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I really hope more companies declare their workplaces to be politics free. I am completely tired of the long march through the institutions (https://en.wikipedi

I really hope more companies declare their workplaces to be politics free. I am completely tired of the long march through the institutions (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_march_through_the_institutions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_long_march_through_the_ins...) that has culminated in corporations being weaponized for one-sided progressive political agendas. These departures really just give away the biases of the tech industry at large. As for Basecamp's leaders - I think they did the right thing in making their blog posts and sticking to their principles. However, they should not have offered a buyout incentive, which can expose a small organization like themselves to destabilization. They also tuned the buyout offer incorrectly - it basically provides free money, which will be tempting to even those who would be fine working there. Really that's the only part they got wrong. I hope they're able to hire quickly and make it through this period - if they do, this will have been the right decision in the long-term, since there's no point in retaining employees who have such a mismatched set of values.

NickNameNick 6y ago
The alternative to 'politics in the workplace' isn't really no politics in the workplace. Its unchallenged politics of whoever established the company culture. And anything thats unchallenged is going to slowly devolve until it's unfit for purpose.
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  Have you been in an apolitical workplace? I see this idea a lot, and it's very hard for me to reconcile with my personal experience, where I've never felt like I'm endorsing or propagating the politics of the higher-ups. It's hard to see how I could be, since there's not a single person in my management chain where I know who they voted for or what kinds of political ideas they favor.
  - kingsuper20 6y ago
    > Have you been in an apolitical workplace? Well, yes. I only ran into it in the last decade or so. Thinking back, it's interesting how utterly apolitical university was back in the day. About the closest we ever got to politics was the occasional and largely ignored pentecostal preacher.
loopercal 6y ago
There's no details about this, however I believe it wasn't a "buyout incentive" it was a "don't talk shit about us" payment given that all the ex employees have only said things like: "After X years I've decided to leave basecamp." In which case, not sure not offering the package would have gone well.
klyrs 6y ago
I'm curious why more right-leaning folks don't see this as a free speech issue.
- pjc50 6y ago
  Right wingers only support free speech in the workplace when it's speech they agree with, such as James Damore. It's politics all the way down, not a principle.
- throwawaysea 6y ago
  I consider myself a moderate, and by voting habit, almost fully left-wing. I do see it as a free speech issue in one sense, but in practice I only see free speech being allowed for certain viewpoints. For example if you work at Google or Facebook and you speak up against affirmative action hiring practices or transwomen in women's sports, you will be fired. The excuse will be that these opinions are "hate speech" or that they violate some policy of discrimination at work place or made someone feel "unsafe" or whatever else. If on the other hand, everyone is given the same psychological safety and ability to speak up, without any social or professional repercussions, that might be acceptable. That said, I think a workplace where people freely argue with each other and try to make their political viewpoints "win" is going to be unproductive. Leaving out politics is appropriate because it focuses the company's efforts on providing a better product or service. I view time and resources spent on those political activities as unproductive and distracting for the workforce. So in a sense, being political at work seems like a performance issue to me. I know some people will use mental gymnastics to claim that being political is somehow beneficial to the company with vague arguments around diversity or attracting certain customers or whatever, but I don't personally find those justifications to be compelling, as they seem disconnected from the reality that apolitical companies and products do just fine.
  - bumbastique 6y ago
    > For example if you work at Google or Facebook and you speak up against affirmative action hiring practices or transwomen in women's sports, you will be fired. The excuse will be that these opinions are "hate speech" or that they violate some policy of discrimination at work place or made someone feel "unsafe" or whatever else. It's ridiculous isn't it, how these flawed stances became some sort of woke orthodoxy in recent years. Another jarring instance of this is, they'll all go on about how important mental health and neurodiversiry is and blah blah blah, but as soon as the office autist steps out of line and says the 'wrong' thing, they all pounce on him relentlessly and without mercy. I mean, just look at how RMS was treated, simply for expressing his honest opinions. Hounded out of his job. No dissent allowed in this new religion.
narrator 6y ago
If you're into understanding Gramsci's thought and the long march through the institutions and its influence on modern American life, you might enjoy this essay from Stanford's Hoover Institute written 20 years ago, when all this was just getting started: https://www.hoover.org/research/why-there-culture-war https://www.hoover.org/research/why-there-culture-war
heartbreak 6y ago
I genuinely hope DHH reads these comments, because I think he would be mortified. Unfortunately he won’t read them.

