snczarn.work

Employee Resource Group Leadership

I strongly support active employee engagement, so one of the first things I did at Fresenius Medical Care was become an ERG member. I joined the GREEN ERG, which is an acronym for Grassroots Employee Environmental Network Employee Resource Group. I moved from member to communications co-chair to one of two lead Chair positions within 18 months.

The volunteer leadership group was made up of 12 passionate leaders, all working together to increase FME’s sustainability progress, promote initiatives, and encourage personal environmental responsibility among its 380+ members around the world.

Chair duties included:

  • Strategic planning, driving sustainability projects, and collaborating with corporate leadership
  • Developing the ERG from a US-only group to a global network
  • Managing ERG operations, admin, and all kinds of engagement-related comms
  • Organizing, hosting, and promoting monthly events for membership

Event speakers included C-suite internal guests, representatives from One Tree Planted, NOAA, Working Dogs 4 Conservation, Seaside Sustainability, and many many more.

Talent Interviews and Employee Highlights

Over the course of my work with Fresenius Medical Care, I interviewed dozens of these employees and translated raw conversations into social media spotlights, internal features, PR pieces, and corporate branding that centered people.

  • Interviewing ERG members for monthly observances like Pride, Women’s Equality Day, and Earth Day
  • Internal comms stories about career growth and company benefits
  • Interviewing SMEs about medical and technological advances
  • Sharing stories about employees who are also patients

Employee Comms Email Campaign

Fresenius Medical Care’s 16 ERGs include cultural and affinity groups like Veterans, AAPI employees, disability support, and LGBTQIA+ spaces, as well as special interests like sustainability, book club, and future leadership. I partnered with the head of DEI to write 6 – 12 articles each month and create a calendar of events, then assemble it all into a curated employee email.

This email went out to 60,000 employees each month. I worked closely with other leaders to create more interesting content, engaging stories, and better email marketing strategies. Open rates surged from low double digits to 40% after I took over this project. Considering the audience was mostly made up of nurses who only rarely checked their email at all, I’m very pleased with those figures.

ERG Showcase Event

The employee resource groups and my curated newsletter had wide reach, but there were still employees who didn’t know what the ERGs were all about. Along with a select group of ERG chairs, we planned an ERG and DEI showcase. I developed the two-month content calendar, wrote the content, organized the event, hostd keynote talks, facilitated ongoing discussions, and answered FAQs in this all-day, all-company, international event.

HR Portal Revamp with Executive Training and Trademark Licensing

Fresenius Medical Care’s HR portal was overdue for an overhaul. I rewrote several core pages, but there were too many highly specialized pages that needed to be rewritten. That’s when I created guidelines for HR leaders to write their own pages. I led internal trainings for senior executives and created guidelines for using generative AI effectively and ethically.

On top of this, the talent acquisition employer value proposition (TA EVP) document was woefully off-brand. To promote talent acquisition and retention, I rewrote the 20-odd page document to align with the FME brand and created new ways for managers to attract and retain top talent. As deconsolidation slowly rolled out, I created internal documents that emphasized the new brand while carefully separating FME from its previous parent company.

Rolling Out Achievers Employee Recognition Program

During a period of company instability (high industry turnover, budget tightening, and deconsolidation) Fresenius Medical Care’s 112,000 employees needed to feel appreciated. I was brought in to create compelling copy, clear content, and comms to roll out Achievers to employees across the country. I created:

  • The full FAQ to address technical how-tos and support employees at all stages of management
  • All-staff launch messaging with clear action steps
  • Talking points and video scripts for the global chief HR officer

C-Suite Ghostwriting

In 2024, Fresenius Medical Care welcomed a new global CFO. As a native German speaker, he needed clear messaging that would resonate with American stakeholders and employees without distraction. I ghostwrote and revised his internal and external communications, including LinkedIn posts, his 100-day speech, and employee updates. His communcations rep had these kind words to say about my work:

Sarah is my “native speaker proof reader”. I don’t want to miss out praising her:

She’s always positive,

She’s very diligent

Her turn around time is amazing.

I have used all her additional suggestions.

To sum up: She’s great working with and I thank you for having her on my side.