Results 1 to 12 of 12

Thread: One-Third of Basecamp Employees Quit After Founders Ask Them To Focus On Work, Not Wokeness, At Work

  1. #1
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    5280' Above Sea Level
    Posts
    256,044
    vCash
    10966
    Mentioned
    20 Post(s)
    Thanks
    23,810
    Thanked 113,085 Times in 59,902 Posts

    Whine One-Third of Basecamp Employees Quit After Founders Ask Them To Focus On Work, Not Wokeness, At Work

    By Luke Rosiak - The Daily Wire




    About one-third of employees at software company Basecamp quit days after bosses told them to keep ideology out of the workplace and focus on the company’s actual business.

    “We make project management, team communication, and email software,” CEO Jason Fried wrote April 26. We don’t have to solve deep social problems, chime in publicly whenever the world requests our opinion on the major issues of the day, or get behind one movement or another with time or treasure. These are all important topics, but they’re not our topics at work.”

    Tech journalist Casey Newton said about one-third of the company’s roughly 60 employees took buyouts shortly after, with one fuming: “Basically the company has said, ‘well, your opinions don’t really matter — unless it’s directly related to business…’ A lot of people are gonna have a tough time living with that.”

    Newton reported at Platformer that woke tensions boiled over after, in December, a new hire “volunteered to help the company work on diversity issues.”

    This included criticizing the fact that for years, many employees had contributed to a list called “Best Names Ever” in which they placed funny customer names — of “the sorts of names Bart Simpson used to use when prank calling Moe the Bartender: Amanda Hugginkiss, Seymour Butz, Mike Rotch.”

    A third of the company joined a diversity initiative behind the volunteer, and two employees who had contributed to the list of funny names asked why there had never been an “internal reckoning” over it. They apologized for their involvement and included a link to something called the “pyramid of hate” from the Anti-Defamation League.

    The pyramid lists “non-inclusive language, microaggressions” at the bottom and “genocide” at the top, saying, “If people or institutions treat behaviors on the lower levels as being acceptable or ‘normal,’ it results in the behaviors at the next level becoming more accepted.”

    Basecamp chief technology officer and co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson, the father of the popular web development framework Ruby on Rails, condemned the list of funny names but found the invocation of genocide to be an example of “catastrophizing” that had the effect of shutting down rational conversation.

    When one employee continued to push this line of logic, Hansson pointed out that that employee, himself, had participated in discussions making fun of customers’ names. “You are the person you are complaining about,” he thought, Newton reported.

    Soon after, Fried, who along with Hansson has long been recognized as an expert on cultivating productive workplace culture, said the company was making changes to make sure there was “no forgetting what we do here.”

    There would be “no more societal and political discussions” on official company channels, he said, calling it “a major distraction. It saps our energy, and redirects our dialog towards dark places.”

    On Twitter, John Breen, whose bio describes him as “He/Him. ADHD. Software developer. Queer. High Maintenance,” tallied the exodus in a thread that began, “Let’s keep track of the folks who are leaving @Basecamp and do what we can to find them a new home where they’re allowed to exist without being told they’re divisive:”

    “Ex-basecampers: we need people like you at Mozilla!” one Mozilla employee responded.

    Mozilla has experienced the dark places and distractions Fried warned about. In 2014, Mozilla’s co-founder and CEO was forced to step down when activists made an issue of political speech outside of work six years prior. In 2008, Brendan Eich donated $1,000 to a ballot initiative that banned gay marriage, an initiative that passed, meaning his position was not only mainstream but the majority position at the time.

    The right to opinions inside or outside of work, it seems, only extends to the right opinions.

  2. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Teh One Who Knocks For This Useful Post:

    KevinD (05-05-2021), RBP (05-07-2021)

  3. #2
    unedited FBD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    26,000LYR out, paying taxes to pedophiles
    Posts
    24,602
    vCash
    1000
    Mentioned
    10 Post(s)
    Thanks
    15,855
    Thanked 5,822 Times in 3,934 Posts
    “Basically the company has said, ‘well, your opinions don’t really matter — unless it’s directly related to business…’ A lot of people are gonna have a tough time living with that.”
    what the fuck? YOUR OPINIONS DONT MATTER, GET THE F BACK TO WORK YOU LAZY MILLENIALS

  4. The Following User Says Thank You to FBD For This Useful Post:

    Teh One Who Knocks (05-04-2021)

  5. #3
    Shelter Dweller PorkChopSandwiches's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    77,135
    vCash
    5000
    Mentioned
    15 Post(s)
    Thanks
    47,197
    Thanked 29,254 Times in 16,488 Posts
    I support, GTFO






  6. #4
    Shelter Dweller lost in melb.'s Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Down Under
    Posts
    23,764
    vCash
    7596
    Mentioned
    18 Post(s)
    Thanks
    18,672
    Thanked 7,553 Times in 5,206 Posts
    Getting rid of the Deadwood?

