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LinkedIn to start paying global ERG leaders $10,000 a year

02 June 2021
Dan Ackermann

LinkedIn will begin paying the global co-chairs of its employee resource groups $10,000 a year starting in July, Axios is first to report.

Why it matters: Diversity and inclusion has been a huge focus for companies during the past year, with hiring within D&I roles growing more than 90%. However, employee and affinity groups are most often run on a volunteer basis with limited financial support for their efforts.

What they're saying: "Historically, these employees take on leadership roles and the associated work in addition to their day jobs, putting in extra time, energy, and insight. And despite the tremendous value, visibility and impact to the organization, this work is rarely rewarded financially," Teuila Hanson, chief people officer at LinkedIn, says.

How it works: Global ERG co-chairs at LinkedIn serve two-year terms and will receive $10,000 at the end of each year of service.

  • The company has 10 ERGs with 20 global co-chairs and more than 5,000 members and allies. More than 500 leaders will also be recognized in a new non-financial rewards system, the company says.
  • LinkedIn says it realizes there is "no price on the emotional labor and investment of time" ERGs contribute and that $10,000 is a start, in addition to a formal systematized recognition plan.
  • Each employee group works with an executive sponsor who provides quarterly feedback to managers as part of performance reviews.
  • This is an independent program within LinkedIn for now, the company said when asked if it would expand inside Microsoft.

Joining the club: Two companies that have also started to compensate ERG leads within the past year — Twitter and Justworks.

  • In a detailed announcement last summer, Justworks specified that its rewards would include cash compensation and additional stock options, and that ERG work is part of annual performance reviews.
  • "On average, ERG leads, depending on the time of year, put in anywhere from 10% to 20% extra time on top of their day job doing this work," Justworks director of diversity Michael Baptiste told Protocol at the time.

Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times

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Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.

Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.

The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.

  • The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.

What the transcripts say:

  • Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
  • The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
  • Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."

Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.