After a controversial blog post banned “societal and political discussions” at Basecamp, roughly one-third of the company’s employees resigned.
Basecamp is a web application development company. The backlash came after company CEO Jason Fried announced that the company would take a more autocratic approach to political discussions online.
“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...It’s not healthy, it hasn’t served us well. And we’re done with it on our company Basecamp account where the work happens.”
Company co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson asked employees to “ask before posting” if there was any doubt about whether their posts aligned with the new policy.
“If you’re in doubt as to whether your choice of forum or topic for a discussion is appropriate, please ask before posting,” Hansson wrote.
The tech media did not approve. Judd Legum, author of the “Popular Information” newsletter, said: “The software company @basecamp has decided to ban political discussion on their company account. But this is a POLITICAL DECISION and artificially enforcing a work culture that, in the view of the owners, is apolitical, will create a new kind of political culture.”
After the blog received backlash online, Hansson offered employees severance packages to anyone who disagreed with the new policy. As of Friday afternoon, 18 of Basecamp’s 57 employees announced their departures, according to The Verge.
“Yesterday, we offered everyone at Basecamp an option of a severance package worth up to six months salary for those who’ve been with the company over three years, and three months salary for those at the company less than that.” Hansson said. “No hard feelings, no questions asked. For those who cannot see a future at Basecamp under this new direction, we’ll help them in every which way we can to land somewhere else.”
Among those who announced their departure after the severance packages were offered included the head of marketing Andy Didorosi, the head of design Jonas Downey, and Kristin Aardsma the head of customer support. The former employees cited “recent changes” at the company as their reason for leaving.
“Given the recent changes at Basecamp, I’ve decided to leave my job as Head of Design,” Downey tweeted. “I’ve helped design & build all of our products since 2011, and recently I’ve been leading our design team too.”
Conservatives are under attack. Contact Basecamp at info@basecamp.org and thank them for keeping their company apolitical. Companies need to take a stand against liberal media pressure and corporate wokeism. If you have been censored, contact us at the Media Research Center contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