  7. #5
    Shelter Dweller PorkChopSandwiches's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    77,135
    vCash
    5000
    Mentioned
    15 Post(s)
    Thanks
    47,197
    Thanked 29,254 Times in 16,488 Posts
    And now he's backtracking






  8. #6
    unedited FBD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    26,000LYR out, paying taxes to pedophiles
    Posts
    24,602
    vCash
    1000
    Mentioned
    10 Post(s)
    Thanks
    15,855
    Thanked 5,822 Times in 3,934 Posts
    so basically, nobody has any principles left any longer

  9. #7
    #DeSantis2024 Teh One Who Knocks's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    5280' Above Sea Level
    Posts
    256,044
    vCash
    10966
    Mentioned
    20 Post(s)
    Thanks
    23,810
    Thanked 113,085 Times in 59,902 Posts
    Quote Originally Posted by PorkChopSandwiches View Post
    And now he's backtracking
    Basecamp CEO apologizes—but doesn't back down on politics ban
    By JOHN PLETZ - Crain's Chicago Business




    Basecamp founder Jason Fried apologized to employees for the upheaval surrounding a new policy banning political discussion on the company’s internal software platform.

    But the software company isn’t backing away from the policy. Fried and co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson “completely own the consequences, and we’re sorry,” Fried wrote in a blog post (see below). “We have a lot to learn, and we will. The new policies stand, but we have some refining and clarifying to do.”

    About one-third of Basecamp’s employees left when the company offered them buyouts. Basecamp’s policy, announced last week via an internal memo generated a backlash and sparked a debate over how, or if, companies should wade into politics and ways to handle sensitive discussions of race and diversity at work.

    Fried thanked colleagues who took the buyouts, as well as those who remain, and promised to support customers. “We've been in business for 22 years, through thick and thin. We're in it until the end of the Internet. We will regroup, rebuild, and get back to the business of making great software.”


  10. #8
    Shelter Dweller PorkChopSandwiches's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Posts
    77,135
    vCash
    5000
    Mentioned
    15 Post(s)
    Thanks
    47,197
    Thanked 29,254 Times in 16,488 Posts
    Thats what I get for Muddy reading a headline






  11. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to PorkChopSandwiches For This Useful Post:

    FBD (05-06-2021), RBP (05-07-2021)

  12. #9
    unedited FBD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2011
    Location
    26,000LYR out, paying taxes to pedophiles
    Posts
    24,602
    vCash
    1000
    Mentioned
    10 Post(s)
    Thanks
    15,855
    Thanked 5,822 Times in 3,934 Posts

  13. #10
    Hal killed Tormund! Pony's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Borneo
    Posts
    17,294
    vCash
    2000
    Mentioned
    7 Post(s)
    Thanks
    7,292
    Thanked 7,740 Times in 4,205 Posts
    About one-third of employees at software company Basecamp quit...
    A third of the company joined a diversity initiative behind the volunteer, and two employees who had contributed to the list of funny names asked why there had never been an “internal reckoning” over it. They apologized for their involvement and included a link to something called the “pyramid of hate” from the Anti-Defamation League.
    Certainly looks like he solved the problem.

  14. The Following User Says Thank You to Pony For This Useful Post:

    PorkChopSandwiches (05-10-2021)

  15. #11
    I eat crayons. KevinD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Republic of Texas
    Posts
    10,667
    vCash
    1500
    Mentioned
    7 Post(s)
    Thanks
    22,494
    Thanked 3,131 Times in 1,886 Posts
    I have no problem with the CEO statement or the ones that quit.

  16. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to KevinD For This Useful Post:

    FBD (05-07-2021), Pony (05-07-2021), PorkChopSandwiches (05-10-2021)

  17. #12
    Shelter Dweller The Monk's Avatar
    Join Date
    Feb 2011
    Location
    Western Australia
    Posts
    16,383
    vCash
    3000
    Mentioned
    10 Post(s)
    Thanks
    5,744
    Thanked 11,815 Times in 6,371 Posts
    A lot of people are gonna have a tough time living with that.”

    If they weren't so "WOKE" they'd be able to take it in their stride rather than taking their bat and going home..... Nancies.....

  18. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to The Monk For This Useful Post:

    KevinD (05-12-2021), PorkChopSandwiches (05-12-2021)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •