Kmflett's Blog

Brewdog announces new chair & diversity consultant. Still nothing on a trade union

The Punks With Purpose whose statement about the workplace culture at Brewdog rocked the brewer last week continue to press James Watt on what actual changes will occur as opposed to words of regret.

Widely reported over the weekend is that Blythe Jack has been appointed the new chair of Brewdog. Reports make something of her gender- and indeed female chairs of Companies are still far fewer than would be merited if that was the criteria for appointment.

However she is in fact a senior figure in Brewdog’s private equity investor TSG and one suspects her appointment is as much to do with protecting their investment after last week’s furore. There is some speculation that she might also be preparing Brewdog for an IPO.

More interesting perhaps is the appointment of Ren Navarro who is a diversity consultant who has worked widely in the hospitality area in North America. A glance at her social media indicates that she does indeed ‘walk the walk’ on issues of discrimination.

How welcome that will be to quite everyone at senior levels in Brewdog remains to be seen.

My experience as a union officer in private sector companies hugely larger than Brewdog is that while people who work in the diversity area are invariably well intentioned and look to make positive change they often do better when they are in partnership with recognised unions.

Senior figures in Companies have many issues to pursue and may need persuading that diversity is up there with the most important. If they see that not only their own specialist team but the unions who represent their workers are on board, that is often a key motivator to make progress.

However there is still no recognition from Brewdog that recognising an independent trade union is a way out of the mess its currently in.