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Foxtons has promised to improve its workplace culture after reports of sexual misconduct, heavy drinking and discriminatory comments against employees at the London estate agency.
The company made the pledge on Wednesday after a Bloomberg News investigation last week, in which around a dozen current and former employees described “unwanted physical contact, requests for sex or other explicit and offensive comments” between 2021 and last year.
Bloomberg reported that 13 people described “examples of racist or antisemitic comments” made by employees while 16 interviewees reported “that heavy drinking and drunk-driving were commonplace”.
Foxtons told Bloomberg: “We do not tolerate this sort of behaviour,” and added that it also took the drunk-driving allegations “very seriously”.
In a full-year results statement, Foxtons said improving its culture would “remain a key area of focus throughout 2025”, without announcing any new specific measures.
Foxtons HR director Natalie Booth told the Financial Times that the company had “considered” bringing in an independent third party to review the claims.
“We are taking time to work out if there has been any failures or any issues in our processes,” said Booth, who joined the company in November from developer Berkeley Group. “We are not quite ready to commit to anything yet . . . but that is not inaction.”
In the group’s results statement Foxtons chair Nigel Rich backed chief executive Guy Gittins. Rich, who has served on the board since 2021, said Gittins had “been instrumental in bringing cultural change to Foxtons” and that mandatory annual respect and inclusion training as well as enhanced “speak up processes” had been rolled out in 2024.
Bloomberg reported one case in which a former employee took a series of allegations about “sexual harassment and discrimination” directly to Gittins, who reportedly said he could not engage with the complaint personally. In another instance, a former employee said Gittins refused to believe his complaint about a co-worker using a racial slur, according to Bloomberg.
“Any complaints that come to me are automatically referred to HR,” Gittins told the FT. “Those instances were all fully and appropriately investigated.”
The chief executive said that while “we don’t recognise” all of the allegations in the investigation, “the majority of the cases we knew about . . . and had taken decisive action” including against some employees who were “exited from the business”.
Gittins rejoined Foxtons in 2022 as chief executive after working there before 2006.
As chief, he has prioritised reinvigorating its sales-driven culture. The company is known as a training ground for careers in the property sector, recruiting large cohorts of young negotiators.
The company reported on Wednesday that adjusted operating profit was up 38 per cent in 2024 at £21.6mn, ahead of market expectations, thanks to a rebound in sales revenue as the property market improved and growth continued in its large London lettings business.
Foxtons’ shares rose about 2.3 per cent in early London trading.
