Craft beer firm Brewdog has announced it will undergo an independent review of the beer firm after former staff had accused the company of fostering toxic employment practices.
Company co-founder James Watt said the firm would also conduct an anonymous staff survey to “paint a comprehensive picture of the Brewdog culture at every level”.
Writing on LinkedIn, Watt apologised to staff for the “pain” that had been caused and added: “I am ultimately responsible for the culture. The letter that ex-colleagues wrote to us is 100% my fault.”
The letter from ex-workers posted on Twitter earlier in the week said there was a culture of fear at the company, that safety was a concern, staff were afraid to speak out, and that its leaders were hypocrites who sought publicity through outlandish claims.
The “responsibility for this rotten culture” lay with BrewDog co-founder James Watt, the letter stated, saying “in the wake of your success are people left burnt out, afraid and miserable”.
Workplace culture
Brewdog accused of promoting culture of fear
One employee who signed the letter told Sky News: “I was on £19,000, doing 60-hour weeks, and being berated by the boss.
“There was no such thing as a small, you know, a small forgivable mistake.”
Watt told the broadcaster: “We’ve always had a high performance culture, and I’ve always been perhaps too demanding.
“As a people manager, I’m very focused on what we’re doing, I’m very passionate about what we’re doing, and sometimes that passion can come across with too much intensity when it comes to managing people.”
In his LinkedIn post he wrote: “I want to be very candid about some mistakes that I have made that have detrimentally impacted our culture.
“In the hard and fast environment of high growth, I have all too often neglected many important people elements of our business.
“Furthermore, despite surviving C-19 due to a phenomenal effort from our amazing team I had to make some very hard decisions to ensure our survival and these decisions have taken a considerable human toll on our business and had a negative impact.
“Additionally, some PR mistakes that I have made in our past have also had a detrimental impact on culture.
“I can promise that I will not make these mistakes again.”
BrewDog was founded by friends Watt and Martin Dickie in an Aberdeen shed in 2007. It has grown to have established breweries in the UK, US and Australia, including a brewing-and-bar complex at Ellon, near Aberdeen. It operates more than 100 bars in the UK alone, employing about 2,000 people.
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