Former Brewdog CEO James Watt is still digging in the virtual electronic hole of his Insta account.
This time he is determined to refute suggestions that he is the world’s worse boss. He isn’t btw.
The list below seems to style Watt as philanthropist giving things to Brewdog workers and generously taking the hit himself on occasion when issues (see gold can) occur.
Yet he was actually the Chief Executive of a brewer not a philanthropist. It should be about what he has jointly agreed with workers, via their union (Brewdog doesnt recognise one) on things that will benefit both workers and because of that the business.
One could deconstruct further. He omits mention of the pledge to pay a Living Wage, later rescinded, and anonymous staff surveys are never actually anon-they should however be confidential..
- Gifted 20% of my shares in BrewDog to everyone on the team.
- Pioneered Real Living Wage in our industry and paid it for over a decade.
- Shared 10% of the business’s profits evenly with the entire team.
- Launched a world first 50% profit share model for our BrewDog bars team members.
- – Didn’t take a salary in 2020 during Covid-19 to protect as many jobs as I could.
- Personally gifted over £250,000 to team members & their families going through hardship.
- Twice made the Sunday Times list of best 100 companies work work for (2023 & 2017) in the UK based on an anonymous staff survey.
- Offered everyone in the team a fully paid month-long sabbatical for every 5 years of employment.
- Introduced ‘Pawternity Leave’ – a week off work if you get a dog to help your new family member settle in.
- Introduced ‘Punk to Punk’ bonuses so that team members could financially reward their colleagues.
- Covered the cost of my £500,000 gold can mistake personally so that it did not impact the team’s bonuses.
- Mentored dozens of people to help them develop their careers.
- Introduced the BrewDog Salary Cap, meaning nobody could join the team and be paid more than 7 times our entry-level salary.
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