Travelers recently announced its Working Parents/Caregivers & Allies Diversity Network (WPCADN) as one of its newest diversity networks available to employees.

The Working Parents/Caregivers & Allies Diversity Network (WPCADN) began in 2020 as an employee resource group and has now expanded to provide a forum for amplifying the resources and benefits available to employees who balance their professional roles with parenting, caregiving or both, and for connecting with colleagues in similar life situations.

Lisa Melillo, Group General Counsel of Personal Insurance at Travelers, currently serves as the Senior Advisor to the Working Parents/Caregivers & Allies Diversity Network.

“What we hear from our members is that this is really a community,” Melillo said, “It’s a safe space where people feel as though they can share their unique challenges that they’re going through with their parenting and caregiving responsibilities and know that they’ve got a village behind them that’s facing similar issues.”

The group holds monthly caregiver meetings, a monthly peer-to-peer support group for parents of LGBTQ+ youth as well as special topic speaker events and collaborative events with other diversity networks at Travelers.

“Our members really believe that our events are a combination of educational opportunities to learn about a specific topic and to understand it more deeply so that it can help them deal with their personal situation,” Melillo said.

The group was announced as a formal diversity network in the second half of 2023 and has grown to have almost 2,200 members as of spring 2024.

“We’ve created a really amazing group,” Melillo said, “Whether it’s quick recipes or places to get cheaper diapers or helping out with some of the baby formula shortages, they’ve found a place where they can feel as though they’re not going through things alone.”