Basecamp, the creator of a popular remote work app, has found itself in a lot of hot water. After sending out a controversial memo that didn't sit right with a lot of its employees, around 1/3 of the entire staff has left.
Basecamp was founded in 1999, initially starting as a web design firm. From 2004 onwards, the company has focused on various software applications — including its self-titled 'Basecamp' app. Basecamp is one of the most popular remote work tools on the market, offering features like to-do lists, document/file support, group chatting, and more. Especially with the past year that saw more people working from home than ever before, it's been a go-to application for many remote workers.
Unfortunately, internal matters within Basecamp have now resulted in an uncertain future for the company. According to a report from The Verge, certain customer service employees at Basecamp started creating a list of customer names back in 2009. These were names that the employees thought were funny, including ones of American, European, Asian, and African origin. In light of rising social issues and cultural changes between now and 12 years ago, the list was seen by other employees as highly inappropriate. The rising awareness of the list was happening while Basecamp was making efforts to improve diversity within the company, Basecamp's executives downplaying the severity of the list, and CEO Jason Fried confirming he'd been aware of the list for years. This all culminated with Basecamp issuing an internal memo to announce company-wide changes, with Fried sharing these in a blog post titled "Changes at Basecamp."
Why People Are Leaving Basecamp In Light Of All This
Not only does Fried not acknowledge the list or apologize for it, but a lot of people have also taken issue with the company's decision to ban "societal and political discussions" on its company Basecamp account. Fried argues, "It's not healthy" and that he's "done with it on our company Basecamp account where the work happens." For employees that take issue with that change (or anything else outlined in the memo), Basecamp announced it would be offering severance packages for people to exit the company — including up to six months of salary for employees that have been with Basecamp for over three years.
As it turns out, a lot of Basecamp employees took the company up on that offer and have left. One source reports that around 1/3 of Basecamp's staff resigned, with at least 18 former Basecamp employees announcing their departures on Twitter. For some context, Basecamp had 57 total employees before this news started to break. Of the people leaving Basecamp, some of the most noteworthy names include Jonas Downey and Andy Didorosi — Basecamp's head of design and marketing, respectively.
It's unclear what the future holds for Basecamp now, but at least for the time being, it can't be good. Companies don't lose 1/3 of their employees and function like normal, so it'll be interesting to see how Basecamp reacts to so many people jumping ship. It may need to revert some of these policy changes to prevent more people from leaving, but even if it does get to that point, it seems like enough damage has already been done.
Source: The Verge, Basecamp (1), (2), Casey Newton