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Frontline Employee Engagement with ERGs

Join Joshua Dantzler, Sr. Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Specialist at Amtrak, and moderator Priyanka Gujar, Sr. Manager, Marketing at Teleskope, as they explore how Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) can effectively engage frontline employees.

Topics and Speakers

This webinar covers:

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  • Frontline employee engagement strategies at Amtrak

  • ERG structure and management within the Amtrak team

  • Planning and executing ERG events and activities

  • Challenges and solutions for engaging frontline employees

  • Key insights and takeaways for diversity managers

 

Speakers:

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Synopsis

Frontline employees, the roughly 83% of Amtrak's workforce covered by collective bargaining agreements, don't sit at a desk, don't always have company email, and don't work a nine-to-five schedule. That gap shapes almost everything about how Amtrak has built its two-year-old ERG program, and it's the focus of this conversation with Joshua Dantzler, Senior Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Specialist at Amtrak.

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Dantzler traces the program's roots to 2020 listening sessions and engagement survey results that pointed to a clear desire for connection and voice across both corporate and frontline employees. Seven ERGs launched in 2021, with an eighth added in 2022, and roughly 8% of Amtrak's 20,000-plus workforce now participates. Each ERG runs on a consistent leadership structure, a small set of core positions supported by committees, with executive sponsorship coming directly from Amtrak's senior leadership team.

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A recurring theme is meeting frontline employees where they already are, literally and logistically. Amtrak introduces ERGs during New Employee Orientation so awareness starts on day one, and it leans on Teleskope's platform to remove access barriers that disproportionately affect frontline staff, including a way to check into and RSVP for events without a company email address. Dantzler walks through two concrete wins from that approach: a Juneteenth program run across multiple agreement worksite locations in hybrid format, and a series of Pride barbecues that served hundreds of employees at agreement facilities in Washington, D.C. and Chicago.

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The conversation is candid about what's still hard. Scheduling around shift work remains a real constraint, and Dantzler frames early, consistent communication with day managers and supervisors, not a single fix, as the main lever Amtrak has found for creating flexibility. Looking ahead, he expects ERG participation to double within five years, with a specific focus on growing active leadership roles among frontline employees themselves, including leaders who came up through frontline positions before moving into ERG chair roles.

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Dantzler closes with advice for other diversity managers starting this work: lead with communication, use existing company touchpoints and platforms rather than building new ones from scratch, stay visible, and treat the whole effort as trial and error rather than something to get perfect on the first attempt.

Key Takeaways

  • Define "frontline" concretely for your organization (agreement-covered, non-desk, shift-based roles) since their access, schedule, and communication needs differ fundamentally from corporate employees.

  • Use onboarding moments like New Employee Orientation to introduce ERGs from day one, so employees arrive already aware before their first ERG event.

  • Give every ERG a consistent leadership structure (core leadership roles plus committees) and pair it with executive sponsorship from senior leadership to give the program weight.

  • Remove access barriers with purpose-built technology, like non-email check-in and RSVP options, so employees without regular device or email access can still participate.

  • Meet frontline employees at their actual worksites, in hybrid or multi-location formats, rather than expecting them to travel to a central event.

  • Build in early, recurring communication with day managers and supervisors so ERG events get real scheduling flexibility, not just goodwill.

Introduction

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Hello everyone! Thank you for joining Teleskope's webinar on Frontline Employee Engagement with ERGs. I'm Priyanka Gujar, and I lead Marketing at Teleskope. Teleskope is an Employee Community platform, and it enables Employee Resource Group management, mentoring, employee communication and a lot more. Today we have with us Joshua Dantzler from Amtrak. Thank you, Joshua, for taking time out for this webinar, and if you could just give us a quick introduction.

Panelist introduction

Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Yes, thank you, Priyanka. Hello, everyone! My name is Joshua Dantzler. My pronouns are he/him and his, and I'm the Senior Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging Specialist here at Amtrak.

