Not many details, just that people are being let go to 'right-size' the organization. It seems a small number are impacted, though no details on the exact number.
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this was last year
Two weeks and counting until Salesforce / Salesforce.com shows a thousand or more of their people the door in possibly the worst financial climate in modern history to cultivate what it considers cost to serve. Its incredible irony and doublespeak to do this.
Customers werent called, werent notified, and are still reaching out to me nearly two months after this debacle. I wasnt even werent allowed to engage. But HEY~! we definitely reached lower cost to serve! No service at all! I was a customer once, I'd be nuclear. And lets be clear, we arent asking for refunds of the service premium clients pay - about 20% of their license feeds. In some cases the entire team ( sales, service, even management - EVERYONE) converted, my clients are rudderless.
I cant speak for anyone but myself- however this was piss poor planning. There is literally no real opportunity internally ( even though there are nearly 3000 open jobs listed and many more internally). Ive been in this space a long time, and never seen it like this. February at Salesforce is literally the worst time to look for a job internally. Budgets are still being set. Im talking to other people in this spot ( we all know each other.. this wasnt a bottom of the barrel run, it was the opposite) they cut top tier professionals- pay grade 7,8,9,10 professionals. My manager was in tears when I was told. They were totally taken off guard.
The optics are disgusting - We just spent 1.5 billion dollars on another company, and we just recorded record earnings again. Not giving employees a proper runway, during the worst internal time of the year to do it - its evil. Layering coronavirus and markets on top of this - its like 1929; totally crazy.
here was plenty of time to do this right.
By the way. There is hardly any exit benefit offered - into coronavirus hell. If I get sick and die, my family doesnt even get the company death benefit. If they get sick, Ive got to cover them on cobra while I look for a job. I might have to raid my 401k that just took a massive hit just to cover us. I am freaking out.
Im thinking of going to the media with this, what have I got to lose? - I cant believe that far worse companies are going out on a limb for some employees, and salesforce who desperately wants to be the consicence of global business - isnt doing jack sh–.
Oh wait, I just read we donated cheese. CHEESE! Not new cheese, cheese we werent going to eat.....cool.
What. The. F—? Salesforce can do better.
Best CSG presentation ever... 🤮. That's when it felt like a kick in the guts... (from a 12 year 'Ohana' member 🤢🤮)
As someone also impacted by this change - it goes against all of the "Ohana" principles of trust and customer first success. This is literally 50% of what SF stands for when it presents its market differentiation.
Im reasonably sure of a few things - my line management had no idea, it was more senior employees (Director and Sr Director) levels. These are not management roles, but rather pay tiers based upon experience. In my case, it was a literally a hands down moment - no formal contact with clients, in fact the approach is a responsive, not proactive one. Thats a terrible optic for clients who spend $5million or more a year. There was no knowledge transfer - and those of us in this situation were shut out of internal systems as well. I cant even tell account teams where to go to get details. Its all lost.
Subsequent internal strategy seems to be lowering 'cost to serve' - which backs up my higher earners thesis. Other roles were reduced entirely and are being shuffled to service centers regionally to manage these same customers in a contact center model. SF is also training users in boot camps ( new college hires) into guide roles. My clients who I had in most cases for multiple years, will adjust - Im not special - but I do know them, and know what they need. I used to be them - thats not a language you can train to speak. I dont think someone who has never been there as either a customer( I have) or an external consultant ( I have) can be an effective advocate in our organization. And that represents a culture shift. The differentiator here is simple - that relationship and advocacy results in influenced revenue and high degree of renewal.
Everything SF does with the exception of Success is about building pipeline, but even Success was expected to offer support there. Essentially its an ABC (always be closing) model everywhere. I think here, they have finally taken the gloves off the signal to clients - if you arent buying more, you arent getting more. The irony is these clients do pay for success through service agreements, etc. Success was usually the adult in the room when others were trying to sell things clients didnt need or couldnt possibly implement.
Salesforce claims that they are trying to be sensitive here but the reality is the opposite. We were laid off on a conference call with no warning. This was done a week before the end of the fiscal year. Customers were not told. Nobody internally on teams were told. Though I will say we are still 'employed' though the prospect/process to find something else internal, is not going to work for everyone. Though, its a good job market, having the experience helps with external help - and I still work here for now.
I have 10+ years plus and was informed via a five min scripted recording.
