How Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) can change an organization

How a casual chat room grew into an ERG program

Employee resource groups (ERGs) serve several purposes inside a company: they build community, give underrepresented employees a support network, and push organizational change. They also contribute to a healthier culture and help an organization become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive. The way ERGs develop often mirrors their grassroots nature—they start small and grow into something more formalized as employees find shared interests and momentum.

That was certainly the case at Cloudflare. The company's first ERG, Proudflare, began in 2017 after an employee searched “LGBTQ” in company chat and found a room of about a dozen people. After organizing an informal meet-and-greet, the group decided to make things official and picked a name. Proudflare became the first formal employee resource group at Cloudflare, focused on supporting LGBTQIA+ employees and allies.

Since then, employees have founded fifteen additional ERGs. Afroflare came next in 2017, and Flarability, the accessibility ERG, is the most recent addition. Each group focuses on community, celebration of diversity, career development, and education for the broader company. While each serves a different community, they share a common framework: education, celebration, and inclusion. These pillars guide their work and help them advocate for change at the organizational level.

Defining an ERG and how they are structured

At Cloudflare, an ERG is defined as an employee-led, company-supported group of underrepresented or marginalized employees, or employees focused on corporate social responsibility initiatives. Members come together based on shared characteristics, life experiences, or goals. The groups aim to create a sense of community, support career growth, and help build a more inclusive culture.

ERG leadership is volunteer-based and includes roles such as global leaders, regional leads, initiative leads, communications leads, and executive advocates. To coordinate efforts across groups, all ERG leaders and inclusion workshop facilitators participate in an Inclusion Council. This council acts as a steering committee for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) topics, meeting monthly in rotating time zones to include leaders from different regions. Many successful partnerships between ERGs have emerged from these meetings, including collaborations between Womenflare and Afroflare, Asianflare and Desiflare, and Mindflare and Proudflare.

Executive advocates play an important role in amplifying ERG efforts. They meet regularly with ERG leaders, review communications, and push for ERG priorities at the executive level. A notable example is Cloudflare’s CTO, John Graham-Cumming, who works closely with Womenflare. He meets with members to understand their experiences, shares company updates, and works with the group’s leaders every two weeks on initiatives and potential roadblocks.

The organizational impact of ERGs

ERGs create community and belonging through regular conversations and connection opportunities. But their influence goes well beyond internal support. They also run initiatives tied to cultural recognition moments like Women’s Empowerment Month, Black History Month, and Hispanic Heritage Month. These efforts can take the form of DEI discussions, company-wide presentations, blog posts, social media campaigns, and even advisory input on decisions such as benefits packages and office accessibility.

By producing these opportunities, ERGs help attract allies, educate employees about systemic barriers to DEI, and make the workplace more welcoming overall. They function as grassroots movements inside the company and have a measurable effect on how the organization approaches inclusivity. Their work also extends to internal programming that helps teams make better, more equitable decisions.

A snapshot of Cloudflare’s ERGs today

The current set of Cloudflare ERGs covers a wide range of communities and interests. Below are the mission statements of each group.

Afroflare

Our mission is to help build a better Global Afro-community at Cloudflare and beyond. We support each other's growth, share our community’s stories, and help to make Cloudflare a more diverse and inclusive company.

Asianflare

We provide a supportive environment for all employees of Asian and Pacific Islander heritage, work to create more awareness of the struggles our community has faced and continues to face today, and celebrate our rich shared cultures.

Cloudflarents

We provide community and resources for parents and families, and welcome allies, people who are interested in becoming a parent, or who are family-oriented.

Desiflare

We foster networking and build a sense of community amongst Cloudflare employees using the rich South Asian culture as a platform to bring people together.

Flarability

We curate and share resources about disabilities, provide a community space for those with disabilities and our allies to find support and thrive, and encourage and guide Cloudflare’s accessibility programs.

Greencloud: Sustainability Group

Greencloud is a sustainability-focused working group made up of Cloudflare employees who are passionate about the environment and addressing the climate crisis.

Judeoflare

We provide a forum for the Jewish people of Cloudflare where we support each other and celebrate our shared heritage.

Latinflare

The mission of Latinflare is to help create a more diverse workplace, create a sense of community + belonging for Latinx employees, and connect with the communities where we work.

Mindflare

We provide the Cloudflare community resources around mental health, as well as increase awareness and destigmatize mental health more broadly throughout our communities.

Nativeflare

With a shared goal of education, we recognize the heritage and cultural presence of Native American employees at Cloudflare and illuminate the historical impact of policies and racism that continue to fuel prejudice and injustice, even to this day.

Proudflare

Our mission is to Educate and Celebrate, Globally! We find ways to support and provide resources for the LGBTQIA+ community and make sure that the Cloudflare community is a welcoming, inclusive place for all.

Soberflare

Ensure the Cloudflare community is welcoming and inclusive to those abstaining from alcohol and/or drug use by increasing awareness and destigmatizing the decision to choose sobriety.

Vetflare

We encourage the recruitment and retention of veterans of military service from any military around the world. We also provide a supportive environment and community space for those who have served to network.

Women in Engineering

Our mission is supporting women's professional development and success within Cloudflare.

Women in Sales

Our mission is to provide community experience and resources to help women in our sales organization to grow professionally and support each other collectively.

Womenflare

Womenflare's mission is to create a community where all who identify as women feel supported and represented at Cloudflare.