For years Basecamp has tried to make work easier for other companies through software, apps, and perhaps most notably the open-source code Ruby on Rails. Its leaders have authored books such as It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work.

But now Basecamp has found itself in a difficult work situation. 

• About one-third of its 57 employees left the company in the last few days: According to The Verge, the exodus stems from Basecamp’s attempt to limit discussions about political and real-world conversations in internal company chats. 

• To employees this felt like suppression: And they said the biggest discussions on internal chats were not about politics generally but the policies and atmosphere at Basecamp, where employees accused leadership of not understanding white privilege and work conditions of Asian and Black employees. 

The Verdict 

Coinbase enacted a similar ban on political discussions a few months ago and about 5% of its 1,200 employees resigned. As you likely know because of its major public listing, there haven’t been huge consequences, and the same could end up true for Basecamp once the news cycle dies down.