Defining Frontline Employees

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Awesome. Thank you. So, to begin with, the topic is Frontline Employee Engagement with ERGs. So, just to understand, what do you mean by frontline employees at Amtrak? How are they different from corporate employees? What percentage of the workforce are frontline employees? And also, do they have specific challenges when it comes to inclusion and belonging? If you could just shed some light on that, Joshua.

 

Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Happy to. So, as you mentioned, what are frontline employees at Amtrak, they're also known as our agreement-covered employees, and those agreement-covered employees are a group of folks who are covered and governed by collective bargaining agreements. Examples of these folks could be Assistant Passenger Conductors, coach cleaners, service attendants, redcap employees, employees who handle our baggage, and of course ticket agents and so on. So these folks, again, are covered by collective bargaining agreements, and they work on our frontline, engaging with our clients and our customers, engaging with our communities.

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At the end of last year, we were able to see that our agreement employees represented about 83% of our workforce, so a majority of our workforce. We employ over 20,000 folks, so it's a big percentage of our workforce, 83%, that's agreement employees. With this subset of employees in our workforce, they aren't tethered to an office like myself, or tethered to a nine-to-five kind of schedule. They don't have access to being on computers all day or on devices, and they're really working to help move our people where they want to go, and connecting folks to communities.

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So with that in mind, duty does call. When we think about challenges with respect to inclusion and belonging, oftentimes their hours, their shifts, and some requirements don't always allow them the flexibility or the opportunity to participate in some of our programs and initiatives. But we're working on that, and happy to share a little more later in this webinar.

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at Amtrak

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Thank you, Joshua. So the second part of the topic, which is Employee Resource Groups. Now that I understand 83% of your workforce is frontline employees, your Employee Resource Groups are for your frontline employees. So could you let us know how the journey of Amtrak began with respect to Employee Resource Groups? A brief overview of the ERGs, that would be great.

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Yes, and I love talking about ERGs, our Employee Resource Groups are near and dear to my heart. I get to manage them, and I love the work they do to really connect, contribute, and build community throughout our company. You're right, we're on a journey. We've been on this journey since 2020, and we knew, as a result of listening sessions that took place then, and Employee Engagement Surveys that went out, and the result of what was happening in the world, that we needed to implement Employee Resource Groups, to really have these groups started and established, so employees could connect, contribute and build community.

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We knew from those results, and from those surveys and that feedback, not just corporate but agreement too, that there was a desire for a more connected and collaborative workforce, a desire for inclusivity, and a desire for allowing voices to be heard. Our ERGs do that. They're all voluntary, for employees, by employees, led by employee teams, which I'll speak about a bit later, but they're so great, and they're growing.

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We started the first seven in 2021, and then added another one in 2022. So in this two-year span, 8% of our workforce is comprised of Employee Resource Group members, from the east to the west, to the northeast, down south, really doing meaningful work to build community.

Engaging with Frontline Employees with Employee Resource Groups (ERGs)

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Yeah, that's great, and it's been about two years since you started your ERG journey, right? So how did you all get the word out for Employee Resource Groups in the company? How did frontline employees know about what would happen and how they could be involved?

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): So, a strong partnership with our communications function at Amtrak. A lot of communications, but also being able to leverage existing programs like New Employee Orientation. All new employees go through a New Employee Orientation, and it's great to be able to use that to give a first introduction to ERGs at Amtrak, a first introduction to our programs and what takes place, so folks can find out about it, know about it, and get excited about it.

 

Once they're excited and know what's happening, when we retell them about the event or introduce a new event or initiative, they'll already know about it, and they'll already think, hey, I heard about this in orientation, and now I actually get to see one of these events, or one of these ERGs putting on something I could be part of and participate in.

 

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): That's awesome. So they join the workforce, they know about ERGs, and that's where they're already engaged from the start.​​

ERG Management: Amtrak Team Structure

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): The next question is about the team that manages Employee Resource Groups. We understand it's about 20,000 employees, so what kind of team takes care of the ins and outs of managing the events? You mentioned ERG leads are voluntary positions, but what about the DEI team and that kind of structure? What are we looking at in terms of team structure?

