Brewdog culture of fear for Employees

[Chippy_Tea]

They were on 5live saying business has been so intense they didn't realise the staff were not happy, they said they are "sorry they have let them down" and are going to sort it.

 

[krispn]

I could substitute Brewdog for the NHS or a big corporate and you could find many people with similar negative workplace experiences -bullying, not feeling heard, doing the work of two (or more)folks due to poor staffing and the answer from management is get on with it or that's how its always been. I'm sure others could say the same for other workplaces. Negative working cultures are often the product of people doing management jobs they're unqualified for or emotionally incapable of doing in a civilised manner. A good member of bar staff does not automatically make a good manager and when the overriding culture is one of negativity it breeds unhealthy working practices be that in specific bars or organisations as a whole.

I think Brewdog blaming intense business when their business model is one of "expansion expansion expansion" is a bit of a cop out as they are driving the business in that direction. It appears Brewdog have the aspirations of a multinational but the HR and management training structure of a small brewery based in Ellon. I've read many unhappy posts on the BD forum where the latest round of EFP investors were not getting their perks and it boils down to a couple of overworked staff trying to get products out to ??,??? new 'punks!

I could be wrong and while I don't doubt there are many a wokester/hipster/*insert derogatory yoof reference who liked the idea of working in a brew dog bar becasue they're a hip brand weren't prepared for the demands of working in a busy fast paced bar could present but I don't think bad management and bad practice can simply write off people, their feelings and experience to being snowflakes.

It's early days but it'll be interestong to see how this plays out. I wonder ho many folk who have signed that letter were woking in different locations/bars or the same locations/bars and or if their experience was more of a work culture in general.

 

[AlDaviz]

Well !
It was likes of brewdog and innes gunn got me into homebrew but now the beers are tasting a little sub-standard from brewdog, with all the new breweries coming along. There are a lot better beers available. Good of them to publish the diy-dog as others have stated. Using as a reference has been quite handy !) thanks

 

[ClownPrince]

I'm not saying it's the case in BD but there's a looming generation of soppy,bone idle layabouts...no,I think we've already got the lay abouts who "can't " work...its "I don't fancy doing that" lot...obviously no responsibility...

Would hazard that every generation has said this about the generation following them.
"They don't know how good they've got it, when I was a lad we had to walk to school 50 miles, in the snow, uphill both ways..."

 

[samale]

Would hazard that every generation has said this about the generation following them.
"They don't know how good they've got it, when I was a lad we had to walk to school 50 miles, in the snow, uphill both ways..."

I got them stories from my father. I work in a large factory. I think it boils down to people's attitude. I remember starting and some less than cheery people telling me it would be closed within a year.
17 years later I am still getting paid. Some people have very a negative attitudes towards everything. Bullying in the work place happens. Fortunately it's becoming less and less. The factory I work is going through a process of trying to get the workers fully engaged. This started with retraining managers and pointing out unacceptable behaviour and attitude towards employees.
Time will tell if it works

 

[Clint]

Ah the fully engaged chestnut...this means they want those at the bottom to work harder for less...I'll consider myself fully engaged when I get 10% bonus every month..

 

[samale]

Your very cynical
Do you get to answer a survey every year on how your boss has performed. American companies live them

 

[marshbrewer]

There have been quite a few stories floating around twitter of crafty type breweries treating their staff badly recently.

 

[Clint]

Your very cynical
Do you get to answer a survey every year on how your boss has performed. American companies live them

Our latest survey has gone down like a lead balloon..

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Dismissing this as layabout youth who can't cope, or disgruntled ex-employees with an axe to grind, is lazy and tends to come from people who are part of the problem. If anything there's some evidence that this younger generation are if anything harder workers than their elders.

You have to see this Brewdog story in the context of some fairly horrendous stories of sexism ranging from just unpleasantness to actual assault in US breweries that have been coming out in recent weeks - see the stories pinned to the top of Brienne Allan's Instagram : Login • Instagram

You can say "none of this can be proved", but there are instances, albeit relatively small, where it is possible to verify something from the outside - like Brewdog leaving a crappy reply on their Facebook page for 8 years until outsiders (shareholders) complained and were given an apology. However when the employee concerned says she requested its removal 8 years ago and nothing happened, and still hasn't had an apology - it rings true, just in that if anyone saw that kind of comment about yourself on your employer's website, you would want it removed too. And any right-thinking employer would delete that kind of comment from their Facebook before that complain was made. Conversely the fact that they didn't remove the comment implies they thought the comment was OK, and they have signally failed to back their employee in favour of going along with the comment. That's a bad look - but is rather consistent with other stories coming out of Brewdog.

It's not unusual for the kind of people with the intense drive to build a successful company are often not the best at acting like decent human beings. Those failings can be exaggerated in beer where the people in power are almost all men, there's a lot of women in junior positions in bars and sales, and there's a lot of "work" time spent in social environments with a lot of alcohol.

And no, it's not just Brewdog.

 

[stripeyjoe]

They've got previous, legal bullying lots of beer and non beer related business with either 'Brew' or 'Dog' in their name and then blaming it on their solicitors being over zealous. Solicitors only act on their clients instructions.

 

[soupdragon]

The factory I work is going through a process of trying to get the workers fully engaged. This started with retraining managers and pointing out unacceptable behaviour and attitude towards employees.
Time will tell if it works

I really hope that works out.

Employers, sadly seem to have forgotten how to trust their employees and treat them with respect.

Cheers Tom

 

[Donegal john]

I got them stories from my father. I work in a large factory. I think it boils down to people's attitude. I remember starting and some less than cheery people telling me it would be closed within a year.
17 years later I am still getting paid. Some people have very a negative attitudes towards everything. Bullying in the work place happens. Fortunately it's becoming less and less. The factory I work is going through a process of trying to get the workers fully engaged. This started with retraining managers and pointing out unacceptable behaviour and attitude towards employees.
Time will tell if it works

In fairness seagate invested in Derry way back and fair play that they stuck with it.
I wired the plant in limavady and the American firm that were the main contractors mortosen took all the foremen/supervisors out for a meal and drinks when we had finished and they said it would close within 2 years as the technology moves forward that fast that it’s either close or total upgrade. And they were right. Large company’s like that need to keep the employees happy or it festers and becomes a big issue that won’t go away. Look at e and I and the handling they got into during covid.