The CEO layoff blog post has grown into a literary genre of its own during this economic downturn, with executives seeking to strike the perfect tone of contrition, culpability and how they came to take an unpleasant decision.
Still, Twilio (NYSE: TWLO) CEO Jeff Lawson's post announcing the layoff of 11% of its staff — or roughly 800 to 900 people — is raising eyebrows over some of its language that could suggest some of the layoff decisions could have been based on race.
"As you all know, we are committed to becoming an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression company," Lawson wrote in the post. "Layoffs like this can have a more pronounced impact on marginalized communities, so we were particularly focused on ensuring our layoffs — while a business necessity today — were carried out through an Anti-Racist/Anti-Oppression lens."
Twilio declined to comment on what it meant by conducting layoffs with an anti-racist/anti-oppression lens and whether it meant race was a factor in its layoff decisions. Companies can be sued by employees that believe they were terminated based on race, which is illegal in California and federally, based on the Civil Rights Act.
The blog post has stirred up quite a commotion on Twitter, especially among conservatives who are calling out the company for making employment decisions based on race. Even former VC Blake Masters, who is running for Senate in Arizona and is backed by Peter Thiel, weighed in.
The Minneapolis public school system drew controversy along similar lines last month when it agreed to a contract with its teacher's union that would exempt teachers of color from its last hired-first fired layoff policy. It is currently facing legal challenges.
Twilio is a Salesforce competitor that creates software for customer management and marketing, and has seen its stock fall 73% since the beginning of this year. The company has yet to achieve profitability and has grown its workforce by around 2,000 people in the past year, according to Bloomberg. Its stock rose 10% today on news of the layoffs.
Laid-off Twilio employees (or Twilions, as the company refers to them) will receive 12 weeks pay plus an additional week for every one year of employment, and will receive the full value of the company's next stock options vest.
