This is not my company or my employer. I hope that Basecamp doesn't prove to be a trendsetter, because there is a lot of backwards thinking in these moves. https://world.hey.com/jason/changes-at-basecamp-7f32afc5

Paraphrased, Basecamp has declared:

1. We have no comment
2. You are on your own
3. We do not need your input
4. We are in control
5. We will decide when you are failing
6. We are just here to make money

I have a lot of thoughts, but first a couple big caveats:

I don't know what life was like for the people who work at Basecamp. Changes like these are rarely done on a whim, so there is a lot of context I am missing in this moment.

Consideration doesn't guarantee correctness.

Second, I will speak of my own employment not only with gratitude for my work environment but also with acknowledgement of the privileges that lets me avoid frustrations that others probably feel more directly.

1. "No more societal and political discussions on our company Basecamp account."

My generous assumption is that political discussions are interfering with work. A conventional approach involves censoring those conversations under the hope of creating a safe space for everyone.

However, suppressing conversations that clearly arose organically within the work community is a strategy of avoidance, not safety.

We are often invited to think of our co-workers as friends, if not family. Avoidance isn't a fruitful strategy in those circles, either.

Employers are responsible for the well-being of the people they bring into their communities.

Saying "Suck it up until you get home" is insufficient care. It also isn't a realistic understanding of how news and human emotions function.

When news cycles are filled with a rare murder conviction and ongoing murder of citizens by police, there has to be an outlet to process that information & the feelings that come with it.

A stronger choice for a company is to carve out and protect spaces for these discussions.

I come from a generation who came from generations that warned about talking religion or politics at the dinner table.

That suppression of concern, belief & curiosity has contributed to the polarization we are currently experiencing.

We do ourselves no service to avoid conflict at all costs when that conflict—in the context of connected and vulnerable relationships—can be constructive.

We need our employers to help us through political struggles in the same way we might natural disasters or trauma that impacts our ability to work.

We need employers to cultivate our ability to talk through difference, since these skills are applicable for other disagreements.

I do not expect co-workers to adopt my political views, nor do I want to convince them of the rightness of my position.

I do want a place at work where I can be curious about the people with whom I collaborate each day, for the purpose of understanding them better.

Change happens when you in a place you feel comfortable being wrong.

The six pillars of Basecamp's directional change are a lesson in disconnection, both from the responsibility companies have for the world around them and from the well-being of their own employees.

(I'll look at the other five in separate threads.)