USA 
United KingdomChristy Lake
Chief People Officer at Twilio
“The swirl and policy reversals with remote, hybrid and RTO can cause real anxiety among employees,” says Christy Lake, CPO at Twilio in an interview with HR Grapevine...
Christy Lake
Chief People Officer at Twilio
“The swirl and policy reversals with remote, hybrid and RTO can cause real anxiety among employees,” says Christy Lake, CPO at Twilio in an interview with HR Grapevine...
Software-as-a-service giant Twilio has embraced the benefits of remote-first work since 2020. In 2022, the company made it official policy. But where other major US tech employers including Dell and Salesforce have U-turned on commitments to remote work, calling staff back into the office full time, Twilio is doubling down on the benefits of work-from-home for employees and the business alike.
Christy Lake, Chief People Officer at Twilio, says the company’s remote policy is here to stay, not least because it’s the “top reason” why candidates choose to join the team. Moreover, with 93% of its employees reporting effective team collaboration and a 90% favorability on its Connection & Trust index, Twilio is successfully navigating the inherent challenges of remote work, including navigating employee interaction across multiple timezones.
Lake speaks to HR Grapevine about the importance of clarity and consistency, the company’s ‘Open Work’ program, and how it is ensuring effective remote collaboration.
We’ve seen that being a remote-first company is mutually beneficial. It works best for our employees and helps us reach our goals as a business.
Being remote-first allows us to attract and retain top talent around the world. It also pushes us to continuously find ways to maintain connection and relationships across a distributed workforce, and provide the flexibility that employees want.
That’s why we implemented what we call Open Work. This blend of programs, policies, and resources are designed to support our remote-first employees globally.
It’s especially important for distributed companies to continuously listen to employees and use their insights to inform strategy. A big part of Open Work is collecting and responding to feedback from our employees. We continue to listen, learn, and implement new programs as employees’ needs change.
It’s important to be upfront that our remote-first policy is not changing. The swirl and policy reversals with remote, hybrid and RTO can cause real anxiety among employees
We also think it’s important to be upfront that our remote-first policy is not changing. The swirl and policy reversals with remote, hybrid and RTO can cause real anxiety among employees, so whatever your policy is, be clear about it. External data shows most employees prefer to work remotely, and our data tells us 93% of our employees reported effective remote team collaboration, and remote work is the top motivator for candidates to accept a role with us.
We're a results-oriented company that prioritizes ownership and accountability. To measure our health in our remote-first environment, we measure our success by external reporting through our quarterly earnings, internal metrics such as OKRs, and regular internal surveys of employees.
To maximize productivity on the right things, we make sure everyone in the company is aligned on our business objectives and strategic priorities by clearly communicating our company vision and goals.
Additionally, we promote the importance of asynchronous and deep-focus work through practices like "Focus Fridays," a day dedicated to meaningful work without scheduled meetings.
Frankly, many remote-first employers are still figuring out how to optimize distributed teams, so the key is continuous education. We provide resources and tools for our managers to lead their teams successfully. This includes best practices for asynchronous work, dedicated focus Fridays across all regions so employees can do heads down work, and manager training focused on leading a distributed workforce and respecting time zones.
We also arm managers with real-time feedback on the health of their team from regular pulse surveys, that include resources and recommendations to act based on the insights they receive.
We provide opportunities for managers to meet with their teams to connect beyond work. This can include virtual team-building events as well as enabling teams to meet in person. These opportunities to connect allow teams to maintain relationships with each other and ensures that managers regularly receive feedback from their teams so they can continue to lead their teams successfully.
The data doesn’t lie. As I shared earlier, 93% of our employees report effective team collaboration. We saw Twilio has 90% favorability on our Connection & Trust index, which tells us employees are feeling connected to and supported by each other and their teams. It’s about fostering a sense of ownership and trust in employees. We really believe impact can happen from anywhere and our employees prove this every day. Remote work is also the top reason candidates accept a role at Twilio. Our benefits and perks for employees are meant to enable them to do their best work in a remote-first environment. This includes company-wide breaks to support healthy work-life balance, a one-time remote work stipend, and more support to help with physical, financial, and emotional wellbeing.
Remote work is also the top reason candidates accept a role at Twilio. Our benefits and perks for employees are meant to enable them to do their best work in a remote-first environment
Again, the importance of clarity can’t be overstated here. Our CEO, Khozema Schipchandler, recently assured employees that we will remain a remote-first company. He understands that focusing on what we build rather than where we build will make the most impact and deliver the most value for our customers.
The reassurance also allows our employees to focus on their work, rather than worrying about whether they’ll have to operate differently if or when they’re asked to come back to the office full time.
The reality is, it’s not perfect. Distributing teams across multiple time zones comes with its own unique set of challenges. But our leadership team is putting in the work to continuously listen and learn from employees, and experiment with new policies to ensure we’re helping them do their best work.
Being remote-first is a big driver for us to attract and retain top talent around the world. It opens up new opportunities to engage with the best candidates so we can continue building the best platform for our customers. We’ve seen top talent around the globe increasingly prioritizing remote work. In fact, as I mentioned before, it’s the top motivator for candidates to accept a role at Twilio over pay, benefits, and job responsibilities.
