Enough Politics in the Workplace!

Here I thought that Coinbase (see prior post) was an exception when it came to no politics and no social activism in the workplace. I was wrong. Makes me wonder if something is simmering, leading to a fast boil in the hallowed halls of work or Zoom. Maybe it’s just that everyone, CEOs included, are sick and tired of politicalization and warring factions that keep employees’ minds off of just getting the work done. This all came to mind while reading an article in the Oregonian about CEO Lew Cirne of New Relic, a software company on the West Coast, who is dealing with some unsettled and disgruntled employees who are asking the company to draw a line in the sand about its views on social justice and civil rights. Some employees are disturbed by New Relic’s family charity donation to a private Christian school that excludes gay students and opposes gay rights, money being donated money to a controversial evangelist who proselytizes to Jews, and Cirne’s wife’s contribution to President Trump’s reelection campaign. All of this despite the company’s professing diversity goals, philanthropic pledges and social commitments on its website, including employing a chief diversity officer. There is a clear disconnect between the CEO’s actions and words and the employees.

Cirne complains that “It feels more combative than the New Relic dialogues I am used to. It is clear that some of you are devoting more energy and attention inwards, than towards our customers.” From what I gather, the company is facing stiffer competition than it is used to and the CEO wants people to focus on making the company successful before it is too late. We’ve all been there and some CEOs find it easier to blame employees’ productivity than themselves, the strategy, the business environment and other factors. What I find surprising is that in this day and age, the CEO does not see how his private philanthropic activities and personal beliefs should be held against him even if it is in direct opposition to what his company’s corporate narrative says. Tech professionals who are hard to recruit — COVID or not — are a tough audience to please when it comes to demanding social justice and human rights.

More recently after an all hands on meeting to hear what was on employees’ minds, Cirne said he was shutting down further internal debate over New Relic’s public response to Black Lives Matter and other civil rights issues. He invited employees to leave New Relic if they disagreed with the company’s approach. “This matter is off the table for further discussion,” he said. To be fair, some employees agree with Cirne and the company had tweeted its support for BLM over the summer. But clearly it is moving on. Discussion closed.

This is just another example of a CEO disliking being questioned about his values and behavior and wanting to clamp down on internal discourse and a rapidly changing culture. My sense is that he has not fully realized that employees today hold the cards to innovation, culture and reputation. He has more listening to do to realize that CEO’s personal lives and behavior have to align with the corporate position and character and that the tide has changed towards great employee input. Welcome to this brave new world Mr. Cirne.