BrewDog lowers staff profit share – despite earlier promises
Australia | The Scottish brewer and pub company quietly backed away from its prominent pledge, announced in May last year, to share 50 percent of its bar profits with staff.
BrewDog’s head of Australian operations, Calvin McDonald, told the Australian website Brews News on 21 September that there is “not much point” in sharing profits that do not exist.
In the first half of 2023 (until 30 June), BrewDog’s Australian unit grew turnover to AUD 7.2 million (USD 4.6 million), but at the same time losses rose to AUD 1.2 million (USD 770,000), up from AUD 755,000 in the prior corresponding period, which had been affected by floods and covid restrictions.
Making pledges and reneging on them
In BrewDog’s bolshy style, the company had announced in My 2022 that it was “setting the bar higher for hospitality workers everywhere, and democratising the benefits of working for a successful business in our industry”.
“You read that right. 50 percent of all profit made in BrewDog Bars will now be shared evenly with the fantastic people who work in them,” the company said then.
The profit share announcement came at a time when the company and its CEO, James Watt, were facing intense scrutiny over employment practices. It generated extensive positive coverage for the company after former employees had accused BrewDog of being a “toxic” workplace.
However, despite the fanfare of the announcement, within months the pledge was quietly shelved and replaced by a performance-based payment, brewsnews.com.au reported.
Blame it on the economic situation
Now the head of Australian operations, Calvin McDonald, told the website that there’s “not much point” sharing profits that do not exist.
He blamed BrewDog’s involuntary ditching of its pledges on the energy crisis, massive cost hikes and the economic situation deteriorating badly.
Mr McDonald explained that in February 2023 the company had a global consultation with its bar team members. The outcome was that BrewDog moved to a new system called Customer Champion. This means, each month, every bar globally is mystery shopped. If staff in a review venue meet performance targets, they now receive a bonus of AUD 2 per hour that month.
“With Customer Champion, the emphasis is being put back on service and customer experience, as well as financial performance,” Mr McDonald commented.
