Last week a report from Forbes noted that in light of recent allegations of misconduct and discrimination, the co-owner of Evil Genius would be stepping down from the Philly Loves Beer board of directors. And over the weekend an official statement was released by the staff of the brewery in response to those allegations.
You can see the full post, which says it has been shared by the employees of the brewery.
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The text reads:
We are thankful for Brienne (@ratmagnet) for bringing the toxicity, misogyny, discrimination and harassment that exists in the craft beer industry to light. This is very much a time for reflection and conversation in an effort to make meaningful change – and to continue these practices beyond today. The experiences that former staff shared upset us as members of the current staff and prompted a very serious internal conversation about the previous and current state of the brewery and how we operate moving forward.
After reading the multiple accounts from former staff members, ownership immediately called an all-staff meeting. At this meeting we discussed the allegations at hand. We advocated for change through open and, at times, difficult dialogue with management and
ownership to ensure future accountability, communication, training, and processes through which HR policies are enforced.
We acknowledge that the past employees who brought these incidents to light were working in an environment where they felt unsafe to report their treatment by patrons, other staff, or management and that those who had, felt that not enough was accomplished to prevent such occurrences from happening again. Trevor and Luke were humble and open to feedback about their gaps in leadership in the past and are committed to reworking systems that ensure the company culture “buck” stops with them. They are actively participating with current staff members to seek a meaningful resolution that puts a system in place to make Evil Genius a safe, inclusive, and enjoyable place to work.
Over the past several months, the FOH staff have been under new leadership that has displayed a deeper commitment to the staff than seen in the past and are devoted to creating and maintaining an environment in which all staff can comfortably thrive. A third party HR company has been put into place that will handle the reporting of issues/problems/concerns. This has led to a noticeable improvement in brewery culture even before the conversations of the past week. As part of this continued growth, staff have called on management to put dedicated systems in place to ensure the creation of such an environment.
The steps we have requested to be put into place include:
- More training for staff including management and ownership, such as harassment training and safe bar training.
- Clear-cut, written policies and transparency of how they will be enforced.
- Commitment to increasing the diversity and equity of staff through intentional recruitment and training efforts.
- Continued open discussions amongst the entire staff with leadership to ensure that gaps in awareness of problematic issues we all face are acknowledged and discussed in an open forum on a regular basis.
In addition, the outcome of this conversation has prompted the development of a staff committee that will be advising and listening in order to hold management and ownership accountable for the creation of the above and the prevention of a toxic workplace.
The conversation does not end here, internally or for our industry. We know that change is required, and we as a staff are enthusiastically committed to the betterment of our workplace and the craft beer industry as a whole. We encourage others who have experienced mistreatment both at our own brewery and others to step forward. We are confident that our efforts will serve as a catalyst for real, positive change both at Evil Genius and throughout the craft beer industry.
There is no confirmation of any changes to the brewing companies operation and ownership staff in response to a few key members being specifically named in the allegations. We will provide updates as more information is made available.
