London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Apr 25, 2025

CBI hired 'toxic' staff and failed to sack offenders

CBI hired 'toxic' staff and failed to sack offenders

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 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.

On Friday a second rape allegation emerged, after a woman told the Guardian she was raped whilst working at one of the CBI's overseas offices.

Both rape allegations are being investigated by the police.

In a letter following a report by law firm 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"

*  The failure to sack offenders had led to a reluctance among women to formalise complaints

*  This also 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 promoted some managers too quickly "without the necessary prior and ongoing training to protect our cultural values, and to properly react when those values were violated"

*  It paid "more attention to competence than to behaviour"

*  It 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."

Mr McBride said he wanted to give members reasons to consider trusting the lobby group again.

But said: "Whether that is possible, I simply don't know."

Mr McBride said he was concerned that CBI staff felt that their only option was to go to the Guardian newspaper - which first published the claims - instead of feeling confident enough to raise the matter internally.

One female CBI worker had told the Guardian that she had been stalked by a male colleague in 2018.

The business group upheld a complaint of harassment against the man however, he was allowed to keep working in the same office as the woman. He eventually left for an unrelated reasons, according to the newspaper.

Earlier this month, the lobby group fired its director-general, Tony Danker, who joined the CBI in 2020, following separate complaints of workplace misconduct.

Mr Danker acknowledged he had made some staff feel "very uncomfortable" and apologised, but said his name had been wrongly associated with separate claims andthat his reputation had been "destroyed".

He is being replaced by Rain Newton-Smith, the CBI's former chief economist, who is returning to the lobby group after a brief stint at Barclays.

Dame Carolyn Fairbairn was the director-general of the CBI between 2015 and 2020. The BBC has contacted her for comment.


'Rebuilding trust'


Mr McBride said the CBI had accepted all 35 recommendations made by Fox Williams investigators and added the organisation had 60 days to produce an action plan for its members to vote one.

The CBI's president said the organisation had to "go for a much more zero-tolerance culture" and get "much more severe in dealing" with incidents of bullying and sexual harassment.

"For us it's about rebuilding the trust that we obviously lost with the members who left us," he said.

But Andy Wood, chief executive of the brewing company Adnams, which has cancelled its membership of the CBI, said he had not heard anything so far that "reassures me that I should become a member of the CBI again".

He said he was not sure if the group was "salvageable".

"Zero tolerance of bullying and sexual harassment - that has to be a given in a modern organisation," Mr Wood said.

"It just shows really how archaic the CBI was behind the scenes. I applaud them for trying to put their house in order but this does feel [like] a few things being done far too late."

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Milwaukee Judge Arrested on Allegations of Aiding Undocumented Immigrant’s Escape
Former U.S. Congressman George Santos sentenced to eighty-seven months for wide-ranging fraud
Trump administration moves to BAN essentially ALL artificial food dyes in the USA food supply at RFK Jr.'s direction
Woman slaps man at sports game and gets herself and husband beat up
Pope Francis: head of the Catholic church who pushed for social and economic justice
China do not pay these tariffs - you pay it. This is new 145% tax you pay to the US government.
Nightlife in the streets of Manchester
In God We Profit
Cultural Battles in the Vatican: The Candidates in the Battle for the Holy See and Pope Francis's Testament
Global Leaders Pay Tribute to Pope Francis Following His Death
Wild Chimpanzees Observed Bonding Over Alcoholic Fruit
US Federal Reserve Chair Issues Warning on Tariff Impact
UK Prison Officers Demand Electric Stun Guns Amid Safety Concerns
China, China, China!
Australian National Charged as Mercenary for Fighting in Ukraine
Israel Considers Limited Strikes on Iran's Nuclear Facilities Amid Diplomatic Efforts
Prince Andrew Joins Royal Family Attends Easter Sunday Service at Windsor Castle
Saudi Arabia Offers Max Verstappen Unprecedented Deal to Join Aston Martin
Global Pistachio Shortage Amid Rising Demand for 'Dubai Chocolate'
Trump is assembling a coalition of Western leaders aligned with the MAGA vision, strengthening a unified front for global change
IMF Predicts No Global Recession Amid Trade Tensions
Here’s a police officer with a brilliant gift for swift education
"Some complain that we put thousands in prison. In reality, we set millions free."
This is Vienna, Austria in 2025.
Boeing Jet Returns to US from China Amid Tariff War
Canadian Federal Election: Candidates' Positions on US-Canada Relations and Donald Trump
Resentencing Hearing for Menendez Brothers Who Killed Their Parents Delayed Amid Legal Disputes
Australian Woman Gives Birth To Stranger's Baby In IVF Mix-up
US Sets Deadline for Russia-Ukraine Peace Deal Brokerage
Italy Introduces 'Sex Rooms' in Prisons for Inmates
California Launches Legal Challenge Against Trump Administration's Tariffs
"Groundless": China Dismisses Zelensky's Claims It's Supplying Arms To Russia
UK Psytrance Festival Cancelled Amid Local Protests Over Noise Concerns
French Far-Right Writer Renaud Camus Denied Entry to UK
UK Police Force Updates Search Policy for Trans Individuals in Custody
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Meets with Donald Trump to Discuss EU-US Trade Tensions
Canada's Federal Party Leaders Engage in Final Debate Ahead of General Election
Ukraine and US Sign Outline of Minerals Deal
Fast Food Chain Refuses to Apologize for Online Comment About Katy Perry's Space Voyage
New York Attorney General Letitia James Faces Criminal Referral for Alleged Mortgage Fraud
Mark Cuban admits support for Trump executive order: ‘Gotta be honest’
US Senator Meets with Deported Immigrant in El Salvador Amid Custody Dispute
U.S. State Department Raises El Salvador’s Safety Ranking, Making It Safer Than France and Other European Nations
UK Government Assumes Control of British Steel's Scunthorpe Plant Amid Shutdown Threat
UK MP Wera Hobhouse Denied Entry to Hong Kong During Family Visit
Bangladesh Issues Arrest Warrant for UK MP Tulip Siddiq
China Urges United States to Cancel Tariffs Amid Escalating Trade Tensions
The Empire’s USD Pyramid Scheme Is Working Brilliantly—So Why ‘Fix’ It?
China Raises Tariffs on U.S. Goods to 125% Amid Escalating Trade Dispute
Elon Musk Reports $150 Billion in Projected Government Savings Amid Fraud Investigations
×