BrewDog is cancelled

It’ll come as a shock that the beloved BrewDog is being cancelled. They’re the latest to be hit with cancel culture, and in my opinion, rightly so.

As a millennial, I’ve seen the start up’s rise in fame, and create ‘fun’ cultures to appeal to new employees. I’d be silly to say it didn’t catch my eye. But, in the past few years, these cultures are being exposed for what they are – toxic.

Take for example, Uber. We all know them, and we all use them, but did you know about their founder’s recent demotion? In a recent article, I referenced how the Uber founder, Travis Kalanick, was forced to step down from Chief Executive as he was accused of creating a sexist work culture that discriminated against female employees. The essence of bro-culture. You can read the article here.

But who would have thought that James Watt, that famous BrewDog owner, and his co-founder Martin Dickie, would have cultivated a similar culture? Whilst it isn’t solely based on sexism and misogyny, it is still riddled with faults.

In a recently published open letter to them, current and former employees have shared the emotional and mental experience of working at BrewDog, which you can read here.

“You spent years claiming you wanted to be the best employer in the world, presumably to help you to recruit top talent, but ask former staff what they think of those claims, and you’ll most likely be laughed at.”

So, what can we learn from BrewDog and Uber’s mistakes?

Your culture is important. A poor culture, or wrongly constructed one, can leave your employees feeling unvalued, misrepresented, and unheard. Crafting your culture can take time, but it is imperative that you listen to your employees. After all, they’re the ones living through it. Find out what your employees think, what you believe you stand for as an organisation, and most importantly, how you believe people should be treated. According to a survey of 600,000 Glassdoor users, the thing that matters most about a future employer is their culture and values.

So what will you say? And what culture will you foster?