Coinbase has lost 60 of its 1,200 employees in a mission statement updated by CEO Brian Armstrong, sparking a heated debate over how companies should respond to today’s charged politics.
In a company-wide memo received by Syndesk, Armstrong informed employees that 5% of the company’s employees have accepted the garbage package offered last week. The deadline for employees to indicate their interest in the package was Wednesday, and Armstrong said he expects the number to rise “after some other negotiations are completed.”
Armstrong wrote, “I know there has been a lot of difficult communication to explain what our extraordinary culture means in practice.” No, but I think the result will be a stronger and more united team. “
Armstrong said the company could do a “better job” of helping Cockabase’s operating group and managers understand the new mission. He also said that the exit package was taken primarily by people who were not part of Sikkabase’s “under-represented minority population” and that Sinbase would continue to monitor this to ensure we are creating a diverse, holistic environment. Looks like they’re related. “
An employee of the company, who spoke to Coindesk on condition of anonymity, said the disintegration package was largely taken by engineers – as opposed to fewer mobile employees such as customer support. Speaking on condition of anonymity, another source said the departures were distributed very evenly.
Another employee was surprised to hear the number of people who had left. “I’m worried the difference package was too good,” he said.
In his Thursday memo, Armstrong also clarified that the new mission does not mean employees have “no politics”.
“We support each other in difficult times and also talk about recent events like any team,” Armstrong wrote in the memo. “We have decided not to engage in widespread activism as a company outside of our mission.”
While it is clear that employees are not allowed to talk politics in general slack channels and also have to set up separate non-normal channels to talk in politics, it is not clear what counts as political and what counts as exceptions. According to a Coindesk report on Friday, employees will be given a #spaghetti-monster-for-president slack channel in light of the new policy.
“There has been no real clarification since last week. Trying to make sense of Brian’s limited statements, no one in the leadership seems to be able to define him because he is in the same boat as the rest of the staff,” said one engineer.
Armstrong said in the memo that he recognizes that “politics” is a “vague line.”
“Our goal is not to focus on violations, but to support employees in accepting expectations of clarity.”
Armstrong also said the cultural norms at Coinbase would be redefined and the company’s scales would be clarified in the future.
“I am excited to move forward as a #coinbase to advance our vision of economic freedom for everyone and business,” he concluded.
Zac Seward contributed to the reporting.