NickNameNick 6y ago

The alternative to 'politics in the workplace' isn't really no politics in the workplace. Its unchallenged politics of whoever established the company culture. And anything thats unchallenged is going to slowly devolve until it's unfit for purpose.

SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
Have you been in an apolitical workplace? I see this idea a lot, and it's very hard for me to reconcile with my personal experience, where I've never felt like I'm endorsing or propagating the politics of the higher-ups. It's hard to see how I could be, since there's not a single person in my management chain where I know who they voted for or what kinds of political ideas they favor.
- kingsuper20 6y ago
  > Have you been in an apolitical workplace? Well, yes. I only ran into it in the last decade or so. Thinking back, it's interesting how utterly apolitical university was back in the day. About the closest we ever got to politics was the occasional and largely ignored pentecostal preacher.

loopercal 6y ago

There's no details about this, however I believe it wasn't a "buyout incentive" it was a "don't talk shit about us" payment given that all the ex employees have only said things like: "After X years I've decided to leave basecamp." In which case, not sure not offering the package would have gone well.

klyrs 6y ago

I'm curious why more right-leaning folks don't see this as a free speech issue.

pjc50 6y ago
Right wingers only support free speech in the workplace when it's speech they agree with, such as James Damore. It's politics all the way down, not a principle.
throwawaysea 6y ago
I consider myself a moderate, and by voting habit, almost fully left-wing. I do see it as a free speech issue in one sense, but in practice I only see free speech being allowed for certain viewpoints. For example if you work at Google or Facebook and you speak up against affirmative action hiring practices or transwomen in women's sports, you will be fired. The excuse will be that these opinions are "hate speech" or that they violate some policy of discrimination at work place or made someone feel "unsafe" or whatever else. If on the other hand, everyone is given the same psychological safety and ability to speak up, without any social or professional repercussions, that might be acceptable. That said, I think a workplace where people freely argue with each other and try to make their political viewpoints "win" is going to be unproductive. Leaving out politics is appropriate because it focuses the company's efforts on providing a better product or service. I view time and resources spent on those political activities as unproductive and distracting for the workforce. So in a sense, being political at work seems like a performance issue to me. I know some people will use mental gymnastics to claim that being political is somehow beneficial to the company with vague arguments around diversity or attracting certain customers or whatever, but I don't personally find those justifications to be compelling, as they seem disconnected from the reality that apolitical companies and products do just fine.
- bumbastique 6y ago
  > For example if you work at Google or Facebook and you speak up against affirmative action hiring practices or transwomen in women's sports, you will be fired. The excuse will be that these opinions are "hate speech" or that they violate some policy of discrimination at work place or made someone feel "unsafe" or whatever else. It's ridiculous isn't it, how these flawed stances became some sort of woke orthodoxy in recent years. Another jarring instance of this is, they'll all go on about how important mental health and neurodiversiry is and blah blah blah, but as soon as the office autist steps out of line and says the 'wrong' thing, they all pounce on him relentlessly and without mercy. I mean, just look at how RMS was treated, simply for expressing his honest opinions. Hounded out of his job. No dissent allowed in this new religion.

narrator 6y ago

If you're into understanding Gramsci's thought and the long march through the institutions and its influence on modern American life, you might enjoy this essay from Stanford's Hoover Institute written 20 years ago, when all this was just getting started: https://www.hoover.org/research/why-there-culture-war https://www.hoover.org/research/why-there-culture-war

heartbreak 6y ago

I genuinely hope DHH reads these comments, because I think he would be mortified. Unfortunately he won’t read them.