Basecamp exodus
Discussion
https://techcrunch.com/2021/04/30/basecamp-employe...
Interesting move on behalf of the CEO at Basecamp.
Political discussions round the water cooler and the lunch table are to be banned and the staff don’t appear to like it.
Is this censorship or just an attempt to prevent friction amongst staff?
I’ve never worked in an office environment so wouldn’t have a clue but do controversial subjects cause a toxic environment or is it just forgotten about afterwards?
My experience of discussion on these subjects is limited to forums and I’d hate to think this is translated to real life.
Interesting move on behalf of the CEO at Basecamp.
Political discussions round the water cooler and the lunch table are to be banned and the staff don’t appear to like it.
Is this censorship or just an attempt to prevent friction amongst staff?
I’ve never worked in an office environment so wouldn’t have a clue but do controversial subjects cause a toxic environment or is it just forgotten about afterwards?
My experience of discussion on these subjects is limited to forums and I’d hate to think this is translated to real life.
Here is the original post by the CEO.
https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f...
I strongly agree with him. Politics and virtue signalling are entering the work environment to a greater degree nowadays. It’s distracting, and if you don’t have the acceptable left-leaning woke views then it’s uncomfortable.
Glad I’m out of that environment as I would be fired in days.
https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f...
I strongly agree with him. Politics and virtue signalling are entering the work environment to a greater degree nowadays. It’s distracting, and if you don’t have the acceptable left-leaning woke views then it’s uncomfortable.
Glad I’m out of that environment as I would be fired in days.
"don't discuss politics, religion or money" a rule as old as the hills.
In my experience it tends to be younger employees who don't realise that not everyone thinks that Momentum is amazing and who will effectively try and impose their views on others. Anyone with centre-right politics tends to keep their head down. Speaking here of larger workplaces with lots of young graduates as smaller workplaces with lots of older employees have a different vibe IMO, not political, just different.
In my experience it tends to be younger employees who don't realise that not everyone thinks that Momentum is amazing and who will effectively try and impose their views on others. Anyone with centre-right politics tends to keep their head down. Speaking here of larger workplaces with lots of young graduates as smaller workplaces with lots of older employees have a different vibe IMO, not political, just different.
Interesting. I've always worked in an office and its not something I have ever seen. I guess though all it takes is two people with strong opposing views and it can kick off.
I did see something close. We have an office in the US and just after the election we were on a call and someone said something like "I bet you're all really happy today" I chipped in and said hang you're assuming that there are no republicans on a call and you've made it pretty uncomfortable for someone to admit they are.
I did see something close. We have an office in the US and just after the election we were on a call and someone said something like "I bet you're all really happy today" I chipped in and said hang you're assuming that there are no republicans on a call and you've made it pretty uncomfortable for someone to admit they are.
Politics rarely comes up in my workplace.
The odd time it has I've found you walk away thinking you'd rather it hadn't.
If they've chosen to take a change of direction around their company policies they own the company so ultimately it's their decision.
Sometimes an employer stops being a good fit for an employee.
Given they're US based and there's still a fair bit of "hire at will" in the US they sound like they've been reasonably fair in offering severance.
The odd time it has I've found you walk away thinking you'd rather it hadn't.
If they've chosen to take a change of direction around their company policies they own the company so ultimately it's their decision.
Sometimes an employer stops being a good fit for an employee.
Given they're US based and there's still a fair bit of "hire at will" in the US they sound like they've been reasonably fair in offering severance.
With politics being so polarised in the US I can't say I blame them for this. How do you imagine the conversation goes when someone starts talking about Q Anon and stolen elections to a Democrat voter? Just better to avoid the topic all together if possible.
We don't tend to talk about politics in my office here in the UK, it can just be a source of tension and is a good way to fall out with people that you need to get along with to hit company goals. One of my team is quite right wing, believes covid is a big conspiracy, things children are all being brainwashed in school (tells us we need to do our own research etc). I'm pretty leftwing on a lot of issues and disagree with her on a lot of stuff so we both know not to bring these things up. Work isn't an Internet chat room and by having a massive row we're not going to force Britain back into the EU or have the BBC defunded!
I have the same thing with my parents, they're both pretty Conservative and I'm really not. In my very early twenties I had some blazing rows with my mum who told me to "pack my bags and f
k off back to London". That sort of thing just isn't healthy so we just don't discuss this stuff.
