A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company • Hacker News Board

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#231

Post by dingaling » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:10 PM UTC

ketzo wrote: post #152

redm wrote: post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

> ...your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive. I get that desire, I really do, but I think it's so important to recognize that your work is not apolitical. It doesn't matter what you're building. What you build does not exist in a vacuum, and the decisions you make around politics at work are themselves political decisions.

> work are themselves political decisions

But those political decisions are ones relevant to the mission of the company.

Coinbase probably shouldn't be involved in politics around police reform, fracking, climate change or the Second Amendment because they are orthogonal to its mission. Insert other topics as you see fit.

And hence its employees should leave their opinions of such matters at the door.

Coinbase should be focused on politics around global financial regulation. And its employees should focus their workplace political energy on those matters.

Also, it's generally just polite and respectful to your coworkers to provide a non-political, non-partisan workplace.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#232

Post by uniqueid » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:10 PM UTC

MattGaiser wrote: post #220

uniqueid wrote: post #85

I could see this working out badly. I think Coinbase will now attract/retain fewer conscientious employees. The kind of employees who definitely won't leave are the ones with careerist/mercenary personality types. If that becomes a vicious cycle ( per the 'like attracts like' thing https://youtu.be/wTgQ2PBiz-g?t=75 ), the culture could lead to wide-spread ass-covering and fraud. Then again, this isn't an area in whic…

6 months of severance when you can probably get a job in a few weeks is not something a careerist would take?

Ha, good point! Maybe the balance of those who have already quit is the inverse of what I assumed.

To my point, though, I'm envisioning a longer-term culture-shift.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#233

Post by mpweiher » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:11 PM UTC

jojo2333 wrote: post #153

lawnchair_larry wrote: post #46

I am beyond sick of political activists in the workplace, so I hope this trend catches on.

same. I don't even think the severance is necessary. Just ask people who are interested in politics in the workplace to leave.

Just as a reference point: Germany is well-known for its very strong employee protection.

However, activism at work is something you can actually legally lose your job over.

That doesn't mean you can't express your political opinions, freedom of expression is protected, but no agitation/activism.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#234

Post by MattGaiser » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:11 PM UTC

calcsam wrote: post #209

As a comparison, when Zenefits offered two months of severance and four months of COBRA (less than Coinbase), 10% of the company took it. https://www.cnbc.com/2016/06/20/zenefits-ceo-says-about-10-p...

Zenefits does not seem to have the best company culture.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/losing-job-offer-quora-uber-v...

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#235

Post by mtalantikite » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:12 PM UTC

thedevil wrote: post #11

One thought: If you see a resume with Coinbase until October 2020, that's probably someone who prefers political activism in the workplace. That might be seen in a positive or negative light, depending on your stance. I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.

“I personally am afraid to associate myself too publicly with a political stance, lest I be wrong and/or the environment changes.”

I can understand this fear, but generally if you choose a stance based on compassion for all beings you’ll be in the right in the long run.

This particular issue was sparked by Coinbase not taking a stance on Black Lives Matter, which they are wrong about. Standing for dismantling racism is always correct.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#236

Post by kmonsen » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:13 PM UTC

lazyasciiart wrote: post #171

libria wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It signals that a person did not want to be politically active at their workplace enough to lose/quit their job. I think that says nothing of a persons political views and is just self-preservation or even indifference. Hiring would have to make some very tenuous assumptions to consider that a signal.

Indifference to politics is a political view.

Staying in a job and supporting yourself and you family for a temporary time doing a normal job is not indifference. It is putting food on the table, perhaps literally.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#237

Post by slow_donkey » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:13 PM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #175

djsumdog wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My longest stay at one job as been 2.5 years. By changing jobs, I get a lot more experience in a lot of different things. I've worked in five different markets: https://battlepenguin.com/tech/tech-culture-shock-from-ameri... I know people who've been at the same job for 6~7 years and they are totally getting paid way under market. A company might give you a 2~3% cost of living increase, or a $5k promotion every few y…

> but switching jobs let's you ask for $10k or more Right... but aren't the options you're throwing away worth 10x that? How can it possibly be worth it?

Why wouldn't you be obtaining the equivalent amount of options at the next job?

Let's say your vesting schedule is 4 years w/ 1 year cliff, it's only necessary to stay 1 year. Thereafter you're not 'losing' options by leaving.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#238

Post by manfredo » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:14 PM UTC

tshaddox wrote: post #212

manfredo wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This comment is a perfect example of why banning political speech in the workplace is a very good idea. Every workplace that I've worked in that tolerated political speech ended up with a highly vocal segment of people making statements that parallel this comment: proclaiming that only a certain stance on controversial issues is acceptable, and implying (or stating outright) that divergence from this orthodoxy amount…

> proclaiming that only a certain stance on controversial issues is acceptable, and implying (or stating outright) that divergence from this orthodoxy amounts to an affront to human dignity. Are you suggesting that all stances on all controversial issues are acceptable, and that it is impossible to hold a stance which is an affront to human dignity? Or are you merely saying that these issues are relatively unimportan…

Stances that genuinely are an affront to human dignity are already prohibited under harassment rules. Banning politics in the workplace has no bearing on this.

Other political issues may very well be important to people, and they're free to act on them in their own time. Your co-workers are a captive audience, and it's not appropriate to abuse that relationship for political activism. People who want to be politically active can do so on their own time. I would not take issue with, say, a Mormon co-worker who goes door to door on weekends and takes PTO to go on missionary trips. I would however, take issue with proselytizing to co-workers. I regard politics the same way.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#239

Post by elektor » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:14 PM UTC

decafninja wrote: post #210

I don't work in a Silicon Valley tech company, so maybe my perspective is out of touch with what's going on in SV. But I thought it was generally understood that there were certain topics you really ought not to talk about at work including religion, politics, disclosing your salary, etc. Has this changed? Or am I misunderstanding something?

Not talking about your salary only benefits the employer and allows them to deflate workers wages.

Re: A follow up to Coinbase being a mission focused company

#240

Post by skybrian » Thu, Oct 08, 2020, 8:14 PM UTC

yokaze wrote: post #188

redm wrote: post #82

I feel like this is the start of a rising tide. I think Brian's stance is great, companies have missions, they should focus on those missions. Everything has become so political that your work, which occupies a large portion of your life, should not be divisive.

I see it the other way around. (Almost) everything is political. The mission of the company is not disjoint from the society it is embedded in. Things have become divisive by being able to ignore and blend out the opposing views. By not talking and listening to one another. This is just one more step in that direction. Funnily enough, I think it has been extrapolated by Neal Stephenson in Diamond Age. We will end up…

Missions are often in pursuit of political goals. (It's a political stance that promoting the use of cryptocurrency is good, and not one I share.)

But, this doesn't mean an organization has to take a position on every hot-button political issue. Even the Biden campaign, a a political organization if there ever was one, needs to focus on getting their candidate elected, and not on things that divide Democrats.

To agree on a mission doesn't mean people on the organization need to agree on everything. Putting aside any differences on stuff not related to the mission is important in being able to work together as a team.