Below is an excerpt from a recent letter written by Aeronaut management to employees…
We’ve been paying close attention to the stories and messages that have been shared this past week by @ratmagnet, calling out sexism, workplace inequities and sexual assault in the craft beer industry. The widespread nature of these experiences has prompted us to take another look at ourselves as an organization, and to reflect on what we currently do, what we should do, and what we can do better.
We’d love to say that these things don’t happen here. We’d love to live in a world where everyone was treated with respect. But we understand that our taproom and workplaces are not immune to sexism or inappropriate behaviors, so we will do our best to foster trust and a culture where our employees and customers feel comfortable bringing such issues to our attention. We will take these matters seriously and provide follow-through and clear communication. We also want our employees to feel comfortable calling out offenses and educating each other about sexism in its more entrenched and latent forms.
We want to assure you all that we are listening, and that we are taking action. Below are some of the steps we have already taken as an organization to begin to address these inequities:
- Established an employee-run Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (JEDI) committee that advises company management on improvements to policies and practices relating to JEDI issues.
- Improved outreach to women as an underrepresented group in the craft brewing industry by posting our jobs on Pink Boots Society website.
- Created hiring forms that are blinded for initial screenings and have created hiring processes that are well defined and reduce biases.
- Have a non-management Harassment Officer, who is a resource to handle complaints about sexual harassment and harassment in general.
- Have written guidance and a formal complaints process for sexual harassment issues.
The following are steps we will be taking in the near future:
- Providing mandatory sexual harassment training to our employees.
- Researching and engaging additional outside resources for reporting or counseling.
- Setting recurring office hours for HR, to facilitate and encourage communications and check-ins on issues that may otherwise not be brought up.
- Creating a workshop meeting for women employees to further share experiences and discuss constructive ideas to improve things.
Addressing sexism and inequality will continue to be an ongoing responsibility. To be effective, these issues must be addressed in our company structures, in our culture and in our day-to-day operations. We will keep listening actively, and we will continue this important work.