Best Practice of the Month: Measure and Publicize the Impact of Employee Network

Many companies track intermediate measures, such as the number of hours Employee Network members volunteer for community projects, the number of members who attend network events, evaluation of development programmes offered to members through the networks. But measuring and publicizing the impact networks have on the business can go a long way to ensuring future support for the networks and giving them the tools to make more of a difference to the organisation. 

Measures that represent the impact of Employee Networks  on the business might include:

• Number of employees hired through Network participation in recruiting or outreach
• Percent of Network members promoted
• Percent of participants in Network-sponsored mentoring or development programmes who are promoted
• Improvement in academic performance of students mentored by Network members
• Revenue from products developed with the help of Network members
• Retention rates over time of Network members
• Improvement in offer acceptance rate for job candidates who meet with Network members

For more on getting the most out of employee networks, see ORC's Best Practice Guide, Cultivating Grassroots: Managing Employee Affinity Groups

NOTE: ORC's Mary Martinez will be discussing the latest developments in managing and leveraging employee networks at the World Diversity Leadership Summit in Washington, DC on September 16.