In the world of technology, it’s common to see companies try to create a unique culture: keeping employees in the loop while also ensuring they don’t waste time on frivolous gossip. However, a new story that’s becoming more familiar is the companies that try to micromanage employees’ conversations and bring them out into the open. This time, a tech company tried to limit what employees talk about at work—and it didn’t go well.
When executives at Basecamp, a product management and communications software company, announced last week that they would limit political conversations in the workplace, the response followed quickly.
Employees of technology companies, workplace consultants and politicians have condemned the decision on
and LinkedIn, though other CEOs have called it a bold move. Some employees have publicly threatened to resign. Finally, the Chicago-based company offered its approximately 50 employees a share buyback. A significant number of employees have decided to resign.
Although Basecamp is a small private company, it is influential among technology companies: The founders have written popular books about work and consider their company a model company, with shorter weeks in the summer and the same pay for everyone with the same job. One company’s attempt to ban employees from participating in discussions about social and political issues at work shows how some companies, after years of encouraging teams to be fully involved at work, want employees to be less involved.
A few years ago, Google and Facebook Inc, part of Alphabet Inc, pioneered open discussions of sensitive topics in the workplace by offering internal message boards, town hall meetings and other forums to discuss employee views. Many others have followed suit, and managers continue to take a stand on social issues and provide platforms for their employees to speak out.
Recently, some companies have taken a different approach - like cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc, which declared its culture apolitical last fall. CEO Brian Armstrong wrote that the company will not debate political causes or candidates internally, and that employees should not expect Coinbase to publicly comment on their personal beliefs.
Google and Facebook, citing a desire to contain internal tensions, have also gone so far as to restrict political conversations on their work platforms.
At Basecamp, co-founder and CEO Jason Fried points to a particularly turbulent social and political environment, saying that this kind of dialogue has become a major distraction. In an open letter, an employee who has been involved in the company’s recent diversity and inclusion efforts called the decision depressing and silent. Several employees announced via Twitter that they were resigning.
A report in Platformer, a technology newsletter, highlighted some of the internal issues of diversity, equality and inclusion that led the founders to institute the ban.
Many technology companies have taken a public stand in support of the Black Lives Matter movement since the death of George Floyd.
Photo:
Bridget Bennett for The Wall Street Journal.
This episode highlighted a simmering debate in technology companies large and small about what is political, whether these issues can be separated from diversity and inclusion, and how peers should engage with these issues.
David Heinemeyer Hansson, co-founder of Basecamp, told The Wall Street Journal in an email that he has received a stream of supportive emails from executives and employees who work at companies where social politics is increasingly taking over this space, and when you buy into the wrong ideology, it’s very scary.
After last year’s political turmoil and the blending of work and personal life through remote work, it’s hard to ask people to seclude themselves, says Glenn Kelman, CEO of Redfin Corp. a Seattle-based brokerage of technology real estate.
In the aftermath of George Floyd’s death and the protests that followed, Redfin took a public stand in support of Black Lives Matter. Staff members with different opinions then got into an argument on the shop floor and Kelman said he was brought in as a judge. I wasn’t taught that, he said.
Redfin is now tackling broader social issues individually. Kelman said the company would take a public stand and show support internally for employees on equality issues such as the Black Lives Matter movement, even though some employees see the support as a political move. Mr. Kelman acknowledged that the system is not perfect.
We tried to develop a rule, he said. And it turned out to be impossible.
At Harmon Brothers LLC, a 50-year-old digital marketing startup based in Provo, Utah, employees posted links to biased news articles on the company’s channels on the messaging app Slack during the last election cycle, and then fought back. CEO Benton Crane fears that remote interaction will detract from the quality of the policy debates they used to have in person.
On Slack, people were much more precise in their tone, he said. They had less empathy for the people they interacted with.
In March, the company introduced a new rule: Employees who want to post a link on Slack must first make a video explaining what they think of the link; anyone who wants to respond must record their video.
American business leaders are increasingly at odds with the Democratic and Republican parties. WSJ contributor Gerald F. Seib explains how they put themselves in a tough spot. Illustration photo: Laura Kammermann
Although it’s still early, Mr. Crane says hardly anyone swears by Slack anymore.
This policy has almost achieved the effect of a ban, but without the negative baggage that comes with a ban when people feel their voices are being suppressed, he said.
Facebook has changed its internal rules regarding discussions about politics and social justice at work, after receiving feedback from employees who want more control over how they are exposed to these discussions. Last September, the company gave employees the option to choose not to see this type of content in their workflow. According to Facebook, these changes have helped make work conversations more constructive, while allowing employees to express themselves more personally.
Early on, Google fostered a work culture where discussion was the order of the day. In 2019, after years of internal strife and several lawsuits, including from conservatives who felt discriminated against, Google sought to curb political discussions on its platforms. A company spokesperson said the rules Google added to the community promote healthy and open discussion.
The issues at the heart of this debate can be very personal to many people. They are outraged by what they see as attempts to reduce dialogue on diversity and integration to partisan disagreements.
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When it comes to political and social justice for people of color and underrepresented groups, you can’t stand aside because that’s who you are, says Lekisha Middleton, founder of Good Success Network, an organizational consulting and executive coaching firm that works primarily with technology companies on D&I.
Middleton, who is black, said the ban on political debate could be seen as an attempt to silence difficult conversations about sensitive issues.
It’s just not an option, she said of the bans.
As a result of Coinbase’s decision, approximately 60 employees received severance payments. People were quickly using the Basecamp ad as a recruiting mechanism.
A marketing executive at Microsoft Corp, which owns LinkedIn, contacted Basecamp directly through the career networking platform to let them know they were recruiting people and wanted candidates to bring their whole personality to the job. (LinkedIn’s CEO apologized last year after an anonymous public meeting following the murder.
George Floyd
led to problems he later described as frightening).
Some employees of New York-based marketing software startup Conductor Inc. have told CEO and co-founder Seth Immortnik that they’d rather focus on work than politics. Others said they felt uncomfortable talking about political and social issues because they were afraid of saying the wrong thing.
They are not racist, but they also may not be the best prepared to have conversations in this area, he said.
Bessmertnik said he often talks to Conductor’s human resources team leaders about how to handle sensitive situations and make sure everyone feels safe.
Mr. Fried, CEO and co-founder of Basecamp, refused to talk about what was going on at the company, saying he was taking a break so I could focus all my energy inward while the employees made decisions.
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-Chip Cutter contributed to this article.
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