Layllen Sawyerr, a former compliance analyst for the cryptocurrency startup Coinbase, was one of 15 Black employees — about three-fourths of Coinbase’s total Black employees — to leave the company between late 2018 and early 2019, according to new reporting by the New York Times. Most of the 15 who left as well as some current Black employees have cited racist or discriminatory treatment from managers and co-workers. This news comes just two months after Coinbase’s CEO, Brian Armstrong, wrote a September blog post arguing that despite the “difficult” social and political developments of the past year (including “social unrest” and “widespread protests and riots”), Coinbase would avoid being “an activist company” — engaging in discussion over politics or broader societal issues — in favor of focusing on cryptocurrency. To help Coinbase stay a “mission focused company,” Armstrong asked employees to put “the company’s goals ahead of any particular team or individual goals” and “assume positive intent amongst our teammates.”
But as Laszlo Bock wrote for Marker in October, the concept of a “politics-free office” is a fallacy. With the widespread devastation felt by so many in 2020, “Everyone is processing social and economic turmoil,” Bock argues. “By mandating that employees keep politics, activism, and their personal beliefs completely out of the workplace, leaders ensure that many people, particularly members of historically underrepresented groups, silently bear a tremendous emotional weight.” After publishing his September blog post, Armstrong gave employees a week to decide whether they wanted to stay on at Coinbase and accept his mission or take a severance package to leave. At least 60 employees ended up resigning, driving home another fallacy of Armstrong’s argument: How can a workforce modeled after a “championship team” succeed if so many teammates feel like only some employees are treated like champions at the expense of others?