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The Confederation of British Industry has fired "a number of people" after a series of allegations of sexual misconduct in the lobby group under pressure. Its chairman, Brian McBride, said the board and senior executives felt "a collective sense of shame" at letting down the company's group staff. “In hindsight, we now know that we were complacent. And we made mistakes in the way we organized the business, which had terrible consequences," McBride said.
He said several other staff members had been fired for failing to meet the high standards expected of them. This follows the firing of former CBI CEO Tony Danker two weeks ago.
It also follows reports from The Guardian newspaper, which spoke to more than a dozen women who claimed they were sexually harassed while working at the CBI.
Two of these women say they were raped.
McBride said the group had not ruled out "culturally toxic people" when hiring.
The group also failed to act properly when internal allegations were made against these individuals, he said.
“We try to find a solution in cases of sexual harassment when we should have removed these offenders from our company.
“In retrospect, this last point was our most serious mistake, which caused the women to refuse to formalize the complaints.
“It has allowed that tiny minority of staff with regressive – and in some cases abhorrent – attitudes towards their colleagues to feel more confident in their behavior and safer from being detected.
"And it led victims of bullying or violence to believe that their only option was to report their experiences to a newspaper."
We try to find a solution to sexual harassment cases when we should have removed these offenders from our company.
Mr. McBride added that the group's board members and senior executives believed the CBI had a strong corporate culture and had experienced difficult emotions since the revelations were published.
"The greatest of these emotions is a collective sense of shame at having so severely failed the enthusiastic, ambitious and passionate people who have come to work at CBI.
"They rightly expected to be able to do it in a safe environment, and we let them down."
He also told the members that the band miscommunicated with them after the allegations became public.
"In doing so, commenters concluded that the organization was ruthless and toxic, and that serious allegations of rape had been covered up, when in fact they were never brought to the attention of CBI senior management or the board of directors until they were resolved. revealed by The Guardian," McBride said.
The body suspended its membership policy and activities last Friday after dozens of members said they would resign or suspend interactions with the CBI.
It came after The Guardian published the second rape allegation on Friday.
McBride said the group will try to win back the trust of the members.
“If it's possible, I just don't know. Of course, it is up to each of you to decide," he said.
The CBI has in the past been a powerful voice for business across the UK and claims to represent the interests of around 190,000 businesses.
Most of them are not direct members, but members of professional bodies which are themselves members of the CBI.
In the past, much of the CBI's role was to lobby opposition ministers, officials and MPs for the interests of its members.
But on Monday, Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt questioned the value of linking up with the CBI after it lost such a large proportion of its membership.
Speaking to reporters, Hunt said it was "incredibly important" to work with a body that represents UK businesses.
But he added: “There is no point in engaging with the CBI when their own members have abandoned them en masse.
“So we want to commit to an organization that advocates for business. It is extremely important to me when preparing quotes to have someone to speak to on behalf of UK businesses.
The CBI has already suspended most of its activities and will try to regroup before a membership meeting in June.
PA files
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