ERGs in the Americas & Europe: Key Differences

Join Katie Wesner, Engagement Program Manager at Molson Coors Beverage Company, Sarah Winship, Experience Director at Molson Coors Beverage Company, and moderator Viktoria Nevska, Strategic Account Executive, Business Development at Teleskope, as they explore how ERG programs operate differently across the Americas and Europe, and share best practices for scaling, engaging, and managing global ERGs.

Topics and Speakers

This webinar covers:

ERG expansion thought process across regions
Key differences between Americas vs Europe ERG programs
Best practices and common challenges in ERG management
Keeping ERG members and leaders engaged globally
Actionable takeaways for DEI leaders and ERG program managers

Speakers:

Viktoria Nevska, Strategic Account Executive, Business Development, Teleskope (moderator)
Katie Wesner, Engagement Program Manager, Molson Coors Beverage Company
Sarah Winship, Experience Director, Molson Coors Beverage Company

Synopsis

Scaling an ERG program across continents surfaces a very different set of questions than building one at home. In this conversation, Katie Wesner and Sarah Winship, who lead Molson Coors' ERG programs in the Americas and in EMEA/APAC respectively, compare notes on what it actually took to expand ERGs from an established, nearly two-decade-old US program into a newer European effort.

Wesner walks through the scale of the US program: 12 ERGs, close to 2,000 members, and more than 50 chapters spanning corporate offices, breweries, and an expanding set of field locations. Winship describes a much younger EMEA/APAC program that started from broad, cross-cutting Inclusion Forums before splitting into five dedicated ERGs by focus area (gender, LGBTQ+, generations, disability, and ethnicity and culture, with a wellbeing group launching in 2024). Rather than treating Europe as a smaller copy of the US model, both speakers frame the expansion as building on an existing playbook, borrowed governance structure, leadership frameworks, even direct peer mentoring between US and European ERG leads, while adapting it to real differences in legislation, culture, and geography across the regions.

The conversation moves through what actually separates the two programs (program maturity, and the sheer geographic and regulatory variation Europe has to account for), and into practical management topics: setting clear ERG purpose and goals to make the business case for resources, building governance structures so no single volunteer leader carries the whole load, and securing visible senior leadership sponsorship. Both speakers are candid about the emotional weight ERG leaders carry, especially during difficult news cycles, and about the specific ways Molson Coors has tried to support and retain them, from CEO and CHRO meetings for ERG leaders to a financial recognition program built around restricted stock grants.

A recurring theme is that engagement can't be standardized: a Pride flag flown outside a UK office and a shift-change celebration at a Wisconsin brewery both matter, just to different people in different places, and the job of a global ERG program is to give local groups the autonomy to decide what resonates while still connecting their work to a shared DEI strategy. The conversation closes with both leaders reflecting on ERGs as genuine drivers of business impact, retention, innovation, and culture, not just employee programs running alongside the business.

Key Takeaways

Build a new regional ERG program on the existing playbook (governance structure, leadership frameworks, direct peer mentoring) rather than starting from scratch, while adapting for local legal, cultural, and political differences.
Give every ERG a clear purpose and clear goals so its business value, and the case for resources, can actually be measured.
Distribute ERG leadership responsibilities across a governance structure (membership, communications, events) so no single volunteer leader carries the full load.
Secure visible senior leadership sponsorship. ERGs stall without it, and access to senior leaders is one of the most valued forms of recognition for ERG leaders themselves.
Let local chapters define what engagement looks like for their specific location rather than applying a single global playbook.
Recognize ERG leaders concretely, through professional development, executive visibility, and, where appropriate, formal compensation, since the role sits on top of a full-time job.

Chapters

Introduction

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thanks a lot everyone for attending our webinar. This will be a series of webinars that we'll be hosting at Teleskope, featuring some of our customers and industry participants who have experience in the D&I and ERG space.

This particular webinar is focused on how to successfully expand your ERG programs across multiple continents, and with that said, let me do a quick introduction of myself and Teleskope and give you a bit of context, and then we'll pass the mic to our webinar panelists. My name is Viktoria Nevska. I'm an Account Executive here at Teleskope on the Business Development team, and the whole mission behind Teleskope is to build an all-in-one DE&I platform that allows organizations to manage, run and measure all of their various programs in one solution. We have the privilege of working with a tremendous portfolio of customers, and some of them are featured in our webinar today. I'll be asking a series of questions from a moderation standpoint and helping facilitate the conversation.

