America, but also the UK, Europe, the Caribbean, Latin America, and Asia Pacific.”

Employee-led initiatives

These ERGs are all employee-led, which Das said is a critical part of their success. The groups originate organically, often starting as informal conversations among a small number of employees.

“It usually starts with a small group of individuals that are really dedicated to kind of sharing their interest and their vision of their time within Scotiabank,” she said. “They move from being grassroots, conversational, and ideation into a shared vision.”

Once established, ERGs at Scotiabank have a clear structure, with co-leads and an executive sponsor to guide and support them.

“They function, I want to say, almost like a mini-organization within an organization,” Das said. In addition to leadership, the groups have roles for event planning, education, and communication. They meet regularly, and members set objectives and goals that align with the bank’s global inclusion strategy.

“They start to strategize each year on what they want to bring forth, what parts of the strategy within Global Inclusion do they see themselves and want to help amplify,” she said.

Management support

Senior leaders, who volunteer to serve as sponsors, play an active role in ERGs at the bank.

“It’s not just about the grassroots — it’s really embedded in the culture and values of the company,” Das said. “Much of the senior leaders actually are executive vice presidents and above, and they put their hand up to want to be part of and lead a group of individuals.”

She said some senior leaders may identify with the group, while others are strong allies. “It’s both,” she said, pointing out that executive involvement helps signal that “the commitment to where we are going as a bank is everybody’s commitment.”

Career development opportunities

ERGs provide real opportunities for career development, she said, pointing to a recent success story.

“We did have somebody within our ERG last year, who was the communications individual point of contact for the ERG, and has now moved into our communications team,” she said. The individual’s involvement in the ERG helped develop skills and connections that led to a new role within Scotiabank.

“That’s such a great success because their dedication, their thoroughness, their accuracy, but also their curiosity, has led them to move into a different path than when they started at the bank,” she said.

And ERGs also have the ability to support career development more broadly by fostering a sense of belonging and inclusion.

“They actively promote inclusivity through their passion and their respect for one another,” she said. “They are the builders of a community and environment where people feel brave and safe to speak up.”

Variety of groups

The ERGs at Scotiabank aren’t limited to just one type of identity. They span multiple areas, including ethnicities, gender, sexual orientation, and veteran status. One group, called Ola, advocates for the Latinx community at the bank, said Das.

“They are actually aligning their priorities with one or two of the other ERGs, such as our family or a parent network, to create that intersectionality and opportunities for collaboration,” Das said.

Through such collaborations, ERGs ensure that employees with multiple identities feel represented, she said.

“We know that there’s shared experiences and new experiences that come from people within the group that is being formed, and we put a governance structure together to make sure that their message and their ‘why’ doesn’t get lost,” she said. “They can see themselves in the work that’s being done throughout the bank, and they find there’s intersectionality with the other Employee Resource Groups.”

Support for the groups

These groups are supported by a community engagement platform that enables them to track their hours, and employees can earn dollars for the time they volunteer, which can be donated to charities of their choice.

In Das’s view, this encourages sustained involvement. “We’ve seen so much great success when we allow them to really form in a way that works best,” she said. But there is also “some structure and governance with regards to what the ERGs can oversee and what they cannot.”

Success stories

When asked to share a success story from the ERGs, Das shared the story of an event organized by the South Asian Network. “Earlier this year, we had a celebration for our South Asian network. It was called Threads of Unity, and they had individuals from the diaspora,” she said. The event highlighted the diversity within the South Asian community, bringing together people from India, Singapore, East Africa, the Caribbean, and Canada.

“It was one of our most talked about and attended events, in which people could understand the globalization of movements of people from the South Asian region,” she said.

Events like Threads of Unity help foster connections across different groups and encourage broader engagement throughout the bank, said Das.

“We have seen an increase in engagement and participation, not just in those groups but in other groups, as people are really seeing that you can celebrate who you are and you can educate who you are, and that this bank is very open to both at the same time,” Das said.

Want to launch ERGs? Start by listening

For organizations considering ERGs but uncertain about how to begin, Das advised starting with small listening sessions.

“Nine times out of 10, the information provided through these listening sessions is only for the betterment of the organization,” she said. While some organizations may hesitate to launch ERGs for fear of raising uncomfortable issues, Das believes that listening to employees is essential for growth.

“If the fear is that you’re going to hear something that you’re not ready to hear, then definitely start the work,” she said.

Das emphasized that while there may be challenges along the way, the long-term benefits of ERGs make the effort worthwhile.

“There are bumps — it doesn’t matter how mature an ERG is, if you are now starting, or if they’re five years in, there’s always bumps in the road. That’s part of the journey. But start the journey because you will find that the things that you were most fearful of, the employees can help to find those solutions and make that a better place for everyone to be,” she said.

Das said ERGs aren’t simply add-ons to corporate culture; they are integral to Scotiabank’s identity and values. “This is a shared vision activity,” she said. “It’s not a top-down or bottom-up approach. They are part of, not separate to, where the organization wants to go.”

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