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Yep. So I'll start first with the Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging team. We're a small but mighty team of passionate professionals, led by Georgette Butcher, who's the Director of Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at Amtrak. She reports to Jody Moore, who's the Senior Director of Inclusion and Culture. On Georgette's immediate team, the team I sit on, there's myself, who manages our ERGs, and then we have two managers, and a specialist who supports not only our team but also Employee Engagement.

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Thinking about our ERGs, specifically how they manage and lead themselves, they're comprised of six leadership positions. We knew it would be great to have six strong, core positions to lead these ERGs: a Chair, a Co-Chair, a Vice Chair, a Communications Coordinator, a Treasurer, a Membership Coordinator, and an Event Coordinator. Those folks have committees to support them and the work they do, but the leadership team positions are those. And each ERG is sponsored by executive sponsors, who are members of our Executive Leadership Team or our Senior Leadership Team, our ELT and SLT. So we have folks all the way from our CEO to our CFO, or our Chief Human Resources Officer, who are executive sponsors to our ERGs and their leadership teams.

Tool & Technology: Employee Resource Group (ERG) Management Software

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): That sounds great. It's really a solid structure you have there. And I was wondering, do you have tools and technology you've used, because frontline employees, connecting with them would be more challenging than just connecting with employees in specific office locations, right? So how did you all navigate those waters?

 

Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): So, you mentioned earlier we're on a journey, and some things became clear to us along the way. One of those was the administrative burden that comes with managing and leading ERGs. We shared earlier that they're voluntary at Amtrak, independent of any department. So with that voluntary role, how could we help alleviate those burdens, those pain points of managing ERGs?

 

So we procured Teleskope, and we're so happy that we did. We procured it this year, in April, after going through the RFP process and a full integration, and we were able to launch our ERG platform through Teleskope. We've been able to see real benefits already, even in the short months we've had it. We're able to see an increase in membership and engagement from our employees because of the benefits, specifically around not having to rely on emails. We know that a lot of our frontline employees often don't have email or access to email, so they're able to use a dummy email feature that Teleskope provides, so they can still check into an event, still RSVP to something, still see what's going on. That awareness can then translate to participation, which translates to engagement. So having sourced and procured Teleskope has been a really good advantage for us, and we look forward to continuing to use it in the years to come, now that we have this tool and technology at our fingertips.

Examples of Frontline Employee Engagement using ERGs at Amtrak

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Yeah, that's great. Thanks, Joshua. So I was wondering if, you've had ERG events, engagements, or initiatives this year, maybe some success stories that really stood out in connecting with frontline employees?

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Two come to mind right away, and I'll take us back to June. I said we launched Teleskope back in April, and in June we were able to see that impact right there. We have a lot of Heritage and History months that happen throughout the year, particularly around the summer, which is a busy time for us at Amtrak, as I imagine for many of you too.

 

Two events we saw a great impact from: one was Juneteenth, our APR, which is our Black and African American and Allies Employee Resource Group, was able to host their third Juneteenth program. What was different this year was that it took place at different agreement worksite locations, in addition to being hybrid, so we were able to see participation by meeting folks where they are. So wherever those frontline employees are, we met them there. We were able to have food, we were able to showcase on screen what was taking place virtually, so they could participate in a hybrid fashion. Having that happen throughout our worksites and throughout the network was really great.

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The second one that comes to mind is our Pride event. Our Express Pride, which is our LGBTQIA+ Employee Resource Group and allies, was able to partner with other Amtrak internal partners to sponsor Pride events that took place in both Washington, D.C. and Chicago, Illinois. We were able to have a pre-Pride party, so the group had "Prarbeques," Pride barbeques, where they were able to serve over 300 employees at both agreement facilities, and talk about Pride, showcase the events taking place those particular weekends, introduce them, showcase themselves and the group as a resource for those employees, to bring visibility. Visibility is so important, and it's important for those employees to know that other employees identify with them, can identify with them, support them, or are allies to them. It was great to grill some hot dogs, grill some hamburgers, grill some veggie dogs, and have folks partake in that experience, meeting them again where they are.

Challenges and solutions of engaging with Frontline Employees

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Yeah, that sounds like fun, and you mentioned frontline employees have long work hours. 

