Anton Forte, one of the co-founders of the popular Sydney hospitality group Swillhouse has stepped down from his role as CEO following widespread controversy surrounding the group’s six venues.
On Friday, Forte told employees that he would be stepping down from the role as top dog in a company-wide email. Filling his shoes would be Lisa Hobbs, the former CEO of fellow hospitality group Etymon Projects.
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Forte wrote that Hobbs’ appointment into the position would help see “a better, stronger future for Swillhouse.”
Forte will also take a sidestep into the newly created managing director role where he will be “working closely with Lisa and supporting her as she drives the evolution of Swillhouse.”
Although Forte will no longer be the captain of the Swillhouse ship at a CEO level, it’s worth noting that he is still the sole director of the company.
In a statement to Good Food, Hobbs confirmed that she would be overseeing the “day-to-day operations of the entire business, with Anton moving into more of an oversight role”.
Back in August, the Sydney Morning Herald published the findings of a months-long investigation which alleged that sexual assault, harassment and misconduct were commonplace across the six venues. The report also claimed when these issues were reported by staff, they were not taken seriously by management.
Following these claims, Forte shared an apologetic statement on Swillhouse’s official Instagram in which he took accountability for the mistakes made by the corporation and vowed to do better moving forward.
“When Swillhouse began, we wanted to create something magical in the city we loved. We built our venues with real soul, integrity and passion. People were, and still are, at the heart of our business,” Forte said in the video.
“Everything we have, we owe to them and we wanted to create a culture of openness, generosity and respect. But along the way we messed up. It’s heartbreaking to know that people were unsupported, unheard and let down. I’m deeply sorry for that.”
Compared to similar claims against fellow Sydney hospitality group Merivale which has not apologised or provided a statement regarding the allegations of exploiting women and condoning drug use, Swillhouse and Forte have handled matters pretty well by taking accountability.
However, I can’t help but wonder whether Hobbs’ appointment might just be the glass cliff phenomena in action. This is when a woman is promoted to a higher position during a time of crisis or during a recession when the chance of failure is more likely. It was originally a term coined by researchers at the University of Exeter, based on the glass ceiling analogy which is about the invisible limit on how high up women can rise within companies.
By promoting a woman, they earn a reputation of being “progressive”. They have someone to blame if the company isn’t saved from a reputation downfall and if she fails the company is free to reappoint a male colleague without reproach.
Do we know whether this is the case for Lisa Hobbs? We have no idea. The first step is to be aware of gender imbalance in action. Being aware of a biased problem and naming it is half the battle.
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