So today we're here to learn how Molson Coors successfully expanded its ERG program across the Americas and Europe. We'll have two expert panelists discuss key differences, challenges and wins with implementing an ERG program on two continents, and share insights from their experience. Our panelists today are Katie Wesner and Sarah Winship. Katie, I'll pass the mic to you for an introduction.

Panelist introduction

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): Lovely. Thank you so much, Viktoria, thanks for having us here today. My name is Katie Wesner. I am a DEI Program Manager for Molson Coors Beverage Company, and I am based here in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, so representing our Americas side of the business.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): And Sarah, would you like to introduce yourself?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yes, thank you, Viktoria, thank you for having me. I'm Sarah Winship. I'm the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Director for EMEA and APAC of Molson Coors Beverage Company. I am sitting in a very small town in the northeast of England called Durham, but have responsibility for the whole of the EMEA and APAC region.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you for your introduction. So I'll go ahead and get started. Can you please share a brief overview of the ERG programs in America and Europe at Molson Coors, to help our viewers understand the program better? Katie, would you like to go first?

Overview of ERGs at Molson Coors

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): Sure, absolutely! So ERGs in the Americas have really been in existence in one form or another for approximately 19 years. When we started, from my understanding, I was not here 19 years ago. From my understanding, our ERGs really started as Diversity Councils and sort of morphed into more of an ad hoc, as-needed focus group approach before really transitioning into the ERGs we have in place today. I'd also say that some of our larger ERGs here in the Americas are really functioning more as Business Resource Groups, but for naming purposes we've decided to maintain the ERG naming convention across the board for all of our groups.

We have 12 ERGs today. We have close to 2,000 unique employees who are members of our ERGs across the Americas, so that includes the US, Canada and LATAM. And we have over 50 chapters across those 12 ERGs, many of which are based in our corporate locations but also our physical brewery locations across the US and Canada. We're also starting to see some growth and engagement across our field chapters, we're starting to see Northwest Arkansas, we have a chapter in our field location there, and we have a field location in Miami. So we're really excited to see we're bubbling up and growing, moving outside some of the walls of our formal physical locations in the US.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And Sarah, do you have any comments as well?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah. So our ERGs are much younger because we are much younger as a division. The EMEA APAC division only really came into being a few years ago, again, before I joined the business. But they're already having a really big impact. Like North America, we started out with groups that had quite a broad DEI focus. We had Inclusion Forums made up of a number of DEI ambassadors who worked together on a whole range of DEI activities across a broad agenda, and to a certain extent that does still happen. But towards the end of 2022, in Western Europe, we really felt it was time we enhanced those to form more distinct ERGs with specific focus areas related to the different dimensions of diversity. So we went out to people who had already been involved in the various Inclusion Forums and asked them to step up and volunteer to lead newly formed ERGs, and we were really pleased to have several people come forward.

We started with an ERG focused on gender, and one focused on the LGBTQ+ community, and we had a couple of really fantastic people step up to lead those, people from different parts of the business, not HR folks, but really passionate about enhancing our culture and making sure everybody could thrive. Following the success of those, in 2023 we launched another three ERGs: one focused on age, which we call Generations, looking at the differences across generations; one focused on disability; and another focused on ethnicity and culture. In 2024, we're adding an additional ERG with a focus on wellbeing. But I'd say we do recognize that while we have those different focuses, there are many intersections across the diversity demographics, and the leads of each group work really well together to make sure we're advancing inclusion for everyone.

What was the thought process for ERG Expansion?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Absolutely. Thank you for sharing the details on those programs. So you were mentioning the ERG program in Europe began much later than in America. What was the expansion thought process like with those programs? Sarah, would you like to go first?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I can. So the two parts of the business do operate quite separately, so we didn't really think about it in terms of expanding what was already in place, but we knew the next stage of the journey for EMEA APAC would require a lot more focus, a different approach to hearing the various voices of our employees. Having said that, the North America ERGs were absolutely fantastic in terms of supporting us. They've been brilliant for bouncing ideas off. We got a couple of the leads from the North America ERGs to come and talk to our newly established ERGs in Western Europe and answer the questions they had. A lot of the questions were around logistics: how do you just get started, how do you get people on board, and North America was really great in terms of offering support and sharing that information with us.

