David Heinemeier Hansson—Basecamp banned political discussions at work and dissolved its DEI committee, causing mass employee exodus
In April 2021, Basecamp/37signals co-founders announced a ban on societal political discussions in company tools and dissolved the DEI advisory council. The changes followed the discovery of a list of 'funny customer names' maintained by employees. Approximately one-third of the company (20+ of 58 employees) accepted buyout packages and left, including the heads of design, marketing, and customer support.
Scoring Impact
| Topic | Direction | Relevance | Contribution |
|---|---|---|---|
| DEI Programs | -against | primary | -1.00 |
| Worker Rights | -against | secondary | -0.50 |
| Overall incident score = | -0.664 | ||
Score = avg(topic contributions) × significance (high ×1.5) × confidence (0.59)
Evidence (1 signal)
One-third of Basecamp employees quit after political discussion ban and DEI committee dissolution
After Basecamp banned political discussions and dissolved its DEI council, approximately 20 of 58 employees accepted buyout packages, including heads of design, marketing, and customer support.