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I understand why Basecamp have made the decisions they have on this. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I would be frankly terrified of hiring a woke
by benjaminwootton 6y ago
I understand why Basecamp have made the decisions they have on this.
As an entrepreneur and small business owner, I would be frankly terrified of hiring a woke SJW who wanted our business and all of our employees to become wholly dedicated to solving their pet causes.
Solving large scale societal injustice would be great, but it’s a long way down my list of priorities when logging on in the morning.
It’s even worse with the ever present threat they would then breach NDAs and bring the raging Twitter mob to the door when they don’t get their own way.
There are a million injustices in the world, but engaging and supporting them should be a personal decision. Keep that stuff away from the office.
- scrollbar 6y agoIf I were worried about a raging Twitter mob I wouldn't announce company policy to my staff by posting a missive on Twitter.
- 1123581321 6y agoThey knew they had employees who would attack them for the change either way. Being proactive seems pragmatic. It's also on brand for them, unlike a lot of other companies where it would seem strange for the founders to suddenly post a controversial blog post. Not commenting on the merits of the change, just how they communicated it.
- chroma 6y agoHad it been a purely internal communication, it would have quickly leaked to the press. The press would then distort and misconstrue the info to make Basecamp look as controversial as possible. Better to get in front of that by having a polished public communication. Also Basecamp is a rather open company. Their employee handbook is on Github: https://github.com/basecamp/handbook https://github.com/basecamp/handbook
- zxzax 6y ago>but it’s a long way down my list of priorities when logging on in the morning. You're missing the point, people who are marginalized don't have the luxury of putting it down the list of their priorities. That's why they're marginalized. Please don't use rude and emotionally loaded terms like "woke SJW" to label people and dismiss their concerns about the work environment. This is not the way to run an inclusive business, and using those words in that way suggests that you think it's somehow wrong of your employees to desire justice or to care about the experiences of marginalized individuals.
- DC1350 6y ago> people who are marginalized don't have the luxury of putting it down the list of their priorities Yes they do. High income tech worker are not oppressed in any meaningful way. It’s just a coincidence that they look similar to people who have real problems.
- zxzax 6y agoI'm very confused as to what you mean. Are you saying it's not possible for people who get paid above a certain threshold to be bullied and harassed at work? I strongly disagree with that.
- DC1350 6y agoI’m saying that their problems aren’t a big deal and they should just shut up
- zxzax 6y agoIf people are telling you that they're leaving their job and salary because of those problems, then it probably is a big deal. Also, telling people who have voiced concerns to "just shut up" is not the way to foster healthy communication at work.
- DC1350 6y agoIt’s a good thing when people leave for a place that suits them better. I would leave a team that made issues I don’t care about an important part of the job, but that doesn’t mean I think they’re doing anything wrong.
- zxzax 6y agoTelling employees there are other places they can go that are less hostile is still not a justification for having a hostile workplace. If everyone thought that way, nobody would ever tackle these problems. It's a mistake to try and equate this with some other technical choice, this is not the same as quitting a team because the boss wants to use C++ and you want to use Java.
- jaredcwhite 6y agoRemind me never to become a customer of your business, k thanks bye.