Brewery Actions
A note from the editor:
This piece was written before the events surrounding the Mikkeller Beer Festival in 2021.
I cannot pretend either myself or Rachel, my co-editor, are fully comfortable publishing something positive about companies and their owners, especially after a heavy year of feeling unsafe and let down in the industry that made us so passionate about drinks in the first place.
However, I do believe strongly that in an industry such as ours, businesses should be sharing the positive steps that they are taking to try and improve, in order to educate and help others in their own journeys.
Not to mention of course, that Sarah worked incredibly hard on this piece, and her re-energised attitude to the industry is aspirational. We are lucky to have her.
At Burum Collective we look forward to seeing where these breweries' journeys towards change take them, and actively encourage breweries to share their own practices. There will be trips, and stumbles, but it’s the decision to try, and the journey that activates, that counts.
After a tough year of being self-employed in the pandemic, I moved from London to Edinburgh about to take the marketing helm of a brand new brewery, but on the precipice of being an employee, I was apprehensive.
I was apprehensive to lose control and the safe space I had built for myself, to leave it behind and work at a start-up, where, no matter how experienced you are, you are all still learning on the job. Your bosses are learning how to be bosses, and you’re all constantly problem-solving.
I hadn’t taken the leap lightly, I’d interviewed them as much as they interviewed me. We had good discussions around diversity within the industry, how they’d been in it themselves for over a decade and how they wanted to do it better.
They walked the walk after talking the talk when worldwide instances of sexism were called out on Instagram via @ratmagnet, @britishbeergirl and @fanny.wandel. My new bosses at Moonwake Beer Co. did not just take my word for it, they sat and read every post and took it as a serious learning opportunity for their business.
These inherent discrimination issues within the industry, which really should not have been a surprise for anyone in our small microcosm, led to them working with our investors on 28 business practice policies and these will only get added to.
This measurable action impressed me as I’d simply not heard of brand new breweries having these things in place. It wasn’t until I spoke to our non-executive directors who previously ran their own, now employee-owned business, that I realised without their prior experience and contacts this would have cost us upwards of £50,000 with third-party lawyers.
This makes some sense as to why small, independent craft breweries may not have these.
Independent craft breweries are start-ups through and through but as the industry enters its next generational wave what’s being done to make sure we’re the responsible and diverse businesses we want to be?
Amongst the initial reactions to anonymous stories of abuse and toxic workplaces was a notably personal reaction from Marble Beers as new interim board of directors member Nicholas Bennet says:
“There was a very human reaction at first from Jan [their founder] but also from all of us within the company. The initial reaction maybe wasn’t the most helpful in this sort of situation but the first priority that myself and my senior colleagues had was to establish what had actually happened.”
The long-standing sole director of Marble passed on the baton to a team of people, creating an interim board with a strict goal:
“The idea we had behind it in a team of equals we were looking to have a degree of accountability that maybe hadn’t been there before and that isn’t there inside a lot of owner-managed businesses. We can hold each other to account quite forcefully in an honest and open way.” explained Nicholas.
Nicholas detailed that a lot of the systems needed to prevent instances of wrongdoing already existed so their first goal is to make sure their team knows exactly where to turn in the future, while also putting a continuous process of review in place alongside external Human Resources (HR) providers. Nick says: “It’s important we don’t see this as a one-off job.”
Meanwhile, in Leeds, North Brew Co. gathered their senior management team to discuss the allegations on Instagram and how they would react to ensure their staff feel safe at work. Sarah Hardy, North’s marketing manager says: “Hannah who leads our wellbeing team, alongside driving for our webshop, held workshops with every single bar team member to discuss sexual harassment and ask for any feedback on steps that North could take to ensure that people feel comfortable and supported at work. These workshops prompted some thought-provoking exchanges, and have enabled us to speak more widely on this matter.”
North have an existing People and Culture Pioneer working in a HR role. According to the brewery, they have gained regular feedback on staff wellbeing through morale surveys, three-month surveys with new starters, and there are active members of the wellbeing team.
