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“About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

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Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#31

Post by thrower123 »

JauntTrooper wrote: post #28

They offered a severance of 6 months salary if you've worked there for 3+ years... I would be tempted by that offer regardless of any other circumstances, especially in today's competitive jobs market.

Yeah, I've got to say, that kind of offer, even if I liked working for a company, would be hard to turn down. Especially right now. Take the summer off, enjoy things after this hellacious year, get back into a position somewhere in the fall. I don't imagine that it's going to be a black-balling mark for these people.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#32

Post by baggy_trough »

aaomidi wrote: post #23
danjac wrote: post #18

I wouldn't be surprised if this will become a case study in future in how to self-destruct a successful company with a single bad communication, much like Gerald Ratner (although this may be due to long-term grievances we're not aware of).

They had many opportunities to reverse that blog post. They didn't and doubled down.

Some people are willing to stick to their principles even if it costs them. We need many more such.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#33

Post by creamytaco »

switz wrote: post #12
the-dude wrote: post #2

"Changes at Basecamp" : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26944192 ( 4 days ago, 774 comments ). Which is a feel good piece about management philosophy ( a bit back to our roots ) and does not mention layoffs once.

If you want more context, this article really breaks down what happened internally. There's a lot more to the story than was presented. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26963708

I don't see a lot more there, besides referring to (long) past events to justify continuing with specific policies and actions.

In fact, it's definitely smart of Basecamp to realize that the kind of politics and ideology we encounter today in the US are anathema to any workplace and may lead to paralysis and rot-from-within outcomes. I expect more companies to follow suit.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#34

Post by Trasmatta »

marbletiles wrote: post #29
danjac wrote: post #18

I wouldn't be surprised if this will become a case study in future in how to self-destruct a successful company with a single bad communication, much like Gerald Ratner (although this may be due to long-term grievances we're not aware of).

“If you liked “How to build a blog in 15 minutes with Rails,” check out the sequel, ‘How to destroy Rails in 15 minutes with a blog.’”(From https://twitter.com/sandofsky/status/1388174804985868289 )

It's a funny Tweet, but Rails is much, much bigger than Basecamp now. There's enough money invested in the Rails ecosystem at enough large and medium sized companies that Basecamp could go away entirely and Rails would continue to persist.

(I realize that there's always the possibility that this post could age like milk, and everyone might be pointing at laughing at me in 5 years. But that's also pretty much true for any piece of technology, and not unique to Rails' current situation.)

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#35

Post by fighterpilot »

JauntTrooper wrote: post #28

They offered a severance of 6 months salary if you've worked there for 3+ years... I would be tempted by that offer regardless of any other circumstances, especially in today's competitive jobs market.

Even if I liked the job I would take it. Six months paid holiday would be too good to pass up.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#36

Post by NationalPark »

JauntTrooper wrote: post #28

They offered a severance of 6 months salary if you've worked there for 3+ years... I would be tempted by that offer regardless of any other circumstances, especially in today's competitive jobs market.

I wonder if they're regretting the "no employee equity" policy now.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#38

Post by creamytaco »

danjac wrote: post #18

I wouldn't be surprised if this will become a case study in future in how to self-destruct a successful company with a single bad communication, much like Gerald Ratner (although this may be due to long-term grievances we're not aware of).

A bit melodramatic. Nothing of the sort will happen and Basecamp will be all the stronger for it.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#39

Post by JeremyBanks »

baggy_trough wrote: post #32
aaomidi wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They had many opportunities to reverse that blog post. They didn't and doubled down.

Some people are willing to stick to their principles even if it costs them. We need many more such.

You may see principles, but I just see ego.

Re: “About one-third of Basecamp employees accepted buyouts today”

#40

Post by Ozzie_osman »

I'm surprised this isn't on the front page here. 120 points in an hour. Plenty to discuss. I hadn't seen this article and posted an article similar from the Verge and it was almost instantly flagged.

EDIT: Looks like it bounced back and forth. I'm still getting downvoted on this comment though....

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