We don't tend to talk about politics in my office here in the UK, it can just be a source of tension and is a good way to fall out with people that you need to get along with to hit company goals. One of my team is quite right wing, believes covid is a big conspiracy, things children are all being brainwashed in school (tells us we need to do our own research etc). I'm pretty leftwing on a lot of issues and disagree with her on a lot of stuff so we both know not to bring these things up. Work isn't an Internet chat room and by having a massive row we're not going to force Britain back into the EU or have the BBC defunded!
I have the same thing with my parents, they're both pretty Conservative and I'm really not. In my very early twenties I had some blazing rows with my mum who told me to "pack my bags and f
k off back to London". That sort of thing just isn't healthy so we just don't discuss this stuff. I work for a US medium size tech company and this is absolutely rife.
There is a political forum, and a diversity forum and they are both virtue signalling echo chambers. I firmly get the impression that if anyone did say anything mildly out of the accepted thinking then that person would find themselves ostracised. I and a few others just don't interact with it at all which probably means we have a question mark above our heads.
There is a political forum, and a diversity forum and they are both virtue signalling echo chambers. I firmly get the impression that if anyone did say anything mildly out of the accepted thinking then that person would find themselves ostracised. I and a few others just don't interact with it at all which probably means we have a question mark above our heads.
It’s not quite as straightforward as ‘you can’t talk about politics’
Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
CardinalBlue said:
It’s not quite as straightforward as ‘you can’t talk about politics’
Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
A culture clash between those who think the purpose of work is to, well work, and those who think it is about political posturing and lived experiences and all that jazz.Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
verge said:
The founders’ goal is to reset the culture and focus on making products, he said, not to purge political partisans from the workforce.
But to employees, the move was received more as a shift to willful ignorance — about the world around them, and about the lived experiences of the employees who occupied it.
Those who think it should be about work will likely stay those who think it is part of the ongoing political campaigns will likely leave. Just a sorting out process really. But to employees, the move was received more as a shift to willful ignorance — about the world around them, and about the lived experiences of the employees who occupied it.
dmahon said:
Here is the original post by the CEO.
https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f...
I strongly agree with him. Politics and virtue signalling are entering the work environment to a greater degree nowadays. It’s distracting, and if you don’t have the acceptable left-leaning woke views then it’s uncomfortable.
Glad I’m out of that environment as I would be fired in days.
I wouldn't even make it through the door...https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f...
I strongly agree with him. Politics and virtue signalling are entering the work environment to a greater degree nowadays. It’s distracting, and if you don’t have the acceptable left-leaning woke views then it’s uncomfortable.
Glad I’m out of that environment as I would be fired in days.
Shamefully sad to note that it's arrived in pistonheads, too. Some woke lefty got me banned from the Trump and Biden threads because he didn't like my views.
I was trolling....apparently.
CardinalBlue said:
It’s not quite as straightforward as ‘you can’t talk about politics’
Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
Good read - thanks Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
bhstewie said:
hstewie said:CardinalBlue said:
It’s not quite as straightforward as ‘you can’t talk about politics’
Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
Good read - thanks Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
Hard in the short term, but I’ll bet the business will be stronger as a result.
If someone feels that strongly that they are prepared to leave their employment because you they are no longer allowed to politically grandstand, then they were probably a corrosive person anyway.
It looks like he has taken their weapon away from them and they have nothing left.... I’d say it was a masterstroke from the md
If someone feels that strongly that they are prepared to leave their employment because you they are no longer allowed to politically grandstand, then they were probably a corrosive person anyway.
It looks like he has taken their weapon away from them and they have nothing left.... I’d say it was a masterstroke from the md
Edited by Greg_D on Saturday 1st May 11:29
Greg_D said:
Hard in the short term, but I’ll. Et the business will be stronger as a result.
If someone feels that strongly that they are prepared to leave their employment because you they are no longer allowed to politically grandstand, then they were probably a corrosive person anyway.
It looks like he has taken their weapon away from them and they have nothing left....
It also highlights again a generational difference.If someone feels that strongly that they are prepared to leave their employment because you they are no longer allowed to politically grandstand, then they were probably a corrosive person anyway.
It looks like he has taken their weapon away from them and they have nothing left....
