Twilio said it would cut about 11% of its workforce in September 2022. The CEO’s statement in an SEC filing said the company used an “anti-racist/anti-oppression lens” because layoffs can hit marginalized groups harder.
I initially asked whether Twilio selected people for layoffs by race. The statement does not establish that, and I should not have implied it. What I still want to know is practical: what criteria decided which roles went away, how did the company check the impact, and what could an affected employee appeal? A public value statement is easy to write. A transparent process for a painful decision is harder, and that is where the claim should be judged.