Cloudwater have had a HR role in their management team for three years now, and they recently grew HR into a department of two. They also hired a people development manager outside of this team so that they are never just looking at their staff through an HR or managerial lens. Before their team was large enough to warrant these roles they were members of the Foundation For Small Businesses (FFSB).
Paul Jones, Cloudwater, managing director says: “I think it’s really important that HR provides an objective service that’s separate from management objectives. So I think HR should serve the staff by bringing into the workplace up to the minute best practice, up to the minute employment law and holding the company internally accountable to live in those rules, laws and best practices.
“...It is confidence building to myself, the management team and the staff that when someone or a department is faced with some kind of difficulty that we have a service at our disposal collectively to make sure that things are done in the right, fair and consistent manner.”
For a lot of small independent breweries, their teams are too small to legally require a HR role however that doesn’t mean they can’t work with bodies such as the FFSB, or foster a positive and inclusive company culture from the start and as they grow. Two-year-old brewery Duration does just this, director Miranda Hudson says: “We make a product with love and passion, it’s something we are mindful about not to turn into a commodity - the same goes for our team. Our kit and our people are our most valued assets and we must never take either for granted. Their welfare is our future.”
Miranda shared how they have been seeking inclusive and welcoming behaviours at the tap days from customers and staff alike, she says: “Being upfront about the fact we do not tolerate hate speech or prejudiced behaviours is important. We haven’t had any instances reported at our tap days yet and I hope this is because there haven’t been many, not because our company culture doesn’t allow it to be reported, there is a difference!”
North Brewing Co. operate the Ask for Angela* scheme and have an anonymous reporting system for any staff to report any incidents while they also carefully choose collaborators and people they work with. They also hold team brew days, mental health training, and workshops on budgeting.
Cloudwater is taking this one step further and are in the process of putting together a framework of expectations that will need to be met in order for them to attend events and festivals.
People development is just as important as making sure a business is looking after its team legally.
Miranda Hudson explained that at Duration they hire the person, not just the skillset they bring. She says: “We like to encourage our team to develop both within and outside of their respective department. Often we have crossover anyway and understanding the pain points for other departments can help you be more considerate.”
Paul Jones from Cloudwater says: “I want to make sure that as we grow and develop as a company that nobody is left behind because they didn’t go to university or graduate in the thing that they’re doing for us. But what everybody brings with them to us is passion and we want to develop that.”
However, he did highlight an issue that remains even in those companies that aim to foster the most open communications and opportunities. Paul says: “As much as I keep a good relationship with team members I’m still their bloody boss and sometimes people are just not comfortable talking to their boss!
“I feel like whenever a company exists without HR baked in there’s definitely stuff that’s not being talked about. Even though we’ve got an HR team it still actually takes quite a lot to convince people to use it. That’s because we inherit people who...bring expectations that have been born out of other businesses where people feel like they shouldn’t put their hand up and complain.”
To combat this they have started a process of building a council to discover blind spots with their company, the aim is to create a sense of unity across the teams and different departments. They are hoping that the council will solicit opinion more successfully, in addition to HR and management.
North Brew Co. do this with their wellbeing team which aims to encourage open communication across the company, covering members from all aspects of the business: bar staff, packaging and brewing.
Nicholas Bennett is looking to instil this in Marble, he says: “If we can get that level of honesty and a culture of openness right through the business then I think we’ll be on the way to making our community as welcoming and forward-thinking as it can be.”
The craft beer industry has had to grow up in a small space of time, some have handled it better than others. It’s one of the best and worst things about a start-up industry, we get to come in with passion and grow our expertise. However, there is now a workforce, largely coming from hospitality, who are tired of being dicked around.
I am no longer apprehensive, the discourse around the subject and, luckily, my environment have empowered me to work with the wider industry. Good bosses and people care and they know good businesses thrive with safe and happy people.
*We would also urge businesses to use the Good Night Out campaign
If your place of work is treating you in a way that doesn’t feel right, please consider speaking to someone at either a union, such as Unite for hospitality or the IWW for brewing, or even a group like the Drinks Trust or ACAS.
Our door here at Burum Collective is also always open if you are concerned about your place of work, and we guarantee complete confidentiality. Feel free to email Helen at hello@burumcollective.com
