The Basecamp Walkout: What Tech Executives Should Learn from the Experience
Anyone who works on initiatives related to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) understands that those conversations can be awkward, uncomfortable and even upsetting. This was taken to the extreme last week at Basecamp, a software company based in Chicago, after one third of their employees quit following a heated meeting to address racism and White supremacy within the company.
According to The Verge, CEO Jason Fried enacted a new policy which barred political or societal conversations in company forums or during company Zoom calls. This came about after a group of employees volunteered to work on DEI initiatives in the company. They challenged the use of a list of “funny” customer names that were used internally during training scenarios, saying that because many of these names were of Asian or African descent they didn’t foster a feeling of inclusion within the company.
As we continue to think through how we can make equity and inclusion more sustainable, we have to understand that people are more than just their work. We experience a lot in the world, this especially true for folks who are under represented in tech (i.e. BIPoC, women, non-binary people). For company executives to expect us to leave all of that at the door is unrealistic and nearly impossible.
When companies like Basecamp don’t create a space for difficult conversations (including political conversations), they’re also saying don’t talk about your real life experiences. Don’t talk about the challenges you face or the obstacles you’re trying to move around. But all of those challenges, obstacles and real life experiences are often what makes employees who they are.
Our identities and experiences inform our work and the way that we see the world. They are our greatest asset--especially when it comes to developing tech products for real people in the real world. How can we develop products and services for our diverse population while simultaneously ignoring the diversity of experiences that people face everyday? We can’t.
And beyond the fact that DEI initiatives are “the right thing to do,” we continue to see studies and data around gender and racially diverse companies outperforming their competitors in products, profits and people. When you treat your employees well, they want to show up and do their work. People want to feel like their full selves when they enter the office. It’s exhausting to have to turn off a side of yourself to appease your workplace. And an exhausted employee doesn’t perform nearly as well as an employee that feels good about showing up as their full selves, knowing that their company supports all aspects of who they are professionally.
This is so crucial to the tech industry, because technology is ingrained in every aspect of our lives. It’s not going anywhere. We need people in tech to be reflective of the population. Beyond that, we need them designing products and services that are safe and effective for all users. We need them to be in charge and making informed decisions about how their products and services will impact society in a larger way. We need to do more than just listen, we need to start taking action and implementing these perspectives and ideas.