I think because of the different geographies, we do have very different social and political landscapes. We have differences in our legislative framework, so there are some very obvious differences in the areas of focus of our groups, but the support has been brilliant. And of course there are always areas where we want to collaborate: celebrating international events and raising awareness. So it's been fabulous for us to gain resources rather than reinvent the wheel. We've also linked in with ERGs from other organizations, both within the sector and outside of it, sharing our journey with others too. One of our key business strategic pillars is creating a world to celebrate, and we think that's applicable outside the organization as well as inside.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And Katie, did you have any comments?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): I have. Honestly, I think it's just been a lovely opportunity to work together in this space. I know Sarah came to Molson Coors with such an overwhelming, immense amount of knowledge and work in this space, ERGs and DEI holistically. So for us to be able to help support their journey as they were getting up and running, and provide that guidance and be a sounding board to bounce ideas off of and share thoughts with, and then also collaborate, to find those spaces across the globe where we can come together and recognize moments that we all share, that we all celebrate, that we all honor together, that has been a really lovely opportunity for us to all come together as one organization even though we're spread so far across the globe.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And then Sarah, I just wanted to follow up on that one question. So you were mentioning having an existing program in place, did it help to build on top of that existing program? You mentioned not reinventing the wheel.

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): It helped, definitely, with things like understanding how the ERGs should structure themselves. Our ERGs in Western Europe are much smaller in terms of membership, but I think it's really important that we recognize our leaders are doing this on top of the day job. Being able to build on what North America already had in place, in terms of governance structure for ERGs, in terms of a playbook we could steal with pride, has been incredibly helpful.

What are the key differences between ERG Programs in the Americas and Europe?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Yes, fantastic! And so continuing on the topic of one program size does not fit all, what would be the key differences between the two programs? Katie, would you like to comment first?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): Yeah, you know, I think we look at our ERGs, right, they've generally been inside organizations in the US for quite some time. When we think about the ever-evolving landscape of race relations in our country, and North America holistically, we think about the lack of safe spaces for marginalized community members inside corporate America. So our ERGs, I think, have evolved over the course of many years, as our changing dialogue happens, as organizational shifts have occurred, as we've refocused, probably in and out of focus, as we see happening right now. DEI efforts become more intentional and are really intentionally built into the work we're doing beyond the ERGs.

It's part of our fabric of being, it's part of who we are. So we've really had the opportunity to build upon the grassroots work our ERGs started at such a different level. I'd say, maturity-wise, ERGs as a whole have just been around a little bit longer here in the States and North America. So from that perspective, I'd say that's where we differ most at this moment in time.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Absolutely. And Sarah, did you want to add anything onto that?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I would agree with everything Katie just said, but I think, to build on it, you can't get away from the fact that we have differences simply because of our geographies. As I've already said, culturally, socially, we are very different, politically and legislatively, and it's important that we respect that, and it's important that we recognize what works in one place doesn't necessarily work in another. Sitting in Europe, that's even more relevant, because we have a large geographical footprint, we cover a lot of different countries, so that's even more true. What works in one place might not necessarily work in another.

For that reason, it's really important that we get people on the ground to lead our ERGs, and while that's not different for us, both North America and Europe do have people on the ground leading our ERGs, so they can share the stories and really help us understand what the challenges are for different people across the business, recognizing that geography is going to have an impact, but also just differences in business culture across any organization are going to mean that things are different. So it's important that we recognize those differences and make sure that everybody has a voice.

Key takeaways for D&I leaders undertaking a similar journey

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Absolutely! And what should D&I leaders keep in mind if they're going to undertake a similar journey? Katie, would you like to go first?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): It's a big question. From my personal experience, I think the biggest thing, the biggest aha moment I've been part of when you're starting an ERG journey, when you're starting a broader DEI journey, because every organization is at a very different place in this moment, in this movement, is to really have the most open and brutally honest, and that can be really hard, conversation with your leaders, with your stakeholders, about where your organization is on the journey. Where they are, where they want to be, what the reasoning is for wanting to be there, why they want to be there, what they're doing this for, and whether there's an interest in having ERGs be a really important part of that journey. So I think it's good to have very real, and sometimes that gets tough in organizations, truly transparent conversations with folks who are part of this process.

