Breaking Down Age Silos – the role of ERGs

At a recent Global Intergenerational Week session, participants were asked two simple but revealing questions:

• When did you last speak to someone 15 years older or younger than you? 

• How many people in your close network are 15 years older or younger?

  
  

Many were surprised how age-siloed their lives had become, with limited intergenerational interaction. A glance at recent research confirms this growing age segregation. In England, 98% of households are not made up of multiple generations (Gen-all). Children begin forming negative age stereotypes as early as age 3 (NIH). One in five Gen Z workers have never spoken to someone over 50 at work (LinkedIn workplace research) and by 2030, nearly half the workforce will be 50+ (ONS). Ageism remains widespread, especially in hiring. Candidates at both ends of the age spectrum often struggle to get through the door due to age-based assumptions.

The case for age inclusion is clear—both from a human and business perspective. Building intergenerational understanding and collaboration can unlock empathy, innovation, and resilience. Yet, when ProAge and Brave Starts surveyed 223 UK employers across sectors, only 29 had an age-focused employee group.

Age-focused ERGs - a Key Ingredient in the Age Inclusive Workplace

If you work in a medium to large organisation, chances are you’re familiar with Employee Resource Groups (ERGs), sometimes also known as Business Resources Groups (BRGs) or Affinity Networks. These voluntary, employee-led networks - often formed around shared characteristics like ethnicity, gender, disability, or sexuality - offer a psychologically safe space for members and allies to connect, collaborate, and support one another.

ERGs can amplify underrepresented voices, influence company policy, and help members build leadership skills while expanding their networks beyond their immediate teams.

For employers, ERGs are a powerful way to help bring inclusion strategies to life. They serve as vital communication channels for understanding lived experiences, shaping policy, delivering learning, and raising awareness across the organisation.

Advice from the Front Line

Although just 8–12% of organisations currently have an age-focused ERG - far fewer than gender or ethnicity for example - that number is slowly growing. Some trailblazing networks are making a real impact, advancing age inclusion, intergenerational collaboration, and age-informed customer insight.

Eager to learn from those with hands-on experience, I spoke with three inspiring ERG leads who’ve built successful age-focused groups: Dierdre Wafer, Co-chair of the Wisdom ERG at LinkedIn; Winona Bolislis, Co-lead of the Generations ERG at Sanofi; and Loek Hageman, who co-leads the Multigenerational Employee Resource Exchange (MERGE) at Bayer AG. 

Here are their highlights and top tips for anyone looking to start - or strengthen - an age-focused ERG.

Personal Motivation and Lived Experience of ERG leaders matters

Effective ERG leaders have “skin in the game”. Their insight and motivation is rooted in real-world experience, and a practical “muddy boots” perspective. Dierdre entered the tech world in her 50s after being encouraged by a friend to overcome “those voices in your head that say this isn’t for you”. Her journey reflects the power of self-belief and her belief in the importance of broad representation in age-diverse spaces. Winona was motivated by her experience as a young mother and professional to help amplify under-represented voices and age-based stereotyping at different points on the age spectrum. Both stressed the importance of having a personal connection to age-inclusion.  “It’s about being Age-less" Winona says. 

Senior Sponsorship and a Robust Structure are Cornerstones for Success

Securing Senior level sponsorship from leaders who are committed to age-inclusion and willing to champion the work of the ERG is critical.  As is investing time in building a strong ERG ecosystem as the foundation for long-term impact and adaptability across diverse cultures, functions, and geographies. 

LinkedIn’s broader ERG structure is a great example - 12 ERGs, 60 leaders, and 8,000 members organised regionally and supported by a central team. The Wisdom Group benefits from two highly engaged executive sponsors who provide regular guidance, mentoring, and advocacy.

At Sanofi, establishing a global structure and securing senior sponsorship were also critical when launching the Generations ERG two years ago. One of five global ERGs, it operates through a country and multi-country model. With backing from the Chief Digital Officer, Winona reflects, “We wouldn’t have gained as much traction or spread the message about the ERG’s purpose so widely without that support.”

The MERGE BRG at Bayer started as a local initiative created by 4 colleagues. Loek secured senior sponsorship through a direct approach to the Pharma CEO and through the team’s efforts MERGE has now grown into a global network organised around a number of country-based Chapters who take the lead on different initiatives and projects. 

Take a Strategic Approach, Have a Good Plan and Prioritise

It’s easy to get swept up in ideas and initiatives, only to feel frustrated when you can’t do it all. In its first two years, Sanofi focused on laying strong foundations for the Generations ERG by:

• Activating their executive sponsor to amplify the message, raise awareness, and engage colleagues across the business. 

• Creating a realistic, prioritised plan of action. 

