A company that makes productivity software has enacted policies to curtail workplace discussions of politics.
The tech firm Basecamp employs only about 60 people. It doesn’t play in the same league as the Apples and Microsofts of the world, and yet in late April the company found itself center stage in a heated national conversation about workplace rules and whether companies should regulate what employees talk about during work hours.
The company has the legal right to regulate what if any topics are off the table. However, banning certain topics is suppressing speech and, arguably, association. There are less drastic approaches the company could and should have taken to refocus employee conversations.
These days it seems like politics have invaded every aspect of daily life, from news to sports to entertainment to the workplace. Attempting to restore the sanctity of the metaphorical water cooler would provide a respite from the political heat of the day and help keep employees focused more completely on work. If Basecamp executives had merely asked employees to keep discussions focused on work, many employees might have felt relieved at not feeling pressured to talk politics at work.
Instead, it outright banned political discussions. “No more societal and political discussions on our company Basecamp account” is one of several new rules at the company, as such discussions are “a major distraction,” according to company co-founder Jason Fried. (Employees are still allowed to discuss whatever they so choose privately or publicly on their own time and on their own channels.)
Within a week of the announced policy change, about 20 people, a third of the company’s workforce, had either resigned or announced their intentions to resign on social media to protest the new rule. This is understandable: Who wants to work for a company that tells employees what they can and can’t talk about?
A suggestion or recommendation would have been far more productive than a ban.
Basecamp’s function is to provide a service and provide it well. If political discussions are interfering with that function, then the founders are within their rights to try and steer back to more fruitful ground. Banning certain topics outright is overly restrictive, but pushing toward a calmer, more productive workplace by encouraging workplace discussions that are focused on work is a reasonable goal for any company. An outright ban goes too far.
— Tribune News Service
