Sharp & Carter culture under the microscope as unflattering video captures the headlines
It’s a slow news week this week.
It must be very slow to feature a ‘viral video’ that, in reality, shows nothing more than a business owner clarifying expectations and making recommendations about Christmas party behaviour.
In case you missed it, there were numerous articles in the mainstream media about a video circulated by a Sharp & Carter employee that showed co-founder Stephen Carter addressing the company (in person and via Teams) last Thursday about that company’s imminent Christmas party.
The content that grabbed all the attention was Carter saying, “I take drugs myself, I just don’t do it at work events because that’s when things get really out of hand. If you take drugs at the Christmas party you will be fired. It’s a really strong rule.
Carter continued, “If you want to cheat on your partner I would recommend 2024 has been a stark reminder it is probably not wise to cheat on your partner with someone at work. If you are going to cheat on your partner and if you have to do it – just don’t do it with someone at work it really becomes problematic as we have seen.”
Industry news service Shortlist covered the story ($ access) however, most people would have read the story via the mainstream media. The Herald Sun and other Murdoch papers, including the New York Post, covered the story with Carter giving an interview to the Herald Sun on Tuesday.
Mr Carter, whose head offices are in Melbourne, added that he probably would have chosen his words more carefully if he had known the talk would end up on social media.
“Obviously I didn’t expect it to get sent externally,” he said.
“I probably would have chosen to use my words a bit differently if I knew that.
“But regarding the content, I haven’t been exposed for sexually harassing dozens of staff, or caught in a compromising position or passed out in a ditch, the intention obviously is to look after and care for my people so they don’t do damage to themselves and others.
“The law doesn’t view Christmas parties as different to the workplace and the same professional behaviours apply.
“At 203 people we are representative of society, and in society that happens, people take drugs, people cheat on their partner and I’m just trying to get ahead of that. I don’t want to clean up their mess afterwards. I’m trying to get ahead of it.
“It’s nothing specific to my business more than any other business.”
Mr Carter added that he hadn’t done drugs for “about five years”.
Stephen Carter was being proactive in the wellbeing of his employees. His choice of words to an internal audience was unremarkable in the context of a recruitment agency dominated by Gen Y and Gen Z employees. It’s unlikely the CEO of a publicly-listed company would choose those words.
Unfortunately for Carter, one of his employees sent the clipped video externally.
As Shortlist reported, “Carter did not respond to Shortlist’s question about what disciplinary action, if any, the employee who shared the recording has faced.”
Stephen Carter’s comments will blow over – he broke no laws, did not behave unethically nor did he do anything wrong other than choose his words carelessly.
The damage to Sharp & Carter’s reputation might take longer to recover.
If a S&C employee is prepared to share internal information in such a thoughtless way, it raises a legitimate question about the culture of privacy and confidentiality at the company.
Like any recruitment agency database, the Sharp & Carter database would contain much confidential and private information. Is the training and accountability concerning this information sufficiently rigorous?
Given the headlines we see every day about the hacking of IT systems and the enormous brand damage done to companies as a result (hello Optus) one of the most important things a company can do is instill, and continue to reinforce, in each one of its employees a deep understanding of their role making good choices about sharing information they have access to.
When an employee sends an unflattering video of their boss to an external audience you have to wonder about the soundness of their judgement and what that might say about the culture in which they work.
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Probably one of the dumbest scandals I’ve seen in a long time in recruitment. The fact that Carter had to apologise felt necessary (for saving face) but also inauthentic, as I don’t think he did anything really that egregious. Anyone that has dealt with this guy knows he is one of the few “nice guys” when it comes to CEOs of big recruitment companies.
I do agree that it does raise questions about technology usage within companies and the fact that some of the Gen Z kids coming through have no sense or maturity about what should or shouldn’t be shared online.