I'm going to dig in here - I put in years of service to CSG to be informed of a layoff on a group webinar is one thing. Leaving our most valuable customers out to dry with under resourced teams is another. These customers are paying top dollar for Salesforce Services and they haven't even been informed that in some cases their entire operation teams at Salesforce are eliminated. Years of developed trust, account knowledge, and know-how gone in the matter of a day. No proper ramp off and training of new resources (would it really have been that hard to buffer in 3-6 months of transition time) - in most cases people who have never even worked on a customers account before are now the dedicated resource. Does that sound like “Customer Success” to you? They ultimately looked at this as a one shoe fits all situation without understanding the relationships and day-to-day operations of these account teams. The next 3-6 months at Salesforce will be rough for the remaining employees as they scramble to pick up the pieces, however it'll be more detrimental for the customers as they clearly see a pull back in productivity and efficiency from the status quo.
All in all - Salesforce put profit > people and the customer
Right on.
My son's whole team was dissolved, he says about 200 staff. I thought it was just his small business division, surprised to read it is more widespread.
Salesforce isn’t a bad company by any means. The CSG program is, however, misguided. It’s advisory at its core and most of the time, that means nothing more than simple best practices recommendations and, maybe, an org architecture review here and there. There’s a “no hands on keyboard” stipulation so architects can’t actually build anything or deliver anything to production (forcing customers to build themselves or pay SIs to build out features or functionality). I also think that those affected by this should be OK from a job market perspective. Those quals are hard to come by and if they do their job search correctly, they could make the same, if not more, than they were making at SF.
I say all of this as a former Salesforce employee and CSG PA (having left way before this situation).
I was laid off too. It was not a small cut, in some groups there were cutting 50% or more (see the message about NY below)... The good thing is that we all got good skills and that the market is really good right now.
If I had to be laid off, this is perfect timing (if this is such a thing) - I am sure I will bounce back quickly and I wish all the best to all of us who got affected.
Having dealt with Salesforce recently after being forced off desk.com I am really regretting not just going with Zendesk. Awful CS, infuriating UI, over bloated system when all I need it a log and flog system with a knowledge base. Sorry for the layoffs but not surprised.
Salesforce customer success is a joke. I have gone through 5 reps and each is as terrible as the next.
I feel sorry for these families but at the same time if you are doing a really awful job its easy selection for these multinational companies that only care about money (yes Salesforce does good but lets be honests its only with money they make from us)
9 out of 12 in NY. Some with temporary visa.
My fiance was laid off she was in CSG
So much for being a part of 'the family'.... five years, wasted
I was one of these employee laid off via email at 9.30 am on a Tuesday after 4+ of honored service. I am sad to see how customer success is not on top of the list anymore. I really don’t understand where the company is going. We are overpriced and overcomplicated and customer success was really One of the key feature of Salesforce. We are becoming like ANY of the other multinational companies in the world were the first pillar is profit no matter what. Good luck with that!
Guys, Salesforce is a terrible environment that is basically Oracle with better marketing. The question about whether Marc knows about this is laughable. As someone who has had a long ride inside the company, I would just say don't believe what the marketing tells you. It is a toxic environment in general, and even more so if you find yourself working for the wrong group. Avoid working here if you can - this situation is just one example of how reactionary and unstable Salesforce is. My heart goes out to those in CSG laid off - like someone above said - very unpredictable, and based on internal company politics and not market conditions. They are going to have a hard time keeping morale going in that group, or ever hiring new talent, which will get passed on to customers.
Not small. I heard it’s 15% of the global CSG workforce. I am not sure how big that number is, but a 15% reduction is significant.
Yes it seems the number was much larger than initially thought. I hear 1300 to 1400 people. It does seem this is in line with other organizations which make changes based on the market and not on what's best for the customer. It's a very worrying occurrence.
I have been surprised that there is no discussion of this. It is counter to everything Salesforce claims to be. Does Marc know that it happened? Are any of the people in his org? It seems to disproportionately affect some marginalized workers and people who have been loyal, great workers for many years.
Actually it wasn't small. The volume of people globally is rather large, and it's quite impactful to customers and employees, alike. Customer success work was ceased immediately for some clients leaving them out to dry on projects and engagements, leaving them calling everyone from Services to Sales to get the support that is no longer there. And the way it was handled by the company signals to employees and customers alike that their success doesn't actually matter to Salesforce. It's now all about cost-cutting. Salesforce talks the talk but is not walking the walk with the latest employee layoffs