Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce • Hacker News Board

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#431

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:03 AM UTC

NeverFade wrote: post #409

Manuel_D wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

By contrast, I was at two successful unicorns. They were both large (1,000 and 2-3,000 employees). We had the luxury of having significantly more applicants than headcount. I think the mentality is more that the product is already successful, and we have a responsibility to ensure that that oppressed people don't miss out on that success. The irony is that most "oppressed" people hired at the companies we very well o…

> So in the end, it was a bunch of privileged white people patting themselves on the back for hiring privileged Latin and Black people. While whites and Asians born into poverty, who struggled all their lives against overwhelming odds, were deprived of these opportunities due to the color of the skin they were born in. This is ugly, ugly stuff.

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Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#432

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:04 AM UTC

dominotw wrote: post #296

gitfan86 wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legal probably approved the word "lens". And if this ends up in court they will say that "lens" means that we are aware of the impact layoffs have on our society, but does not change who we fire during a layoff, meaning even if we didn't do this through a lens the person suing would have still been let go.

> but does not change who we fire during a layoff what does 'carried out through a lens' mean. Through means it was put through that lens?

Yeah the comment means nothing if it did not impact their decision.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#433

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:09 AM UTC

howinteresting wrote: post #79

pentae wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They have been pushing "anti-racism" hard, which sounds nice on the surface but when you dig into critical race theory where its coming from it's a dog whistle for hating white people, basically. Now I know this is super trendy right now but I don't want to get emails from your organization about how woke and bigoted you are. Just sell me the damn SaaS tool we signed up for and keep your politics to yourself. We move…

Quoted post unavailable.

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Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#434

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:11 AM UTC

Blackthorn wrote: post #47

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…

Anyone who actually believes that, I've got an array of bridges to sell you. People doing layoffs will say anything they can to make the fact that they just laid people off seem better, more fair, whatever. This is just the latest attempt at that. It looks as ridiculous as every other attempt throughout history.

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Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#435

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:12 AM UTC

UtopiaPunk wrote: post #32

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…

Throwing people out on the street is tough, but at least we destroy people's livelihoods ~progressively~. All CEOs are bastards.

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Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#436

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:13 AM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #305

rglover wrote: post #91

> "were carried out through an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens" People have lost their damn minds. This is actual institutionalized racism . I wouldn't work for these people in a million years, but I really do wonder how I'd fit into their shallow models (I'm mixed race b/w).

i think this is really a problem of the CEO living in a bubble (hard to imagine i know) and not running that by legal. I think the CEO really stepped in it with that statement. I can hear the clanging of all the attack lawyers coming out of their cages.

Seems pretty typical PR language. Ever been on LinkedIn?

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#437

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:15 AM UTC

Ensorceled wrote: post #205

jballer wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“We avoided firing people who aren’t white” vs “we preferred firing people who are white.” This school of thought purports to agree that harmful impact supersedes good intent. They just refuse to recognize the individual as the ultimate minority.

Or, more charitably, "We avoided laying off racial/oppressed minorities for racist/bigoted reasons"

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Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#438

Post by nonethewiser » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:16 AM UTC

whymauri wrote: post #262

mdcds wrote: post #234

Earlier quoted context omitted.

See what Dr. Kendi is advocating for and his "anti-racist" ideas. I think it will make sense to you why some people write things like "People have lost their damn minds. This is actual institutionalized racism."

Kendi is one person with one interpretation and doesn't work for nor represent the policies of Twilio, a completely separate institution. I read the statement the same as the GP comment.

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Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#439

Post by crackercrews » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:19 AM UTC

xeromal wrote: post #424

guywithabike wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

TWLO is down 80% from its 52 week high, even after today's 10% rise. Do you really believe that this is the "slightest sign of trouble"?

So I'm a big dummy, but I STILL don't understand how current stock price affects companies. They've already raised their money. How does the stock going down make them lose money other than lowering their chance at another seed round?

They use it for compensation and acquisitions so having a higher price makes these things cheaper.

Also if shareholders lose confidence they can oust the leadership.

Re: Twilio to lay off 11% of workforce

#440

Post by bufferoverflow » Thu, Sep 15, 2022, 4:45 AM UTC

white_dragon88 wrote: post #37

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 consider myself very ‘liberal’ per American standards (pro abortion, pro lgbt rights, pro racial diversity and acceptance), and this to me screams of woke culture gone wild. Looks like anything can be weaponised.

Wild? Seems pretty standard leftist position these days.