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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
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| CBI hired 'toxic' staff and failed to sack offenders | CBI hired 'toxic' staff and failed to sack offenders |
| (30 minutes later) | |
| The UK's biggest business group has admitted it hired "culturally toxic" staff and failed to fire people who sexually harassed female colleagues. | The UK's biggest business group has admitted it hired "culturally toxic" staff and failed to fire people who sexually harassed female colleagues. |
| The CBI said a failure to act allowed a "very small minority" of staff to believe they could get away with harassment or violence against women. | The CBI said a failure to act allowed a "very small minority" of staff to believe they could get away with harassment or violence against women. |
| The embattled lobby group said it has now dismissed a number of people. | |
| The CBI was responding to an independent law firm report on misconduct allegations including rape. | |
| In an emotional letter to members, the business lobby group - which claims to represent 190,000 firms - admitted to a series of failings and said it had made mistakes "that led to terrible consequences". | |
| It said there was a collective "sense of shame" at "so badly having let down the...people who came to work at the CBI". | |
| "Our collective failure to completely protect vulnerable employees... and to put in place proper mechanisms to rapidly escalate incidents of this nature to senior leadership.... these failings most of all drive the shame," CBI president Brian McBride said in the letter. | |
| In early April, a number of claims of misconduct and harassment against CBI staff emerged including one allegation of rape at the lobby group's summer party in 2019. | In early April, a number of claims of misconduct and harassment against CBI staff emerged including one allegation of rape at the lobby group's summer party in 2019. |
| On Friday a second rape allegation emerged, whilst working at one of the CBI's overseas offices. | |
| Both rape allegations are being investigated by the police. | |
| In a letter responding to recommendations by law Fox Williams which was appointed to lead an independent investigation into the lobby group, the CBI admitted to its members: | |
| It "tried to find resolution in sexual harassment cases when we should have removed those offenders from our business" | It "tried to find resolution in sexual harassment cases when we should have removed those offenders from our business" |
| A failure to sack offenders led to a reluctance among women to formalise complaints | A failure to sack offenders led to a reluctance among women to formalise complaints |
| This allowed a "very small minority of staff with regressive - and, in some cases, abhorrent - attitudes towards their female colleagues to feel more assured in their behaviour, and more confident of not being detected" | This allowed a "very small minority of staff with regressive - and, in some cases, abhorrent - attitudes towards their female colleagues to feel more assured in their behaviour, and more confident of not being detected" |
| It failed to filter out culturally toxic people during the hiring process | It failed to filter out culturally toxic people during the hiring process |
| Promoted some mangers too quickly "without the necessary prior and ongoing training to protect our cultural values, and to properly react when those values were violated" | Promoted some mangers too quickly "without the necessary prior and ongoing training to protect our cultural values, and to properly react when those values were violated" |
| Paid "more attention to competence than to behaviour" | Paid "more attention to competence than to behaviour" |
| Failed to properly integrate new staff | Failed to properly integrate new staff |
| The future of the CBI is hanging in the balance and it has suspended its operations until June while it tries to reform its workplace. | |
| There has been a mass exodus of CBI members, with a number of household names including John Lewis, BMW, Virgin Media O2, insurers Aviva, Zurich and Phoenix Group, banking firm Natwest, credit card company Mastercard; B&Q owner Kingfisher and media firm ITV all quitting the group. | |
| The government had already decided to pause any activity with the lobby group, but on Monday, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said there was "no point" engaging with the CBI when its own members had deserted them. | |
| "We want to engage with a body that speaks or business. It is incredibly important for me when I'm constructing budgets to have someone that I can turn to who speaks for British business." | "We want to engage with a body that speaks or business. It is incredibly important for me when I'm constructing budgets to have someone that I can turn to who speaks for British business." |
| Mr McBride said he wanted to give members a reasons to consider trusting the lobby group again. | |
| But said: "Whether that is possible, I simply don't know." | |
| Related Topics | Related Topics |
| CBI | CBI |