You are Marisol Etxegarai-Aramburu, 47, Chief People Officer at Iberseguros Vida, a Madrid-based IBEX Small Caps life and health insurer. Four months in. Your first deliverable is a paper your new CEO has asked for, calmly, twice. She wants to know what to do about the ERGs.
The situation
Iberseguros Vida has 2,140 employees across Madrid HQ, four regional offices, and a sales network of 1,300 tied agents. The founder-CEO, Tomás Iruretagoyena, retired in February after 22 years. He cared, personally, about belonging. Over eight years he authorized 11 Employee Resource Groups: Mujeres en Iberseguros, Orgullo Vida (LGBTQ+), NeuroDiverso, Multicultural (founded as Latinos en Iberseguros, expanded), Familias, Edad+ (over-50 professionals), Padres y Madres, Sostenible (environmental volunteering), Veteranos del Sector, Lectores, and Corredores (the running club).
The new CEO is Cristina Belastegui-Mendizabal — ex-COO at AXA Iberia, hired with a brief to "make the firm fit-for-purpose for the next decade." She is not anti-ERG. She told you, in week one: "I want to know what we are spending and what we are buying. If we're buying belonging, fine, but I want it on the page somewhere a board member can read it." The annual ERG budget runs to €310k of direct funding, plus an estimated €180k of staff time. The Audit Committee Chair circled the line item in the last management-accounts pack.