“Inclusion and diversity of everyone, that’s something we speak to, day in and day out,” says the Corporate Communications Lead at a leading US health insurer.

Data confirms this US health insurer is achieving its goal of inclusion and diversity for all, with the company’s “Pride NRG” Yammer community ranked in the top three of the Most Thriving Communities in SWOOP Analytics’ 2022/23 Viva Engage & Yammer benchmarking analysis.

SWOOP looked at more than 3,200 Viva Engage communities for the in-depth analysis, with the US health insurer’s LGBTQIA+ and Allies resource group – named Pride NRG - coming in at No.3, based on the measures of community performance, energy (sentiment) and growth (activity and members).

The Corporate Communications Lead says the Pride NRG (energy) Viva Engage community has become a place of connection and support, breaking down geographical, departmental and even team barriers across the company’s almost 100,000 employees spread across the US. She said few people who are now connected via this Viva Engage community have ever met face to face, yet many communicate and support each other on a daily basis.

“I know these people don’t work together but I see them popping up, talking, having in-depth conversations about real life things that are occurring,” she said.
“They’re not in the same team, they’re not in the same department, they don’t live in the same state, yet they are friends just by how often and how open they’re willing to communicate and discuss these very sensitive and important topics.
“Honestly, they became friends over these Yammer (Viva Engage) communities.”

While the topics discussed in the Pride NRG Viva Engage community may not always be specifically work-related, the Corporate Communications Lead spoke of the importance of giving every employee a voice, and a platform to use that voice.

“Diversity and inclusion is definitely a highlight of what (we) do,” she said.

“We want people to bring your whole self to work. If people are happy in their work, that gives them the motivation and drive to want to keep going to work, to have that friendship and camaraderie amongst each other.”

Far from just a social group

That’s not to say the Pride NRG community is just a social network. Far from it. The community is one of 10 NRG (energy) resource groups on the company’s Viva Engage network. The goal of the community is to create unity across the LGBTQIA+ and Allies groups by sharing information and knowledge, especially on how to be a better LGBTQIA+ ally.

In June 2022, the health insurer celebrated Pride Month and tapped into the Viva Engage community with guest speakers, events and competitions. Pride Month activities were linked from the intranet back to the Viva Engage community.

“Posts were shared on our Yammer network and linked to all of our different networks and resources to get the word and the message out to more associates on how to be a better ally,” the Corporate Communications Lead said.

“They also recently provided talking guides, things to avoid, things to do, how to be a better ally to each of the different groups.”

An example of a post during Pride Month in the company’s Pride NRG Yammer community.

A thriving community

The period for SWOOP Analytics’ analysis for Thriving Communities was between February to July 2022, which took into account the whole month of June and Pride Month. In measuring energy as part of the analysis, SWOOP looks at both positive and negative sentiment, as our research shows negative sentiment does not always equate to negativity but more so to discuss negative topics.

The Corporate Communications Lead said the members of the Pride NRG community are super supportive of each other, and while most posts are positive, people can also discuss negative topics and receive support from their colleagues.

“All of those members are going to be engaging an uplifting and positive and I think that’s where our sentiment would definitely be higher because they’re all going to be supportive of what is posted on the community,” she said.

The company’s No.2 Most Thriving community identified by SWOOP is a religious group. It’s a great example of the diversity and inclusion across the health insurer’s Viva Engage network.

Acceptable use policy

The Corporate Communications Lead said most people using Viva Engage at the health insurer are associates who are interacting with customers.

“They’re not leaders, they’re not the ones that are making the executive decisions. It’s the people that are interacting and doing the day-to-day work who are using Yammer,” she said.

That’s exactly how the company wants Viva Engage to be used. However, with a network of close to 100,000 people, the company is currently updating an acceptable use policy for clear guidelines about how associates use Viva Engage. With such wide and varied topics up for discussion, the guidelines have become necessary.

“We don’t say; ‘Watch how you state your personal opinions’. We more just say; “This is a professional work environment so just be cautious of what you state online’,” the Corporate Communications Lead said.

“We want people to be themselves, we want people to feel free to interact with who they want to, as long as it’s in a professional manner because this is still a professional setting but we want you to talk about a mix of topics.”

As well as having one of the Most Thriving Viva Engage communities, this US health insurer also took out honours as the No.1 Viva Engage network for large-size organisations (with more than 5,000 active staff) in the Americas in SWOOP’s 2022/23 benchmarking of 97 organisations.