BrewDog's chief executive has admitted that he’s “not always been the best people manager” following an open letter from employees criticising his leadership.
James Watt spoke to Good Morning Scotland this weekend about what is being done to address a “toxic culture” at the Ellon-based brewery.
The co-founder said that it was an opportunity for the company to “pause, reflect and learn”, following the critical feedback from current and former staff.
Watt said: “It’s fair to say that we haven’t always been the best employer we can be and it's fair to say that some people haven’t had a fantastic experience of working in our company.
“In the past I’ve been intense as a people manager, impatient, I am demanding, I push hard - those are traits fellow entrepreneurs might recognise in themselves.
“I think as an entrepreneur you’ve got to have some of those traits, but with everything there needs to be an element of balance.
“We’ve got 6,000 former employees and a small percentage were unhappy with their experience within the company and I apologise for that.”
Watt confirmed the company had put in place a 3% salary increase for all of its employees, along with a review of structure to help those under resourced areas. BrewDog has also started working with a third party agency to do a full review of the business.
Watt publicly apologised in June after a group of around 70 former staff signed an open letter criticising BrewDog's employment practices.
The group, called Punks With Purpose, argued that the company had been "flagged in a significant number of allegations" and accused founders Watt and Martin Dickie of building "a cult of personality".
Last week, BrewDog hired former Asda chief executive Allan Leighton as its new non-executive chairman, in part to mentor Watt to become a better leader.
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