Boulevard Brewing Co., an iconic Kansas City brewery that was rocked in January by claims of troubling workplace conduct, concluded a human resources investigation that affirmed instances of harassment and problematic behavior had occurred.
The company also learned that it needed to revamp its hiring practices.
Boulevard leaders on Thursday would not delve into specifics about the findings of a workplace investigation conducted by FineLine HR Consulting that included confidential interviews with 70 former and current employees.
But they acknowledged that there had been problems at the brewery.
"We were disappointed by some of the things that we came to learn," said Boulevard founder John McDonald in an interview on Thursday. "But we also learned a lot of positives, a lot of great things about our culture that we can lean on."
McDonald, who founded Boulevard in 1989 and left in 2013, returned to run the company in January with a vow to fix the problems that had emerged publicly.
In a late January article in The Kansas City Star, 16 former and current Boulevard employees said an intense and insular culture helped to breed a toxic workplace that was especially unsafe for women — ranging from a "boys' club" atmosphere to gender discrimination to sexual harassment and assault.
As stories of harassment publicly surfaced, longtime executive and president Jeff Krum resigned along with two other high-ranking employees. Matthew Szymanski, chief financial officer, and Natalie Gershon, vice president of marketing, also left the brewery as part of the firestorm.
Boulevard said Thursday that it had parted ways with three additional employees, who were not named in the interview. Boulevard declined to characterize the positions or roles that those departed employees had with the company.
"Harassment and bad behaviors did come to light, as part of this investigation," said Bobby Dykstra, vice president of sales for Boulevard. "Some of those were recent and some of them happened in past years, but the company just learned about them as part of this investigation."
Dykstra added that the company needed to improve hiring practices.
"Our hiring practices and policies need to be more formalized to ensure that the company properly considers all qualified candidates for relevant positions," Dykstra said.
McDonald, 67, sold the brewery in 2013 to Belgium-based Duvel Moortgat NV. He reinvested some of the sales proceeds back into Duvel Moortgat and received a seat on the company's board of directors.
Even before the third-party investigation, McDonald acknowledged human resources as a major failing. Chelsea Bosak, the former human resources director, said she accomplished "great things" at Boulevard. But she was viewed by many employees as complicit in allowing sexual harassment to occur in the workplace.
McDonald started Boulevard in 1989 in a warehouse with three employees. But as the company grew, he said, it never built out a "modern" human resources department with safeguards and reporting systems for employees.
Dykstra said the company would also begin training employees on proper workplace conduct.
"Training starts this month, and it's going to be phased throughout the organization," Dykstra said. "And we're glad to be getting a good start on that, because as we mentioned FineLine has come to know our organization very well."
McDonald wouldn't say Thursday how long he planned to continue running the company.
"I'm going to be 68 years old, and I'm not going to stay here forever," McDonald said. "But I've kind of committed to stay as long as it takes to, you know, feel like we're on the right track."
