Employee community leader roles & responsibilities

Employee communities rely heavily on their leaders, but how can you structure these teams to be most effective and efficient? This guide offers best practices and recommendations for determining leadership roles and responsibilities for a successful employee community.

Employee communities are fueled by their volunteer leaders – colleagues from across levels and functions who come together around the shared purpose of building belonging. This grassroots work is deeply meaningful, and balancing these responsibilities in addition to busy “day jobs” requires a team of committed, collaborative, and innovative leaders to achieve. This guide offers best practices and recommendations for structuring leadership roles and responsibilities for a successful employee community. Remember that every organization is different, and these roles, duties, and structures may vary based on your team’s size, goals, geographic makeup, reach, and other factors. 

Best practices:

Roles and responsibilities:

Additional considerations:
Many of the roles outlined here can be combined or expanded based on the size, skills, and needs of your leadership team. In addition, subcommittees often form within employee communities to tackle specific tasks, pillars, or projects. You might consider developing subcommittees related to philanthropy and volunteer service, professional development and talent, policy and advocacy, or other initiatives. Each of these subcommittees will need a lead, which may be additional responsibilities of the titles listed above or distinct roles. Time commitments may fluctuate based on the goals of the employee community, and can be higher or lower than the estimates here. This is especially true if a community is planning to celebrate dedicated holidays or months, or participating in other large-scale projects.

Additional stakeholders:
Employee communities may also receive support from key stakeholders within your organization’s DEI, HR, ESG, or Culture teams. These relationships are critical for engaging cross-functional colleagues, aligning with existing initiatives, integrating into related workstreams, and developing cohesion with business strategy.

Find more resources on building belonging at work here, and check out the first enterprise SaaS ecosystem for building belonging at work, Mindr Connect.