Hand & Heart Statement RE Brewdog Affected workers platform and REPORTING FROM

‘’BrewDog boss hired private investigators to gather evidence of alleged smear campaign’’

Published 14.03.2022, via The Guardian

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Kate Bailey here, founder and MD of Hand & Heart. The BrewDog Affected Workers platform was announced with the purpose to assist Punks With Purpose in its continued positive actions to hold BrewDog, as a company, accountable for its workplace culture - one that has harmed countless people across many countries. 

Today’s article highlights, once again, the argument that has underpinned BrewDogs’ justification for their actions:

‘’James Watt has been subjected to a two-year criminal campaign of online harassment, defamation, fraud, blackmail and malicious communications, instigated by a very small group of individuals’’. 

That is not the reality that has been revealed via the submissions to the Affected Worker’s Platform. The platform has allowed for stories to come off of social media and into a format to be analysed and organised for appropriate next steps. Since its announcement, what the platform has certainly done is proven that the allegations of culture and retribution are true on a macro level. The platform has captured an extensive and disturbing array of abusive management and incompetent, uncaring workplace practices, multiple regulatory violations and serious duty breaches. As the coordinator of the BrewDog Affected Workers platform, I can state unequivocally that the affected workers are not a ‘’a very small group of individuals engaged in a criminal campaign’’. There is not one person from the communities mentioned who has been made aware of legal action against them, and in fact, some have sought legal and psychological support through the program, and through law enforcement. I say this unequivocally as there is a comprehensive protocol and ample evidence.

As it relates to the framing of people and those who participate in the platform, here is one quote, asserted by Mr Watt in a March 03, 2022 post on LinkedIn, states:

‘’The last year has also been incredibly tough from a media and social media perspective. It has felt as though our business has been completely under siege. This quote, from a very credible and independent third party neatly captures what we are facing:

’‘This has been the most extreme case we’ve seen of a small group of former employees on a mission to cause damage to a brand…., there’s definitely been a small group of people who have a personal vendetta against James - willing to go to all lengths to take down BrewDog.’’

The attribution of this quote should be heavily debated. As it stands it remains unclear if it was Wiser, Allen Leighton, or, is it Integritas Investigative Solutions? Once again, the reality of the platform submissions proves beyond any doubt this is much, much more than ‘‘a small group of people who have a personal vendetta against James’’. If this is now going to be a public game of questioning the veracity of stories and character, I must note the stunning discrepancy of hiring a private investigator in circumstances where the request has simply been a meaningful acknowledgment of ex-employees (and current) experiences of an abusive culture and allowing that acknowledgment to inform much needed sustainable changes within BrewDog.

The result of failing to engage on a professional level in regards to these claims, and for BrewDog to see that facts beyond this quote - the cornerstone of justification for such actions - is that some people have been baselessly targeted. Wherein, for those to speak up in the public forum about their experiences working for their company, have to go through months of arduous fact-checking and independent corroboration and face subsequent harassment. Even when a platform is created that goes beyond this and meets the mandate of discovery and evidence, corroborating the claims of these individuals. For Mr Watt, he can simply go on his own business forum or LinkedIn and have his Board stand by him while he creates a mystical version of reality that folks who are seeking some accountability from his company, are simply trying to ‘’take BrewDog down’’. The beating heart of workplace culture is power dynamics. This is abuse of power. This should really just stop. If these people being investigated baselessly or were subject to this kind of intimidation (in addition to this example prior to the BBC documentary release) and were asked to participate in ‘’independent and credible investigations’’ - how does Mr Watt or the company stand by the independence of ‘’an investigation overseen by the Board’’ when he is investigating individuals who are meant to have the claims investigated by the company? Make no mistake as to how we arrived at the tragic reality of this unnecessary, messy and public situation perpetuated by BrewDog. Mr Watt and Brewdog have had ample opportunity to respond to ongoing community action regarding their workplaces. They have chosen to do what you read about today.

The point of such an earnest and lengthy response is my own attempt, as someone who cares deeply about workplaces and has earned experience in such matters, is to show in real-time the true essence and nature of retribution and how easy it is to sow confusion and to create a discourse of grandiose victimhood in the public realm, where none exists on the part of those advocating for the accountability of BrewDog’s workplaces. Who, for the last time, took their own stories out of the public realm and have been seeking appropriate recourse through professional pathways.

I would like to end this statement by centering those most important in all of this:  the Affected Workers of the platform we host, and those not registered of course. We will continue to work with these cases and to bring about a reconciliation of truth. For those of you who have been harmed at BrewDog or harmed while trying to speak up, our platform remains open to you. We have so far provided legal and mental health resources to those who need immediate access and we will continue to do so. We will seek every possible option of recourse required to bring about a peaceful, just and truthful conclusion. We are moving forward in good faith in a number of ways to do this.

I, and Hand & Heart, stand with those impacted unfairly to say: no, this is not acceptable. This is about real lives. These are real people. Real people who are not resourced in the same way BrewDog is. I encourage those who are reading this to reflect deeply on what this kind of behaviour means for workplaces and on the ways you have seen others punished for speaking up across Craft Beer during the last year, and what abuse of power really looks like. For those watching along, please speak up and stand by your colleagues who have sadly experienced this. This is a sad day for all workplaces, not just BrewDog, and a sad day for workers.

I can be reached anytime via kate@handandheart.eu with any questions and concerns.