If you have yet to hold your first full-time job, it’s possible that you have never been exposed to the concepts of affinity groups or employee resource groups (ERGs) at the workplace. If you are unsure of what exactly these two groups signify, or are unclear about the difference between them, read on to get the full picture of what they are, why they are important, and how you can identify employers who provide these support networks to their employees.
An affinity group at the workplace, much like the Fleishman Center’s affinity communities, is typically an informal group formed by employees who share a unifying identity, such as their orientation, gender, ethnicity, age, or disability status, among other things. They may also be based on hobbies and interests, such as art, nature, or sports.
Similarly, ERGs gather employees based on personal identities (rather than hobbies), but unlike affinity groups, they are more directly sponsored by the company as part of their DEI missions, and they usually involve more direct pipelines to opportunities such as mentorship, career development, and advocacy.
Check out these detailed breakdowns of affinity groups vs. ERGs. from the Academy to Innovate HR and Access Therapy for even more information about their similarities and differences.
Being an employee of Binghamton University myself as a Fleishman Career Center staff member, I am fortunate to have access to a small selection of affinity groups through the Professional Staff Senate, including BU Queers, which I co-lead with Brenda Feinen, a staff member at the Decker School of Nursing. Given my direct involvement in this affinity group, I’d like to give a little highlight reel of the impact it has had on my own workplace wellbeing as an employee.
When I began my professional staff role at the Fleishman Center in 2023, I searched the university’s website for any and all avenues to get involved in the LGBTQIA+ community; the Q Center, the Faculty & Staff Pride List, and the BU Queers affinity group (named the LGBTQIA+ Faculty and Staff affinity group at the time), were all resources that signaled to me that this workplace was going to be a lot more overtly inclusive than my previous employers were. Within a few months of working on campus and getting involved with the Q Center and the affinity group, I started to form friendships with other queer employees and recognize many welcoming faces as I walked from building to building. This really contributed to my sense of belonging here, to the extent that I finally felt comfortable coming out to my friends and family that fall!
BU Queers members at Cafe Liuga Haus on Clinton Street, February 2025. This cafe openly hosts and supports the queer community!
In the summer of 2024, I had the opportunity to become a co-leader of BU Queers, which ignited a passion in me for actively fostering connections between queer employees on campus. We currently have about 130 members total who have participated in over 40 meetups together in the last year, including lunch hour meetups, museum visits on and off campus, local cafe hangouts, rock climbing, movie nights, and holiday mixers, just to name a few! Our process for orchestrating activities normally starts based on members’ personal interests, and from there we pick a time and date, invite others to join, and enjoy! I’ve found that consistency and variety of meetups are the key to encouraging members to participate. In addition to building friendships through regular meetups, this affinity group also aims to keep employees connected to broader community events and queer-friendly businesses, as well as legal and health-related resources to help members keep up with current political happenings and know their rights.
My involvement in BU Queers has clearly been revolutionary in my understanding of not only my own identity, but also my general sense of purpose in life: to foster support, community, knowledge, and happiness among my peers. Looking beyond my own personal experiences, I’d like to share a few additional testimonials from other members of the group to illustrate the impact it has had on them as employees of Binghamton University:
“As a new staff member, I wanted to start creating a network and meet peers in the area. Just being around other queer people helps to ground me. It helps me view Binghamton as not just where I live, but where I get to go out. So it has brought a level of socialization I was looking for, and being able to attend or not is what makes it great.”
“Before this group started, I never quite understood where I fell in the queer community. While I felt it could be a space for me, my identity wasn’t solely understood or embraced when I first started learning to understand myself. Having a community of kind and inclusive individuals has made me feel more welcome at the university in general. It has been great to get to build connections with individuals from other programs and areas on campus whom I would not otherwise have a chance to interact with.”
“The importance of our collective visibility at this moment in time compelled me to join the group and attend events when I’m able. And perhaps, being an older lesbian, I can share some of my experience and strength and wisdom to younger generations as we make our way through these more hostile times.”
If you value being your authentic self at work, I highly recommend that you conduct your own searches about LGBTQIA+ inclusivity on prospective employers’ websites, such as on their human resources or employment pages, or evaluate companies’ DEI practices on sites like the Human Rights Campaign’s equity index. Additionally, you can ask about the existence of affinity groups and ERGs during interviews, or even in informational interviews with current employees prior to applying to a company, to find out that information directly from the source. Or, if you find yourself working for a company with no overt LGBTQIA+ support networks, maybe you will be the one to change that and create one yourself!
For more tips for LGBTQIA+ jobseekers and inclusivity in the workplace, check out our Career Resources for Students Identifying as LGBTQ, our other affinity pages resources, or make an appointment with career consultants such as myself to discuss any of these topics in more detail! You deserve to feel safe and affirmed at your place of work, and so I encourage you to use all these tools to ensure that for your own future.
BU Queers members at the Rosefsky Gallery, Spring 2025
