Sixty Coinbase employees take buyout offer over “no politics” rule
“Life is too short to work at a company that you aren’t excited about,” CEO wrote. …
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Sixty Coinbase employees have accepted a buyout offer after CEO Brian Armstrong announced a controversial new policy curbing political activism inside the company. Armstrong disclosed the figure in a Thursday email to employees.
Armstrong announced the new policy last week after a summer when many technology companies faced pressure from their employees to become more outspoken on issues of social justice.
“While I think these efforts are well-intentioned, they have the potential to destroy a lot of value at most companies, both by being a distraction, and by creating internal division,” Armstrong wrote in a September 27 blog post. “We’ve seen what internal strife at companies like Google and Facebook can do to productivity. I believe most employees don’t want to work in these divisive environments.”
The post prompted a backlash among liberals on Twitter, but Armstrong didn’t back down. To show he was serious, Armstrong offered Coinbase employees a generous severance package—four to six months of salary—if they weren’t comfortable with the new policy.
“Life is too short to work at a company that you aren’t excited about,” Armstrong wrote.
Now Armstrong says that 60 employees accepted the package. Armstrong says that’s about 5 percent of the company’s headcount. A few more employees are still in discussions with the company and may accept it in the coming days.
“For those of you who have decided to move on, I want to thank you for your contributions to Coinbase and we wish you the very best,” Armstrong wrote. “And for those of you who
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