The founders are probably "liberal" in an American sense. They recruited lots of young graduates and didn't see their partisanship as being any kind of issue.....until the new hires started to bring in current political theory and they got the uneasy feeling they were in Mao's China during the cultural revolution.
Best to lance the boil and start afresh with people who view work as work.
I saw some posts on Twitter last week about a new fad of people attending job interviews in BLM t shirts as a sort of challenge to the interview process ie If you have a problem with my political views then you are not the sort of company I would want to work for.
All I could think of was why the hell anyone would anyone turn up for a job interview in a t shirt? fine if its a 10 person start up but for a multi-national company?
All I could think of was why the hell anyone would anyone turn up for a job interview in a t shirt? fine if its a 10 person start up but for a multi-national company?
JagLover said:
It also highlights again a generational difference.
The founders are probably "liberal" in an American sense. They recruited lots of young graduates and didn't see their partisanship as being any kind of issue.....until the new hires started to bring in current political theory and they got the uneasy feeling they were in Mao's China during the cultural revolution.
Best to lance the boil and start afresh with people who view work as work.
There are always these types of people, even when I was working in the early 2000s in IT/tech stuff.The founders are probably "liberal" in an American sense. They recruited lots of young graduates and didn't see their partisanship as being any kind of issue.....until the new hires started to bring in current political theory and they got the uneasy feeling they were in Mao's China during the cultural revolution.
Best to lance the boil and start afresh with people who view work as work.
Yes they can be a pain, but they can also be very good.
In my experience these types of people who are disruptive do it across the whole spectrum, so willing to innovate and rock the boat which is exactly what finds new ideas for tech businesses to push.
Mr Whippy said:
There are always these types of people, even when I was working in the early 2000s in IT/tech stuff.
Yes they can be a pain, but they can also be very good.
In my experience these types of people who are disruptive do it across the whole spectrum, so willing to innovate and rock the boat which is exactly what finds new ideas for tech businesses to push.
Well enforced ideological conformity doesn't tend to result in creative people. Yes they can be a pain, but they can also be very good.
In my experience these types of people who are disruptive do it across the whole spectrum, so willing to innovate and rock the boat which is exactly what finds new ideas for tech businesses to push.
You may have had them around in the early 2000s but it is a whole other level now. From employees of publishers breaking down in tears at publishing a self help book, to some of the campaigns for censorship at American newspapers.
mybrainhurts said:
dmahon said:
Here is the original post by the CEO.
https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f...
I strongly agree with him. Politics and virtue signalling are entering the work environment to a greater degree nowadays. It’s distracting, and if you don’t have the acceptable left-leaning woke views then it’s uncomfortable.
Glad I’m out of that environment as I would be fired in days.
I wouldn't even make it through the door...https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f...
I strongly agree with him. Politics and virtue signalling are entering the work environment to a greater degree nowadays. It’s distracting, and if you don’t have the acceptable left-leaning woke views then it’s uncomfortable.
Glad I’m out of that environment as I would be fired in days.
Shamefully sad to note that it's arrived in pistonheads, too. Some woke lefty got me banned from the Trump and Biden threads because he didn't like my views.
I was trolling....apparently.
Your posts on those threads were, whilst amusing, designed to provoke a certain response.
Apparently this is trolling.
Historically you needed to behave like CockWomble to get banned from here, seems the bar has shifted.
I agree that is a shame.
JagLover said:
CardinalBlue said:
It’s not quite as straightforward as ‘you can’t talk about politics’
Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
A culture clash between those who think the purpose of work is to, well work, and those who think it is about political posturing and lived experiences and all that jazz.Good summary here - https://www.theverge.com/2021/4/27/22406673/baseca...
verge said:
The founders’ goal is to reset the culture and focus on making products, he said, not to purge political partisans from the workforce.
But to employees, the move was received more as a shift to willful ignorance — about the world around them, and about the lived experiences of the employees who occupied it.
Those who think it should be about work will likely stay those who think it is part of the ongoing political campaigns will likely leave. Just a sorting out process really. But to employees, the move was received more as a shift to willful ignorance — about the world around them, and about the lived experiences of the employees who occupied it.
She uttered the words "a great life journey" in relation to someone's past the other day. I think it was the first time I'd heard a real person actually say those words.
I imagine her workplace is an unbearable den of intolerance to opposing views, someone proclaiming to be a Tory voter would no doubt elicit an audible gasp.
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