Top Insights
- During the week of April 26th after Basecamp Co-Founders announced a new set of rules regarding politics at work, the company fell into chaos internally
- The week culminated with an all-hands meeting on Friday, April 30th that ended with over 1/3 of Basecamp employees (over 20 out of 57) resigning
- The new rules were due in part to internal strife caused by a decade-old list of customer names that employees found "funny" making the rounds on company chat apps
- Jason's take: all political, religious or societal discussions should occur in-person (ideal), on the phone (less ideal but fine), but NEVER on internal chat apps like Slack
Basecamp's Co-Founders:
- David Heinemeier Hansson, or DHH (last appearance E1029)
- Jason Fried (last appearance E1099)
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Background:
- DHH & Jason Fried have a long history of caring about work culture, employee expression and creating hospitable work environments
- Together they've written books like Rework, Remote and It Doesn't Have to Be Crazy at Work - which all focus on creating a more friendly workplace for the betterment of both management and employees
- For most of Basecamp's 15+ year history, they've been a shining example of what ideal workplace culture should look like for a lot of people
- However, on the week of April 26th, 2021 - all hell broke loose inside the company, culminating with over 20 out of 57 (over 1/3!!!) employees accepting generous severance packages and resigning
Timeline of events:
Context (acc. to Casey Newton's A+ reporting):