Beyond what you might be hearing at the grassroots level, beyond those leader and stakeholder engagement conversations, culture assessments are such an incredible tool, if it's an option for an organization to consider, because they do a really great job, anonymously, of honing in on what feels good in the organization, what maybe doesn't feel great, whether there are opportunities around career advancement, professional development, community engagement, where those spaces are where the organization could really use some support and help. When you think about the broader DEI perspective, when you're planning a DEI strategy, whatever the case may be, how are ERGs able to jump into that space and help support the priorities of the organization and the DEI strategy as a whole?

One of the things that's magical about our ERGs, I call it one of their superpowers, is that when things get tough, when people aren't feeling their best, they might come to the ERG members first. So honestly, ERGs are such an incredible resource for us, really an arm of our work. But when you're developing a DEI strategy and considering whether ERGs should be part of that, either from the beginning or in a future state, I think it's really important for you to collectively outline what those strategic priorities are, and provide that guidance to the ERGs, so everything the ERGs are doing connects right into what the DEI priorities are, because then they're all collectively working toward that goal together. It's a really easy and effective way to see how ERGs are such an important lever and tool in that toolbox as we look at DEI across the organization.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And Sarah, would you like to build upon that?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I think that point about really understanding where you are as an organization, and where you want to be, is crucial. You can't just look at what other organizations are doing, what Google's doing, what Facebook's doing, because the issues in your organization are going to be very different from those other organizations. By all means share good practices, but really get to the point of what's important for you as an organization.

I think the other thing that's really important is senior leadership commitment. ERGs are a phenomenal tool, they can really help leverage the diversity within an organization, but unless they have the support of senior leaders within the organization, they're going to constantly feel frustrated. They're not going to feel they can really affect change, and they're not going to feel listened to.

I think another important thing is that the people who lead our ERGs, the members, have a full-time day job. They're doing this because they're passionate, not only about diversity and inclusion, but about the business as well. They want to see the business succeed. So remembering they have a day job, and making sure we recognize and value the contribution they're making to the organization, is incredibly important.

What are the best practices for ERG management?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Yes, so let's dive into the programs a bit deeper. What are some of your ERG program best management practices? Sarah, would you like to go ahead for this question?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I think this leads on very well from the previous question. Making sure the ERG has a very clear purpose and very clear goals is important for several reasons, but actually one of the most important is so that we can measure success. If you can demonstrate how an ERG is adding value to the business, it can really help unlock a lot of what we've already been talking about, like access to and buy-in from senior leaders. It helps make the case for resources, it helps grow membership, it helps grow engagement. So that's the first thing: clear purpose, clear goals.

Again, this links to some of the other things we've been talking about: ERGs have got to be ready to adapt. Katie's already alluded to the changes we've seen over the past decade, two decades. The world is constantly changing, and we need to recognize that the needs of members change too, whether in response to internal or external events, local, national or global events, political events, social events, social change, the list is really endless. Being ready and willing to adapt is going to mean an ERG remains relevant and adds value to its members, and that's going to really help the organization adapt to change as well.

And again, as I've already said, ERGs are run by really passionate people. They're passionate about inclusion, they're passionate about the organization, they give a huge amount on top of their day job, and I don't feel like I can emphasize that point enough. It's voluntary. Ensuring they have a governance structure within the ERG, so different people are responsible for different elements and accountable for different roles within the group, is going to make sure one person isn't burdened. So yes, the ERG lead is very important, but who's supporting them with membership, who's supporting them with communications, who's supporting them with events, who's supporting them in just holding it all together? It's really crucial that we help and support them in that, and, as I say, recognize that this is an additional job.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And then Katie, would you like to build on that?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): So beautifully stated. Echoing everything Sarah said, absolutely, senior level leaders' support is imperative to their success. We need to see our senior-most leaders actively engaged in our ERGs. We have our senior level leaders as executive sponsors of all of our groups in the Americas, and that's for a reason, on purpose, to make sure everybody can see our senior-most leaders in active champion and advocate spaces for our ERGs, standing up and promoting and supporting and doing everything they can to help navigate through, around, or over walls that may come up. It's pretty amazing to see how senior level engagement can really help move ERG priorities and work forward.

