Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

cnbc.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 514 posts

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#131

Post by yojo »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #90

Back in my time, we called "treating people differently, based on their race" racism.

People are treated unequally because of their race everyday. My wife’s former boss (CEO of an education non-profit) was a black man. He was walking in downtown Paulo Alto, wearing a suit, on a way to a business meeting.

A cop stopped him at gunpoint and had him lie face-down on the ground and frisked him. Eventually, finding nothing, he let him go. “Mistaken identity.”

This is the kind of shit black people have to live with. None of my white bosses have ever had interaction with law enforcement - other than the time a cop helped one find his keys to his BMW after he’d accidentally tossed them in the bushes.

Our country is getting better. Most people don’t want to be racist. But this stuff still happens in the modern era. Acknowledging the problem and taking reasonable steps to try and improve it is not racist.

Now, as the GP pointed out, this particular incidence probably did more harm than good/looks like a PR stunt.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#132

Post by peter422 »

ajsnigrutin wrote: post #97
peter422 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They said it was a factor. Twilio I'm sure had said they've been trying to diversify their workforce for years and you didn't care (which is the same thing, just through hiring instead of firing). It is you parachuting in to be offended that is the disingenuous thing here.

To me (someone from a former socialist country), both hiring and firing, based on race, seems very very racist. Replace all the groups with "white men", and if it seems racist then, well, it's also racist when it's any other group except "white men".

Serious question: Are you aware of the historical context of the United States as it concerns race?

Without looking anything up tell me what you know about it.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#133

Post by mod »

weatherlite wrote: post #122
rurp wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Same here. I'm pretty liberal on a number of issues, but this kind of language is extremely off-putting to me. If it means that the layoffs were explicitly racist, that is disgusting.

But we are all fine with racist hiring...

I don't think that's a true statement.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#134

Post by taeric »

phillipcarter wrote: post #127
taeric wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quoted post unavailable.

I agree with this in the abstract. I think it's just, uhh, a little weird to pair this kind of message with a "we're removing tons of jobs that people relied on" kind of message.

I agree that this was poor messaging. If they had instead worded it in a "we are making active efforts to make sure we are not disproportionately hitting any demographic", that would have been better. Would ultimately be the same message, of course, but the idea is to find ways to battle default behaviors/prejudices, not just to be "anti-racist."

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#135

Post by trention »

So, a company explicitly states that when push comes to shove, if you are white, you move to the front of the firing queue.

Remind me again, why would a white person (especially man) not put them on the back of the queue when deciding where to apply for a job?

Despite not living in the states (and in a country where this sh*t is illegal), I think I will make it my policy to never work for a (parent) company that has a diversity policy from now on.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#136

Post by SllX »

weatherlite wrote: post #116
SllX wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not under American Federal law.

Why is diversity hiring fine then? Can't see the difference

It isn’t. The law is race neutral on this; and hiring/firing discrimination on the basis of race, against any race, is a good way to open yourself up to lawsuits. It’s up to HR departments and ultimately their bosses if they want to play with fire or not.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#138

Post by wickedsickeune »

darth_avocado wrote: post #111
anonym29 wrote: post #18

Anyone else read the letter from the CEO where they claim that the layoffs "were carried out through an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens"? That's verbatim from the actual PDF, in case anyone was curious ( https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001447669/5c6aa73... ) Page 6, under the heading "How did we decide which roles would be impacted". I wonder what race they deliberately targeted for these layoffs, with la…

>I wonder what race they deliberately targeted for these layoffs, with language like that. What if, the meaning of “anti-racist” layoffs, is to fire all races equally?

That's still racist!! The only way for it not being racist is not having anything to do with race at all!

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#139

Post by subsubzero »

enumjorge wrote: post #113
John23832 wrote: post #34

(I am a black man) I feel like the statement that the layoffs "were carried out through an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens" puts a target on the backs of the people who you claim to be helping. If you're affected by layoffs described this way, you then question whether that was because of who you are. That then makes it harder for the minorities you claim to be "helping" to stay in the room anywhere else because of…

As a Latino, I too am growing tired of the way some leadership and HR departments in tech callously, carelessly push and promote these diversity initiatives in a way that creates resentment. Combating racial bias is a sensitive topic. You'd have to be living under a rock to not know that. And yet companies continue to make statements like this without the tact it deserves. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt, an…

Curious how you feel about the term LatinX that all tech companies are embracing? Reason I ask is I have a few really good friends who are Hispanic(Nicaraguan, Dominican, Mexican) and they all despise that term. I don't know why its used and it seems strange as its been forced on us the past few years with no consulting or buy-in from any of the Hispanic employees at these companies. Even outside polls found that a huge majority (96%) of Hispanic people dislike this term but its still being used.

[1] - https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/05/us/latinx-gallup-poll-prefere...

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#140

Post by el_nahual »

nemo44x wrote: post #56
anonym29 wrote: post #18

Anyone else read the letter from the CEO where they claim that the layoffs "were carried out through an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens"? That's verbatim from the actual PDF, in case anyone was curious ( https://d18rn0p25nwr6d.cloudfront.net/CIK-0001447669/5c6aa73... ) Page 6, under the heading "How did we decide which roles would be impacted". I wonder what race they deliberately targeted for these layoffs, with la…

Clearly a Civil Rights violation. I hope everyone impacted that isn't "marginalized" sues them for millions of dollars. We either have equality codified as Civil Rights law and respect that or we don't have it all and we are free to associate with people we want to in every respect. But you need to pick one.

The ideal person to sue would be a "marginalized" person who was laid off, since the "anti racist" bs could impact this person twice: it means they got laid off even when the bar was higher for people of color, which will disproportionately affect them in their next job search (and feelings, etc).
Post reply on HN