‘Ridiculous criticism' | Was BrewDog's James Watt right to slash living wage pay?

Last week, Scottish-based alcoholic beverage giant BrewDog announced that it would no longer pay its employees the real living wage, despite having done so since 2015. Instead, new hires will be offered the national minimum wage of £11.44 an hour, which is below the £12 cost of living-based rate.

Headlines, including those here at HR Grapevine, noted the significant discourse around the move, with Bryan Simpson, Hospitality Organiser of the union Unite, saying that, “to withdraw the real living wage now, during the most acute cost of living crisis in a generation is outrageous”.

Yes, from an HR perspective, removing an obviously much-lauded benefit from staff such as this is at the very least, an employer brand disaster. BrewDog has historically relied on what it considers to be an exemplary host of rewards and benefits to lure prospective candidates in what is an incredibly challenging market.

What’s more, BrewDog recently suffered an unpleasant employer-branding disaster due to the formation of ‘Punks with Purpose’, an advocacy group of former BrewDog personnel, created to criticise internal decision making and what the group calls its ‘toxic’ culture.