So this is kind of like an oasis for them to actually connect with each other as well. One of the challenges you mentioned in the first few questions was just getting that time on their calendar, right, because they work different hours sometimes. So I'm just wondering, how is Amtrak navigating that challenge?

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): You know, it is a challenge, and we're constantly looking at solutions to it. One solution we've seen is communication. It's so important that we're able to communicate with their day managers, their supervisors, early and often. That communication is something we've been trying to model and do. Thanks to Teleskope, we're able to see real insight through our Global Feed calendar of what's happening, what's going on, whether initiatives are taking place, maybe not in the next week or two, but maybe in the next month or two.

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So we're getting into that habit and routine, having communication with those managers, with those supervisors, with our Labor Relations team, really giving them insight and awareness, so they can provide their employees flexibility, understanding and availability when they can. Of course, it's not going to be the only solution, and it's not a one-and-done approach, we're continuing to look at other short and long-term solutions from a policy standpoint too. But we do know that communication has served us well, being able to talk to those day managers and be in community with them, letting them know things that are taking place early and often.

Future of Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) at Amtrak

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): Yeah, that makes sense. And I just wanted to understand from you, it's been two years since your ERG program began, but what does it look like for the future, and what kind of impact are you looking to create with the power of Employee Resource Groups?

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): So much. We're looking forward to the future. I get excited thinking about the growth that's already taken place these past two years, and the growth I know will take place. We mentioned at the top of the call that 8% of our workforce is part of ERGs. In the next five years, that's going to double, without a doubt. My main focus isn't just about increasing participation, because participation is important, but increasing active participation. That's something that's near and dear to my heart, how we can not only have them involved but also active.

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Our ERG leadership team positions are open to all employees. Our only requirement is that you're in good standing with the company. It doesn't matter if you're a Senior Director or a Station Manager, you can be a leader within our ERGs. Specifically, Phil Martin served for the past two years as an Assistant Passenger Conductor, which is a frontline employee position. Phil has since transitioned to now training Assistant Passenger Conductors, but Phil is our Chair for our Employees with Disabilities ERG. So we've had participation from a leadership team standpoint from leaders who are frontline, and I want to see that increase. I want to see those leadership positions increase. I want to see more from our employees, not just becoming members of our ERGs but taking on leadership positions, driving and supporting initiatives.

 

And I know that once they're active in our ERGs and engaged with our ERGs, that will translate to being active and engaged in their day job, and active and engaged at Amtrak, a place where they not only want to stay but also grow their career.

Insights for Diversity Managers

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): That really sounds truly inclusive, the way you've structured and involved everybody. So I just wanted to know if there are some last thoughts you want to leave our viewers with, especially diversity managers like yourself, some pointers from what you've learned at Amtrak.

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Yes, I really want to re-emphasize the importance of communication. Begin that communication now, with your employees, with their day managers, and see what you can do and what can happen with regard to little steps that can include them in your strategy, in your Employee Resource Group initiatives.

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Begin that conversation, but also think about how you can leverage existing things, resources, and platforms that are already occurring. I've shared how we leverage our existing New Employee Orientation, and we've also leveraged other corporate initiatives like our Safety Fairs and our HR Roadshows. So find ways to leverage things to get the word out, to meet people where they are.

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It's so important to be visibly there, to show up, so people can see what you're doing, see the things you're working on. And then keep trying. It's trial and error, and that's what we're doing here at Amtrak. We're trying things, seeing what's working, assessing what we're doing, running feedback surveys, and looking at our metrics, but we're trying, and we know that through trial and error we're going to be able to carry through and get to a great result. So I wish you all well on your journey, and support you as you look at how you can engage with your frontline employees through ERGs.

 

Priyanka Gujar (Teleskope): That's perfect, Joshua, and I'm sure the viewers learned a lot, especially those who are just beginning their journeys, and are really inspired by where Amtrak is and where it's going to be five years from now as well. So thank you once again for sharing your knowledge, as well as taking the time out today.

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Joshua Dantzler (Amtrak): Thank you so much, Priyanka.

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