Companies across the commonwealth are struggling to find enough workers to meet their labor demands, a pre-pandemic labor problem that came home to roost when COVID-19 shook up the economy. In addition to seeking employees to fill those vacancies, many large firms are leaning farther into strategies to diversify their workforces and retain and develop their current employees.

Having a diverse workforce makes good business sense: Research shows that companies in the top quartile for gender or racial and ethnic diversity are 35% more likely to have financial returns above their respective industry medians. Diversity fosters innovation and creativity through a greater variety of problem-solving approaches, perspectives and ideas, according to a diversity study by global management consultant firm McKinsey & Co.

Many Kentucky companies from various industry sectors are implementing and utilizing employee resource groups (ERGs) to help meet their diversity and inclusion goals.

Employee-led and driven network resource groups (NRG), as they’re called at Humana, provide a sense of belonging and community, while fostering inclusion across the company, said Tyson Bauer, diversity and inclusion lead at the global health care company headquartered in Louisville.

Read full article by Lorie Hailey in the Lane Report.