It would be easy to think that when Salesforce announced it was laying off 10% of the workforce in January, it would let those people know and be done with it, but some employees didn’t find out their fate until February. It seems that even more are finding out that they have been laid off today, according to an internal reportand confirmed by LinkedIn Posts.
The latest round seems to be reaching merchandising roles in sales and marketing with a woman is LinkedIn saying that she found out she had been fired from an email that her job had been removed. As the third wave of layoffs swamps the company, it’s unclear why Salesforce is making the announcements this way, leaving employees who were laid off distraught, as LinkedIn posts attest, and presumably leaving those who still They are there wondering if they could be next.
When CEO and Chairman Marc Benioff was asked about the layoffs and how he handled them in an interview with Kara Swisher last week at the Upfront Summit, said he was trying to be candid with his employees in the blanket announcement of the layoffs in January.
“I’m the type of person who leads from the front, you know that. I’m not afraid of getting a general call for two hours and it was difficult because you have to explain the inexplicable, and yes, exactly what you said, we don’t have a job for life,” he said.
When asked how this fits with his Ohana (Hawaiian word for family) philosophy, he insisted that his employees were like family and that he was working to place employees who had been laid off. He went on to say that many of them would eventually be rehired (assuming they wanted to rejoin that family).
Benioff continued, talking about how difficult it was for him personally. “But it is not easy. You know, there’s no rule book here, and there are different ways to handle it. He might not have said anything. That is much easier. But I don’t think that’s right. I think the right thing to do is take the bullets.” It could be argued that it was his employees fired from him who were left with more serious injuries than Benioff.
The company has been hounded by five activist investors in recent months and is coming under pressure to cut costs, but layoffs continue despite a stellar quarter. In fact, Benioff bragged to Swisher in bombastic fashion: “We had a great quarter. Yeah, I think it’s probably the best quarter ever for a software company.”
Meanwhile reported the WSJ last month about a $10 million contract between Salesforce and actor Matthew McConaughey. In a recent interview with BarronsBenioff insisted that the contract with the actor was not related to the layoffs, but perhaps the $10 million could be better spent.
Salesforce did not respond to an email from TechCrunch for comment prior to publication. If that changes, we’ll update the story. The company’s shares have fallen in early trading.