That governance structure piece is such a big piece of the puzzle, guardrails too, for folks who are coming into this work for the very first time, who've never done it before, who've never led people before. Leading folks in a volunteer capacity, the passion volunteer role, if you will, above and beyond their day job, is kind of a different thing, and we need to help provide them with tools to grow professionally in a bit of a different capacity.

What do we need to think about from a governance structure standpoint? Do you need multiple layers of leadership, or are you going to be successful with one main leader with the support of an executive sponsor? Do you need to consider smaller chapters for folks based in multiple locations or different geographies, to help answer the needs that might arise in those locations because of where they are, and then understand what the priorities are? As I mentioned earlier, if you have a broader DEI strategy, making sure the ERG priorities are leading up into that strategy, whether you're looking at marketplace, workforce, or community engagement, whatever the priority is for you as an organization, and how the ERGs can really support that work. Because if those connections are intentionally being made, you can absolutely see how ERGs become true champions, partners and activators of the broader DEI strategy, which is really incredible when all of those things come together and work well together.

What are the most challenging aspects of managing ERGs?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you for sharing your best practices. So let's change topics and talk about challenges. What are the most challenging aspects of managing ERGs across the globe and in general? Let's start in the Americas, and start with Katie first.

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): That's a great question. I think Sarah has already alluded to it a little bit in her previous response. For us, recently, within the last, let's say, four years or so, managing, advocating, supporting, being as empathetic as possible during some really heavy moments, we've worked through collectively some really heavy times in the US, in our world, and as I mentioned earlier, one of those ERG superpowers is that they're sort of that first stopping point. Often, when folks are feeling that heaviness, feeling really unsure about what's happening in the world, if a specific community is being impacted in a negative way, we'll often see our ERG members come to our ERG leaders first, or come to their leadership teams first, to say this is hard, this is heavy, I'm carrying this with me outside of work, but I can't just leave that burden at the door when I come into work. So how are we talking about that inside the organization? How are we supporting our people? I think one of the challenges we see is that our leaders carry that heaviness. They often carry those emotions of all of our members, of the folks working in our organization, and coming to work with those feelings sort of inside of them and experiencing them around them. So I think having that transparent line of communication is critical.

Our ERG leaders know that our team is here, and that our team is going to go to any senior leader we have to have the next conversation, to talk about how our people are feeling. We're going to share that feeling, we're going to talk about what that means for us internally, how we address that internally, how we move through those moments, and can we bring senior leaders into conversations with our ERG leaders and members to share their perspective.

I know some of our ERGs feel like sometimes we don't move fast enough, sometimes we don't say something quickly enough. There's so much happening on the backend, so many other conversations happening, that I think we're the middle humans, able to share with them, here's what's going on in the background, and know that we're working through all of these things, because there's so much that comes when something feels really hard.

So how are we supporting not only our leaders, how are we supporting our members, but how are we also continuing to push ourselves forward on our collective DEI journey across Molson Coors, is something I think we work through on a pretty regular basis, because things happen in our world that we need to work through regularly. We might not always get it right, and we recognize that, but I think what matters to us is that we own the moment when it happens, we talk and move through it together, and we recognize that we're on this journey. So while we may not get it right one time, we're absolutely learning from those moments and taking those learnings into where we go next with this conversation.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you, Katie. Sarah, would you like to build upon that as well?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, Katie has just really articulated brilliantly what I think the challenge is, not just for the Americas but globally, in my experience, not just at Molson Coors but in other organizations as well. She also touched on one of the things I think is important in terms of how we manage to overcome those challenges, and that's education. Making sure everybody feels they have a voice, that we're actively listening, that we want to help and that we can help. Education is so important, and that's when ERGs can really come into their own. For me, the sharing of personal stories, the sharing of experiences, is incredibly powerful. They really help us all make sense of the world, they help us connect with people, they give us that emotional connection, even with people who are different from us. In telling those stories and sharing those experiences, and having those open, honest, safe conversations, it can really help connect us, help us find common ground in our differences.

