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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”

#111
post #62
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).

I have no direct insight, but I'm getting a bit of a 'tip of the iceberg' feeling, like maybe there's some other stuff going on.

I felt the same from the time the very first post from Fried dropped.

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

#112
post #19

If a third of the people were willing to leave the company over a decision, it sounds like there was a real, meaningful mismatch in priorities. Which is fine, but it's for the best for everyone to end that mismatch.

If more than a third of your employees think that a single policy change is enough for them to leave, then maybe your policy change is dumb.

the decision may or may not be dumb, but appealing to the popularity of a decision is never logically sound. There have been incredibly unethical things done throughout history with far more than 1/3 approval.

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

#113
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

What? After two years, every Basecamp employee starts getting shares that pay dividends.[1] Their handbook also claims that employees will get 10% of the value of the company if it is ever sold or goes public (though they plan to never do so). https://basecamp.com/handbook/08-benefits-and-perks#employee...

Exactly, it's a profit sharing program that encourages good year over year results, not something that rewards you with assets that may be worth a whole lot of money, but only in 10 years.

I guess it comes down to numbers though. How much money was this profit sharing incentive giving to most employees? And how many users did they lose this week?

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

#114
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

depends. it (used to be) a tough job to get. i've heard vague indications that their profit sharing would have been extremely lucrative. but i dont know exact numbers. but just on a numbers basis if you made 1m a year profit sharing but a normal job outside you'd make 200k, you'd have to really hate working there to quit purely for the 6month payout.

Eh. This thread is about employees of 3+ years, in which case, even if the profit share is very lucrative, they've received that profit share 3+ times. On top of that, I doubt Basecamp pays poorly. If you're even vaguely burnt out or bored, 6 months off sounds like a dream.

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

#115
Sounds good for Basecamp's remaining employees, they can seek out new colleagues who don't throw a tantrum when being politely asked not to bring their politics to work.

I mean, look at the state of this whiner: https://twitter.com/dankim/status/1387378826364260354

"In my entire professional career of 20+ years, I have never once cried at work until today."

An absolutely pathetic child of a man. Asked not to rile colleagues up with divisive political discussions, and then literally cries about it.

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

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If two thirds were willing to stay even with such a good severance package, it sounds like most agree with the decision...

Not everyone can leave their job at the drop of a hat, even with a big severance package. You don't know their motivations or plans.

Exactly. Health insurance in US will tie people down even if they want to leave. For example.

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

#117

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_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 thi…

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.

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.

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

#118

I have a different take on this, different than most comments here: I think that the founders/owners knew what they were doing based on reading their book and lightly following them. I have never been a customer. I know that I am just guessing, but they might have been making the lifestyle decision that they wanted a smaller and more focused company that was more joyful to manage/run. Also, I have some sympathy for a…

If that's really their intent why not do a layoff round with a bigger severance package for 10-20 ppl to get back to 30 people, it would be less painful than this PR disaster?

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

#120

I have a different take on this, different than most comments here: I think that the founders/owners knew what they were doing based on reading their book and lightly following them. I have never been a customer. I know that I am just guessing, but they might have been making the lifestyle decision that they wanted a smaller and more focused company that was more joyful to manage/run. Also, I have some sympathy for a…

> no one should be allowed to say or do anything at work that makes anyone uncomfortable in a personal way;

Agreed. But frequently calling that out IS what is deemed "political" by the person who was "just expressing an opinion", and "i just have a different ideology from you"

> ; no one should really care much about other peoples’ politics.

Some people's politics is other people's human rights. Would you want to work with someone who you knew in their heart was racist and thought that people of your race were inherently less capable than their own. (Even if they believed you individually were okay)

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