Grass Roots Receives Top 25 ERG Award in 2023 Diversity Impact Awards
nVent's Grass Roots Environment and Sustainability Employee Resource Group (ERG) was recognized as a recipient of the Top 25 ERG Award from the 2023 Diversity Impact Awards™. The Diversity Impact Awards™ is the premier, annual, global award that recognizes, honors and celebrates the outstanding contributions and achievements of organizations that have Employee Resource Groups and Diversity Councils. The award honors groups that lead the diversity, equity and inclusion process within their organizations. The ranking of award recipients will be announced at the Global ERG Network Conference® in October.
Applicants for the award are measured on impact areas that align with the ERG Strategic Impact Model. The impact areas include organizational impact, talent management, culture of inclusion, leadership commitment, measurement and accountability, communication and education and ERG climate. Grass Roots demonstrated its outstanding contributions throughout the application process as an ERG at nVent. As the first ERG at nVent, Grass Roots officially formed in 2019 and has since grown in both size and impact, now representing 343 members and 10 chapters across 18 countries.
In the impact areas of organizational impact, leadership commitment, measurement and accountability, Grass Roots contributed to positive action through the development of a partnership with Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) and Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) leaders at nVent to help create an Environmental Best Practice Assessment Program to train employees, form local chapters and sustainability teams, and identify and execute sustainability projects to improve greenhouse gases emissions, energy, water and waste across nVent. Through the program and partnership, Grass Roots formed 10 sustainability chapters, completed 37 site assessments in 18 countries and identified 205 sustainability improvement projects. They created environmental transformation plan scorecards and dashboards to measure and report on KPIs and developed a strategic roadmap outlining plans and opportunities to enhance culture, build knowledge, share best practices, and increase volunteering and community connection. Leadership commitment to nVent’s Planet Pillar Goals and the ERG’s mission and vision was also integral to the success of the 2022 Grass Roots Plastic-Free Challenge. Leadership support in encouraging participation and effectively communicating and promoting the challenge helped Grass Roots engage over 135 participants globally and take 746 positive actions to reduce plastic waste and increase recycling efforts across nVent.
Grass Roots also demonstrated successful impacts in the areas of talent management, culture of inclusion, and communication and education, working closely with nVent leadership to broadly communicate and promote participation in its strategic plans and activities globally. Grass Roots held 15 learning and volunteering sessions in 2022 to develop member knowledge in sustainability and emissions reduction, including a partnership with two other ERGs (ENCORE and Charting Courses) to bring communities together to network, learn and share ideas about food sustainability, gardening, composting and pollinator support. In addition, Grass Roots started a program of collecting and communicating ESG impact stories to celebrate, spread awareness and inspire change across the business. In 2022, the ERG saw a 25% growth in membership across 18 countries, formed 10 global chapters, expanded ERG leadership opportunities, and saw growth in gender, age and racial diversity amongst its members.
“I am so proud of the passion, engagement, and results coming from our Grass Roots ERG members,” said Lean Engineer and Grass Roots ERG Chair, Erica Ikin. “We are on a mission to improve environmental sustainability and engage our employees as motivated partners in nVent’s green journey. Together we can identify, measure and improve emissions, energy and water consumption and waste generation at each site, leading to meaningful and impactful change across our organization.”