How to keep ERG members and leaders engaged?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you, Sarah. Now, changing topics to engagement: how do you keep ERG leaders and ERG members engaged? Katie, would you like to go first?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): Sure. I think what's really great about our US ERGs, how they've morphed and developed over time, is they really have quite a bit of autonomy to define what engagement looks like based on their location. I can't tell our team members who sit in Albany, Georgia what feels right, what appeals to them, what engages them, what excites them about getting involved with an ERG, because I don't sit there, I sit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. So I think it's an opportunity for us to let the ERGs have that autonomy to make those decisions based on what feels good and right for folks in their various spaces. I think it's something we collectively do. It could be a volunteer event because that feels really great, it could be attending a festival together, we have food truck events that happen. We really leave it up to those individual ERGs to say this is what feels good for us.

In the US, we try to do a monthly cadence of meetings within the leadership team, so we bring our leaders together regularly to share broader organizational updates, things happening from the DEI team, events taking place that we want them to know about and share with their members. It's also an opportunity for us to bring in folks to talk about what's happening in other functions within the organization. It also, which I love, brings each of those group leaders together on a regular cadence to talk about what's happening across groups.

So when we think about engagement, we think about collaboration, intersectionality. Sarah mentioned the importance of intersectional conversations earlier. So how are we making sure we not only have that autonomy, but we can see what everybody else is doing? If our Black ERG, BEV, is doing something, and our LGBTQ+ ERG, LAGER, is doing something, those things can come together and coincide. How powerful is it to see those moments happen. So we're really focused on trying to focus as much as we can on collaboration, while also giving folks the freedom to determine what makes the most sense and feels right for their specific location.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And Sarah, would you like to build on that?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I think people feel engaged when they feel valued, when they can see how they're contributing to the success of an organization. ERGs can help in terms of the success of our organization, and they should, they can really drive your DEI strategy, and your DEI strategy should be really closely linked with your business strategy. So showing them how they're adding value is really important. We've talked about the importance of senior level commitment, and if you have that commitment, then the leaders of the various ERGs get visibility, they get exposure across the whole of the organization, beyond their part of the business. They get the personal and professional development they might not otherwise have had access to, and that in itself can be very engaging for people who sit on the leadership committees of the ERGs.

And in terms of the members of the various ERGs, demonstrating what the organization is doing as a result of the conversations they're having can also be very powerful. How are they, as members, contributing to changes in culture, changes in policy or process, contributing overall to the success of the organization? When they can feel and see the contribution they're making, that's really going to drive engagement. It's going to make them feel like they're making a difference, and ultimately that's going to make them more engaged in the future, want them to continue with that.

How do ERG members respond to events and initiatives based on their location?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Absolutely. And are there any insights comparing the Americas and Europe as to how members respond to particular events and initiatives based on their location?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): I think, yes. In Europe, we're spread across a number of countries, and what might be important in some of those countries is different at any one time. And I think the employee base will respond to very different things too. For some members of our employee community, free pizza means everything, whereas for others they're not interested in free pizza, they want to see that something has really changed.

For our We Are Proud group, our LGBTQ+ ERG in Western Europe, the very simple thing of having a Pride flag flying during Pride Month was a first for us. We had it outside our breweries, we had it outside our main UK office, and that was a really defining moment for that group. They could see they'd made a difference, and yes, there was some merch, yes, people got lanyards, but the one thing everybody in that group was talking about was the flag flying, and actually that flag is still flying, because as a business we saw how important it was to that group, not just for Pride Month but for the whole 365 days a year.

So yeah, I think people will respond to things differently depending on where they sit in the organization, whether that's physical location or the function they sit in, and what's important to them as a group at that time depends on what else is going on in the world.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): And Katie, would you like to build on that?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): I'd echo everything Sarah said. I mentioned a little earlier, we've had the opportunity to really empower our groups to say, this is what feels right for this group, at this time, in this location. We've seen groups in our brewery locations, which run on a three-shift schedule, recognize that we need to be present to celebrate a moment.

Our Latino Hispanic ERG, Salud, did an event for Dia de los Muertos at the end of October, and they were actually in our brewery here in Milwaukee at 6 o'clock in the morning for shift change, at 2 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon for shift change, and then at 11 o'clock at night for shift change. They recognized it looks different, and that celebration happened very differently at our corporate location, which is literally just up the hill, where there was a brunch, or a celebration, whatever the case may be.