• Building local awareness through the ERG structure, ensuring country leads were in place to identify local priorities and connect them to global themes.

  
  

With these foundations in place, they were able to move into more strategic initiatives, including:

• Training and development 

• Ongoing communications and engagement 

• Outreach, by partnering with the Corporate Social Responsibility team to align volunteering opportunities with the ERG’s mission—such as mentoring, career transition support, and intergenerational volunteering.

Individual Benefit, Organisational Impact and Business Value are all Important

Successful ERGs provide benefit to members and allies and the business as Dierdre explained, “everything the Wisdom ERG does contributes on several fronts – to LinkedIn’s culture, our communications, career development and commerce. It’s important to link what we’re doing to a direct benefit to the organisation as well as individual benefit.  It’s not either / or .”

The ERGs at Sanofi are seen as strategic assets and are aligned with corporate social responsibility and health and wellbeing goal.

A great example at Bayer AG is the way MERGE has contributed to the organisation’s wider strategic mission of Health for All, Hunger for None, through its sponsorship of the #GIW25 campaign for Global Intergenerational Week – a global initiative involving a collaboration between17 country leads to raise awareness and celebrate intergenerational practice around the world.  Bayer also supported three southern hemisphere countries’ participation by funding and supporting their Country Leads and sponsoring an online interactive day on the theme of “Let’s Develop Intergenerational Workforces” which showcased projects from around the world.    

Intersectionality and Inclusion – Two Sides of the Same Coin

Cross-collaboration between different ERGs is an important way of recognising that individuals belong to multiple identity groups. As the common theme that affects us all, age can act as the glue across other themes. Examples from our contributors include a shared focus on intersectional themes like workplace ergonomics across different groups and work environments, or championing inclusive facilities for parents, health and wellbeing or introducing co-mentoring initiatives across resource group memberships.

It’s all about building a Culture of Conversation and Connection

Age-inclusive ERGs help spark dialogue around skills development, leadership, and life balance - breaking down barriers, fostering understanding across age groups, and supporting the creation of age-diverse teams.

Their activities are wide-ranging and creative, including:

• Post-it walls for sharing reflections and ideas 

• “Fast friends” sessions - small group conversations guided by prompt questions to build connection 

• Internal panel discussions to bridge generational perspectives 

• Webinars that explore key company topics through an intergenerational lens 

• External speakers and learning events focused on age-related themes

• Learning and development including Intergenerational Mentoring programmes

  
  

These initiatives help embed age inclusion into everyday workplace culture in engaging, practical ways.

Redefining Success and Age

ERGs play a vital role in challenging traditional views of age and success, promoting continuous learning, curiosity, and self-reflection.

As Dierdre puts it, “We need to rethink age. It’s not about chronological age—youth vs decline—the evidence doesn’t support that. Nor is success about job titles. It’s about staying curious and continuing to learn, even if how we learn evolves over time. We need to meet people where they are, and the ERG can help support learning in ways that work best for them.”

Allyship and Mentorship

Effective ERGs promote allyship as an important strand of inclusion. As Winona puts it, “you don’t have to be to belong,” and Sanofi has developed a series of Allyship Guides across its ERG network which they have made available on their website.   

At LinkedIn, allyship is about creating safe, supportive spaces where members can build skills and confidence by trying new things. As Dierdre explains, “sometimes people hold themselves back because of how they see themselves. They don’t believe opportunities apply to them. ERGs can bust those myths and highlight everyday achievements that inspire others.”

Supporting reverse or co-mentoring is another key ERG function—helping break down silos, foster intergenerational learning, and, as Winona notes, develop “a critical skill set everyone should have.”

Age is the one characteristic that affects us all—yet it’s often treated as the Goldilocks attribute: we’re too young and inexperienced, or too old and over the hill. Rarely, just right.

Age-focused ERGs can help shift this narrative. They’re an important ingredient in creating a balanced, inclusive workplace—one that values diverse skills and lived experiences across the age spectrum, where the whole truly becomes greater than the sum (or age) of its parts.

Additional information and resources can be found here:

Sanofi Allyship Guide: https://www.sanofi.com/en/our-company/sustainability/diversity-equity-and-inclusion-in-and-beyond-the-workplace/allyship

#GIW25 campaign sponsored by Bayer: https://generationsworkingtogether.org/global-intergenerational-week

ProAge Multigenerational ERG Toolkit: https://www.proage.org/employee-resource-groups

About the author:

Michèle Dennison loves connecting people and ideas, facilitating creative collaboration and supporting others to develop themselves and those around them.  She is fascinated by the strategic challenges of demographic change, reshaping work to support longer careers, intergenerational collaboration and age-inclusion.  With a background in all things People and Culture and a unique blend of senior leadership and consultancy experience she has a track record of adding value through others to shape and drive change.