BrewDog is facing criticism after plans emerged of its intention to drop out of the accredited real living wage scheme.
The Guardian reports new workers are being hired on the legal minimum wage of £10.42 an hour - below the independently verified living wage of £10.90 that existing staff get.
BrewDog CEO James Watt responded to the report on LinkedIn, acknowledging BrewDog had decided to pull out of the scheme, but insisting that many staff are being paid more, when share bonuses and performance incentives are considered.
According to a letter seen by The Guardian, pay for BrewDog staff outside London will increase to £11.44 an hour from 1 April, in line with the new legal minimum for those aged 23 and over.
However, that will be below the new real living wage of £12 an hour that accredited employers pledge to pay from April.
In the capital there will be no increase in the minimum pay offered by BrewDog from April, with the rate for bar staff staying at £11.95 an hour, which is below the £13.15 London real living wage being introduced that month.
Bryan Simpson, lead organiser on hospitality at the Unite union, said: “BrewDog has been paying the real living wage since 2015. To withdraw it now, during the most acute cost of living crisis in a generation is outrageous.
“We are already working with our BrewDog members across the country to collectively challenge this awful decision and force the senior management of the company to do the right thing by the workers who have made them millions.”
BrewDog told workers it was making the “important but necessary … hard decisions” on pay despite a good festive period for the business.
“Even with this strong performance over Christmas, as a wider business there is no hiding from the fact that in 2023 we made a trading loss and despite many efforts in the past 12 months to reduce our spending we still need to find more ways to get this business back to profitability and the financial stability that is needed. Inevitably, this does mean making some hard decisions,” the company wrote.
A spokesperson for BrewDog said: “Despite unprecedented challenges in the hospitality sector – our staff outside London will be getting a 4.95% increase in base pay, and crew currently working in London will be paid 4.5% above the national living wage.
“We have always been fully committed to doing the best we can for our people, and our benefits package is far more generous than the industry average.”
James Watt said: “Since March 2022 we have increased the wages of our UK bar teams by a huge 20.4%, this is well ahead of most industries and almost all of our competitors. With the Real Living Wage increasing by an additional 10% in April 2024 we could not implement this on top of all the other amazing things we do for our people whilst still offering fantastic value for our customers at a time where they have less disposable income to spend.
“Hospitality is going through its toughest period in living memory. There were more closures and job losses last year than ever before. Despite that we continue to invest way more in our people than our competitors. When you add up everything that we do for our people the value of the package is even more generous than Real Living Wage.”
He added that BrewDog shared £350,000 with its bar teams in the first ten months 2023, which will increase to £500,000 when Q4 is included.
All staff working in a bar can earn an extra £1 per hour for the entire month simply by passing their mystery shop.
Watt said the brand’s package of benefits, including sabbaticals, Hop Stock, medical care and holiday pay put it ahead of the rest of the industry.
“We do not use any zero-hour contracts which many of the businesses in our industry use.
“It is important to note that nobody’s wages are going down and what we announced is actually a pay increase most of our people: our staff outside London will be getting a 4.95% increase in base pay, and crew currently working in London will be paid 4.5% above the National Living Wage.
“We remain fully committed to investing in our people, putting together packages which are well ahead of our competitors whilst doing all we can to drive exceptional customer experiences and long-term shareholder value for our community of over 220,000 Equity Punks.”
