An electrical connector (10) for surface mounting to a printed circuit card (12) includes an insulating housing (20, 116), contacts (24) secured in the housing, a metal shell (30, 120) for inductively shielding the contacts and an improved grounding element (32, 34, 100) which extends into a cavity (66, 118) provided therefor in the housing. The grounding element, the housing and the metal shell are arranged so that when the grounding element is inserted into the cavity, a contact region (42, 106) of the grounding element engages the metal shell. The grounding element also includes a solder flange portion (36, 102) which extends laterally outwardly from the housing for soldering to a ground pad (18) on the printed circuit card.