Company Culture
The ‘BrewDog’ Culture
Company Culture – The BrewDog Culture
This is one area of particular interest to me and you will find several blogs on the subject on my website. For me, working in the area of Human Resources and particularly Organisational Development, company culture is paramount. So I always find it interesting to look at how companies do this.
During my MBA we looked at the company values of Toyota and the Wood Group PSN in Aberdeen, which although very interesting - and I especially liked the fact that the Wood Group company tie incorporated the colours used in the company values document, they pale into insignificance when you see the information I found online last week.
Recently I started following the CEO and one of the co-founders of BrewDog brewery, James Watt, on LinkedIn. I’m not a big beer drinker as a coeliac and I have to say I didn’t know a lot about their back history but I’ve tried their gluten free lager and being a fellow Scot, I thought I would take a closer look. I have to say I am exceptionally impressed on so many levels…
This is how he opens his Culture document:
“BrewDog exists for one very simple reason. To make other people as passionate about great craft beer as we are. We also want to show that craft beer can be a force for good and build a completely new type of business. A business that is community-owned, a business that gives back, a business that is open and transparent and a business that looks after its amazing people incredibly well. In short, a business that we are all extremely proud to be part of.
Very few growing companies manage to make the transition from small company to medium sized company whilst keeping their culture intact. They almost all fall into the inevitable trap of becoming very corporate along the journey. The companies that manage to fight hard enough to keep their culture during high growth usually end up becoming iconic and enduring global businesses – like Patagonia, Netflix, Google and Southwest Airlines.
This CrewPrint will be the roadmap for BrewDog as an employer for the next 12 months and beyond. A cast iron commitment and a setting of the bar to which we can hold ourselves accountable. The document is split into two sections. The first contains details on all the things we currently do and how to access them as a team member. We already do so many great things but it can be tough to understand what they are or how to access them as a team member; this document outlines them all together for the first time. The second half of the document outlines new initiatives and commitments we have developed together with our team.
Rebels smash the system. Mavericks build new ones. As we enter our second decade we need to make the move from Rebel to Maverick as we look to build one of the best companies of our generation.”
Check out the Culture document which discusses employee welfare and compensation & benefits here.
What I have already seen in the past few weeks is an incredibly transparent way of working, even openly discussing mistakes they have made along the way. They publish their documentation online for everyone to see and from the outset, live up to their transparency. Their CSR efforts are incredible, in terms of being carbon negative and proving themselves as one of the forerunners in comparison with their very well-known competitors worldwide and yet remain a local Scottish business – despite starting to take the entire world by storm.
So what is it that they are doing differently do you think?
The first thing that jumped out to me is that they have very clear values and the benefits relate directly to these. It makes sense, it’s clear and concise and therefore easily communicable.
Secondly, no matter where you work in the business you are treated as a valued member and receive remuneration for that. They have something called a ‘Unicorn Fund’ which means that everybody benefits from increased profits. They also pride themselves on being a ‘Living Wage’ employer rather than a ‘Minimum Wage’ employer despite the extra costs incurred.
Thirdly the benefits are amazing, but very clearly relate to the business itself. You get a beer at the end of your shift and 24 bottles of beer a month! Not only this but you get ‘Pawternity’ leave for adopting a dog. It’s not gimmicky, they want their employees to buy into this culture.
Lastly, and most importantly for me, is that it’s all about the people. They treat their people extremely well and apart from compensation, benefits and CSR, they have set out mental health initiatives, opportunities for progression and a seemingly local approach to an international business.
There is far more to this than I can write about today in this blog but I wanted to share this with you as one of the most exciting and insightful Culture Documents I have seen in a long time…if ever! It has certainly given me great food for thought for the next time I sit down and help a business with their Organisational Development. If you get a chance do pop on and follow them online and check out their marketing materials to learn more.