Changes at Basecamp

[Aqua Letifer]

@george-k said in Changes at Basecamp:

IOW: We're a business, not a social organization. The CEO will make decisions, and we're not paying you to shop at farmers' markets and discuss politics on our bandwidth.

Bad conclusion. That's not why they're making these changes. The farmer's market stipend? The money still exists and is given directly to employees instead. They're also adding 10% profit share to give to employees. Their reason is that by offering specific benefits, they're more or less telling their employees what to do. They'd rather give them the cash and let them decide for themselves.

"No more committees" has always been their thing. They're saying "no more committees" because some started cropping up anyway, and they're snuffing them out.

They still have four-day work weeks instead of five. In fact they made the news for making that decision. And they take two weeks off every 6 or so.

[George K]

@aqua-letifer said in Changes at Basecamp:

Their reason is that by offering specific benefits, they're more or less telling their employees what to do. They'd rather give them the cash and let them decide for themselves.

I misworded my conclusion. That's exactly what they're doing. If I gave the impression they're cutting "benefits," my bad. They're not.

[Aqua Letifer]

@george-k said in Changes at Basecamp:

@aqua-letifer said in Changes at Basecamp:

Their reason is that by offering specific benefits, they're more or less telling their employees what to do. They'd rather give them the cash and let them decide for themselves.

I misworded my conclusion. That's exactly what they're doing. If I gave the impression they're cutting "benefits," my bad. They're not.

Yeah, they've always been a kind of a weird company.

I've been using Basecamp for years now. I'll be on it today, as a matter of fact.

[Horace]

1. No more societal and political discussions on our company Basecamp account. Today's social and political waters are especially choppy. Sensitivities are at 11, and every discussion remotely related to politics, advocacy, or society at large quickly spins away from pleasant. You shouldn't have to wonder if staying out of it means you're complicit, or wading into it means you're a target. These are difficult enough waters to navigate in life, but significantly more so at work.

Funny how intuitively obvious it is that these "contentious discussions" are not between liberals and conservatives. They are between various shades and degrees of woke people. These "contentious discussions" are between the uniters.

[George K]

LOLGF

About a third of Basecamp’s employees have said they are resigning after the company, which makes productivity software, announced new policies banning workplace conversations about politics.

Jason Fried, Basecamp’s chief executive, detailed the policies in a blog post on Monday, calling “societal and political discussions” on company messaging tools “a major distraction.” He wrote that the company would also ban committees, cut benefits such as a fitness allowance (with employees receiving the equivalent cash value) and stop “lingering and dwelling on past decisions.”

Basecamp had 57 employees, including Mr. Fried, when the announcement was made, according to a staff list on its website. Since then, at least 20 of them have posted publicly that they intend to resign or have already resigned, according to a tally by The New York Times. Basecamp did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr. Fried and David Hansson, two of Basecamp’s founders, have published several books about workplace culture, and news of their latest management philosophy was met with a mix of applause and criticism on social media.
After the newsletter Platformer published details of a dispute within the company that contributed to the decision to ban political talk, Mr. Hansson wrote in another blog post that Basecamp had offered severance of up to six months of salary to employees who disagreed with the founders’ choice.

“We’ve committed to a deeply controversial stance,” Mr. Hansson, Basecamp’s chief technology officer, wrote. “Some employees are relieved, others are infuriated, and that pretty well describes much of the public debate around this too.”

Coinbase, a start-up that allows people to buy and sell cryptocurrencies, announced a similar ban last year, with a similar offer to give severance to employees who disagreed. The company said 60 of its employees had resigned, about 5 percent of its work force.

[Jolly]

Get woke, go broke. That goes for individuals in this case.

I'm sure they can find employees who don't want to argue all the time.

[Horace]

I have little doubt that those who are leaving will be considered addition by subtraction, and that the replacements will be both easily found and of better long term quality.

[Doctor Phibes]

That's a lot of publicity for a company with 57 employees. Sorry, 37 employees.

[Aqua Letifer]

@horace said in Changes at Basecamp:

I have little doubt that those who are leaving will be considered addition by subtraction, and that the replacements will be both easily found and of better long term quality.

+1

[Doctor Phibes]

We have a guy at work who has always made a point of responding to any personal stuff on email with a terse 'please do not include me in these non work-related discussions', frequently cc'ing (friendly) managers. It's become a bit of a trademark for him.

He recently celebrated his 30-year anniversary, and everybody posted some nice things. He then sent an email out to everybody, thanking them for their kind words and the gift.

He received a ton of emails back, cc'd to all, saying 'please do not include me on these non work-related emails'

[Mik]

@doctor-phibes said in Changes at Basecamp:

We have a guy at work who has always made a point of responding to any personal stuff on email with a terse 'please do not include me in these non work-related discussions', frequently cc'ing (friendly) managers. It's become a bit of a trademark for him.

He recently celebrated his 30-year anniversary, and everybody posted some nice things. He then sent an email out to everybody, thanking them for their kind words and the gift.

He received a ton of emails back, cc'd to all, saying 'please do not include me on these non work-related emails'