So I think it's understanding that different things resonate differently. It could be a free treat, a free cup of coffee on your way into work, it could be swag that you get to wear to show your pride, but the example of the Pride flag, I've seen that in my previous organization as well. Really having the ability to show that support and that level of love and humanity for people inside our organization goes such a long way for folks to feel like they truly belong and are safe in our spaces, which is really overwhelming in such a powerful way to see happen in the moment.

How are ERG leaders supported and recognized for their work?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. I loved hearing the story about the flag. How are ERG leaders supported and recognized for their work? Sarah, would you like to go first?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): I've worked in a number of organizations, and the way organizations reward their leaders varies. Sometimes it's financial incentives or rewards. In Europe, at the moment, it's very much through the visibility and exposure they're gaining. This year we'll be building a specific goal into the goals for ERG leaders, so it can be demonstrated through the performance process. That visibility they're getting, the access to different opportunities, each of our ERG leads sits on our Western Europe DEI Council, which is chaired by our Managing Director and has senior representation from across all business functions.

So we have ERG leaders who have never met the Managing Director, yet here they are really challenging him, and I think a really lovely thing about our DEI Council is that there's no hierarchy once you get into that meeting, we're all on an equal footing. They can really challenge him, they can tell him he's wrong, or ask him to make changes, and he really listens to them. That exposure, that kind of personal development, is a huge reward, a huge benefit for all of our ERG leaders, as well as just getting them exposure to different parts of the business, learning how our financial processes work, how you navigate the logistics of an organization. It's again a huge development opportunity for some of our ERG leaders.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you. And Katie, would you like to build upon that?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): Absolutely. Everything Sarah just said, 100,000%. Also for the US groups and our leaders, back in late '22 into '23, we really focused on how we're thanking and recognizing our ERG leaders, not just from a recognition perspective but also a retention perspective. We think about the leaders in these ERG leadership roles, we know they're engaged in this DEI work, we know they're passionate about the specific community they're representing in their ERG leadership role, and we know they care a whole lot about Molson Coors, which is pretty amazing. So we want them to stick around, we want to keep growing them and see them flourish inside our organization.

So in 2023, we rolled out an expanded recognition package for our US ERG leaders. There's a financial component: as we started benchmarking, we saw a lot of organizations stepping into the space of financially compensating their ERG leaders in some way, because, as Sarah mentioned earlier, this is a job on top of a job in many ways. So we've gone the path of providing a restricted stock unit grant for our ERG national leaders, and some of our chapter leaders and committee leaders are also eligible to be nominated for a grant on an annual basis.

We've also focused on offering professional development opportunities. We have so many associations, conferences, and things that pop up through our community relations team and our talent acquisition team on an annual basis, so it's a cool opportunity to take advantage of some of those seats and invite our ERG leaders to participate, so not just professional development but also that personal development component.

The other thing we did, and Sarah mentioned this a bit on the visibility of senior leaders: my personal belief is that one of the most amazing parts of an ERG leader role is that cross-functional visibility, especially at the highest levels within an organization, that you normally wouldn't get, like sitting down and having a conversation with your CEO or your CFO. Our ERG leaders have that chance, which is really cool. This past year, we started having each ERG national leader have an annual meeting with our CEO and CHRO. They actually sit down with both of them and share more about what their group has been up to, what some of their proudest moments are, what their why is, why they're doing this work, why they're engaged as a leader in the ERG.

I had the incredible honor of sitting in on those conversations, and they were just so powerful. The amount of feedback we got back from everybody who participated was how thankful and grateful they were for the chance to get to know each other, not in an overwhelmingly scary way, but in a very human way. It was a pretty cool thing, so we're going to morph it a bit for this year, 2024, but we're going to keep doing it because we got such great feedback about that process. So those are some of the things we've instituted recently to help continue to support our ERG leaders and recognize them for all the amazing work they're doing.

What impact have the ERG programs had on employee experience and workplace culture?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): That's a fantastic process, thank you. So let's move on to employee experience. What impact have the ERG programs had on employee experience and workplace culture? I know you may have touched on some of these earlier. Sarah, would you like to go first?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I think one of the brilliant things about ERGs is that while they're there for their members and do a phenomenal amount for their members, their activity actually touches everybody in the organization, whether they're members of an ERG or not. They're really uniquely positioned to be a voice across the whole organization. They're phenomenal at providing learning experiences and awareness events, and they really help create a forum where everybody can engage and learn, and ultimately everybody benefits from that. So the benefits to employees go beyond membership of the ERG. I'd say they also provide a really safe space, a sense of belonging for people. They provide a space for people to connect and engage with others who have similar life experiences. And if you have really highly functioning ERGs, they're going to boost employee retention and recruitment, Katie's already alluded to that. They're going to drive innovation, ultimately impact profitability, help connect an organization to its customers and consumers, provide insight, identify growth opportunities, and all of those things ultimately are going to be positive for the employee experience and for the overall workplace culture.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Absolutely. And Katie, do you have any comments to add to that?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): Yeah, I think Sarah has shared some of my key pieces, that safe space, a community within a community inside our organization, really providing us collectively with an environment and a safe space to understand the lived experiences of others, while also building your personal and professional network across the globe. The fact that between Sarah and I, we were able to connect humans who live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Chicago, Illinois, and humans who live in London together to learn from one another, how amazing is that. We would have never met each other. Sarah and I have never actually physically met each other in person, but it's just such a powerful way to expand your network and get to know people and their lives in very different and meaningful ways.

It's really powerful to see these moments come to life. Much of the work in DEI, we talk about it being a marathon, not a sprint. It's slow and steady, sometimes progress doesn't happen as quickly as we might want, just by the nature of the work. So when we see those small moments, I'm a really big fan of celebrating the little wins and the big wins, those aha moments or moments of connection happening across all dimensions of diversity through something our ERGs have created and set in motion. It really sparks this loveliness in our people, and encourages all of us to be much more intentional with our words, our thoughts and our actions, and honestly, we really hope this makes a positive impact on us in the workplace and our workplace culture. We're seeing that, and we also hope it trickles out into the world around us. It's so important that we all feel it here, but it's also important for us to take what we're feeling here and hopefully spread that love to everybody around us when we're out moving around the world outside the walls of our organization as well.

Concluding thoughts to share with the DEI community members across the globe?

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Definitely. And are there any concluding thoughts you'd like to share with the DEI community members across the globe? Sarah, would you like to go first?

Sarah Winship (Molson Coors): Yeah, I think the final point I'd make is around the impact ERGs can have on any business. They can be real, true partners in activating a DEI strategy, and as I've already said, if your DEI strategy is part of your business strategy, which it absolutely should be, then their value is immense. I often think of them as a small army marching behind me. My successes are their successes, and I often stand on their shoulders. At a time when resources are stretched and the DEI professional community is facing significant challenges, I think ERGs are more important than they've ever been in helping us forge those inclusive communities and make the world a better place.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Absolutely. Thank you. And then Katie, do you have any final comments?

Katie Wesner (Molson Coors): What I love about this work, that it's an honor and a privilege to do every day, is that collectively, our ERG members, leaders, and our DEI teams, the small and mighty DEI teams, are true change makers. We're really focused on how we can transform our cultures to be more inclusive and to be places where everyone truly belongs, and I echo Sarah's sentiments wholeheartedly, because I often refer to our ERGs as the right arm of our team. There are so many things we're able to accomplish because they're willing, and have the brave and courageous space to stand up and ask why, or ask why not, and truly challenge us as an organization to say, yes, we may have been doing that forever, but why do we keep doing it that way, maybe there's a better way for us to do that work now.

Watching that happen, and being a participant in that work, has just been, gosh, such an amazing, beautiful time, while challenging, absolutely. We have a lot of headwinds in this space right now, and have for years, and I don't think that's going to change anytime soon. We recognize that, and I think we're all overwhelmingly committed to standing beside each other and working through those overwhelming moments together, because we already have, and it's really a powerful time to see us all continuing to do that, and stand up in spaces that get really heavy and really hard, and do it all together.

Viktoria Nevska (Teleskope): Thank you so much. Thank you, Katie, thank you, Sarah, for participating in our panel discussion. Thank you to our viewers as well. I hope everyone has a great day.

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