Employees desired to be connected and engaged through employee network groups – but the missions of these groups were not closely aligned with Delta’s business needs.  In turn, this created a perception of the business highlighting diversity – but not truly valuing it because it lacked a focus on inclusion.

In 2016, Delta transformed its Employee Network Groups to Business Resource Groups. The name change invoked a greater expectation for direct alignment with the business.  While networking of these groups remains a welcomed by-product, employees have turned their focus to being a resource for moving the business forward.

Delta’s BRGs bring together groups of employees who have a common interest or characteristic. All BRGs have an overall mission aligned with Delta’s Flight Plan, the company’s annual business strategy. BRG members are leveraged for their unique knowledge and perspective, making them excellent in-house market research resources. 

Recently, Delta’s Asia-Pacific BRG was a part of the onboard meal service review for flights to Asia, the Working Families BRG developed the recommendations that resulted in an enhancement to Delta’s maternity leave policy and several other BRGs took part in the company’s campus redesign and in-flight entertainment review process.

BRGs also have an eye toward professional development, recruitment, retention and community engagement.  Our current BRGs represent groups aligned with:  disabilities; accessibility; Asian and Pacific Islander employees; Black employees; LGBTQ employees; multigenerational workgroups; Latin American and Hispanic employees; veterans; working families; environmentally-focused employees – and all continue to grow in numbers and engagement.

By promoting inclusion, BRGs provide perspective and help drive strategies and solutions that have a significant impact on Delta people, its customers and the communities we serve.

With a 25% increase in BRG membership in the last year, now topping 12,000 members and with employee engagement scores in the area of diversity and inclusion increasing year over year, more employees feel Delta is inclusive of all people, values individual differences and embraces diverse thinking, people  and styles.

Keyra Lynn Johnson