What happens when you don’t invest in the health of your business – learn from BrewDog…

The health of your business determines its success.

A healthy workplace culture, where all are invested in the same core behaviours, behaviours which are based on the principles and values YOU have instilled in the culture of the business, ensures that your team will be productive and your business will be profitable.

An unhealthy business will result in the polar opposite.

Let’s talk beer. Take BrewDog – Beer for Punks! This is their tagline.

BrewDog was founded by friends James Watt and Martin Dickie in an Aberdeen shed in 2007. It has grown to have breweries in the UK, US and Australia, including a carbon-negative brewing and bar complex at Ellon near Aberdeen.

To an outsider, BrewDog looks like a successful business, with loyal customers and shareholders, a business that you would probably want to work for!

What do you think your business looks like to an outsider?

But in June 2021, BrewDog were accused of ‘promoting a toxic culture of fear in the workplace’ by a group of ex-employees – not very Punk!

This is made even worse when you consider that one of their core beliefs is:  We believe in being a great employer.

James Watt publicly apologised through a series of videos and statements, but the backlash on social media meant that there was nowhere to hide, especially as these behaviours were in direct contradiction to BrewDog’s stated values. People began to call into question the health of the business.

Clearly, an unhealthy workplace culture is costly. What is even more costly is saying you have a healthy workplace culture when you don’t.

Build a healthy workplace culture in your business, but make it real. Be sure to establish a set of values you want your business to live by and then have everyone in your business live by those values!  Don’t fall short like BrewDog! In our social media world of information being everywhere all the time, there is no room for cutting corners – your business will suffer if you do.