Salesforce may be set to cut even more jobs as 2023 continues its rough start.
In the first week of 2023, information appeared that the CRM giant intends to lay off a large number of jobs, which account for about 10% of employees. Now Salesforce co-CEO Marc Benioff has warned that even bigger cuts may be needed.
CNBC (opens in a new tab) reports that a virtual meeting hosted by Benioff warned workers that further cuts would be needed to make the company more profitable.
Layoffs in Salesforce
Like many tech companies, Salesforce significantly increased recruitment during the pandemic after a surge in new customers. However, as industry growth begins to slow and amid global economic uncertainty, many companies are reducing staff numbers.
According to two participants in the virtual meeting (via CNBC (opens in a new tab)), approximately half of the company’s account directors generated nearly 95% of all sales.
This is not the first time there have been reports of Salesforce’s response to the crisis. In light of staff productivity, Benioff reportedly sent a message to the company’s internal Slack asking why new hires (who were hired during and after the outbreak) were seemingly less productive.
Earlier this month, we reported that a recent move to drastically cut staff could cost the company as much as $2.1 billion, but with more layoffs, Salesforce may be willing to spend even more for overall savings.
The overall growth and subsequent decline in salesforce is due to Beinoff miscalculating the company’s success by hiring “too many people,” but it’s not the only company to do so.
Already this year, Amazon announced plans to cut a total of 18,000 jobs, although some of that number was moved from November 2022. Other tech giants such as Microsoft and Twitter are also experiencing such difficulties.
Salesforce did not immediately respond with comment about the 2022 cuts.