Why nearly 33% of Basecamp employees are quitting

Last week, leadership over at Chicago-based web software company, Basecamp endured a slew of employee resignations amid discrimination concerns.

“No more politics”

The drama began when CEO Jason Fried officially prohibited “societal and political discussions” from the company’s internal chat forums. Although this decision was met with contention among staff, Fried maintained his stance even if he later conceded that the new policy could have been implemented a little better.

Team members expressed frustration over both the policy’s introduction and its defense. Neither was helped by a long-standing Basecamp tradition that encourages staff to laugh at funny customer names.

One employee even went so far as to say that laughing at non-traditional names has the potential to inspire racial violence. Fried and Basecamp co-founder David Heinemeier Hansson didn’t see it that way.

No more complaints committee either

This was reportedly around the time Basecamp chose to discontinue an internal committee of employees who were meant to resolve complaints pertaining to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Leadership consulted with staff last Friday to go over discrimination concerns. Unfortunately, the end result was a third of Basecamp’s staff expressing interest in resigning. This included the company’s head of strategy Ryan Singer, who once asked if white supremacy actually existed in the world.

It should be noted that many US companies generally frown upon political talk at work. This appears to be especially true lately. Last year, as tensions rose in response to police violence and coronavirus countermeasures, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong publicly announced plans to steer his staff away from social activism. Armstong believes that allowing space for political discussions wounds office culture and delays output.

Many of Basecamp’s staff, obviously, disagree. Some reportedly were reduced to tears by the end of Friday’s meeting. According to anonymous testimonials published in a new piece featured in The Verge, Basecamp’s leadership has routinely demonstrated a lack of interest in the issues facing subordinates.

“My honest sense of why everybody is leaving because they’re tired of Jason and David’s behavior — the suppression of voices, of any dissent,” one employee told The Verge. They really don’t care what employees have to say. If they don’t think it’s an issue, it’s not an issue. If they don’t experience it, then it’s not real. And this was the final straw for a lot of employees.”