BrewDog chairman picks row with HR adviser over employee platform
BrewDog’s chairman Allan Leighton picked a row with the HR firm brought in to improve relations between staff and management.
Leighton accused consultant Hand & Heart of “amplifying attacks” on the management team, after the HR firm set up a platform where BrewDog workers could submit their feedback regarding the company.
In a letter to Hand & Heart’s managing director Kate Bailey, Leighton said the platform was “encouraging participants to submit malicious content . . . The unavoidable impression is that of H&H charging the company to extinguish a fire it is fuelling itself.”
Berlin-based Hand & Heart was not formally employed by BrewDog but hired after in June more than 100 former members of staff, called Punks with Purpose, lambasted BrewDog’s company culture.
Commenting on the letter, which was first published by the Mail on Sunday, Hand & Heart’s Kate Bailey said it was a “failure of leadership and corporate governance,” as they don’t understand their claims were refuted or how the accusations can “reflect on their company in the future.”
“BrewDog issued a letter to me and my company that was filled with malicious, unfounded accusations designed to discredit me and my work,” she said.
“For the sake of BrewDog’s workforce and the many people exhausted by this situation, I do wish BrewDog could focus on the individuals who have alleged being harmed in their workplaces and make it right with them, and growing into a thriving global company — instead of spending their time attacking me and my company on false grounds.’’
The company made the headlines last month when it emerged that chief executive James Watt had hired private investigators to gather information on people he accused of waging a “criminal campaign” of smears, City PM reported.