CNBC report on friday that Marc Benioff sent a message on the company’s Slack channel that the newer employees weren’t productive. He questions whether this is due to working from home since COVID, as well as the lack of training and sharing of tribal knowledge that was previously part of the culture at the office. room.
This is part of what he said, according to the report: “New hires (hired during the pandemic period of 2021 & 2022) in particular face much lower productivity. Is this a reflection of our office policy? Aren’t we building tribal knowledge with new employees without a workplace culture?”
It’s a rather odd position for a guy with a company spent $27 billion on Slack two years ago, precisely because it allowed easy communication between employees no matter where they were.
The company even has a name for it: Digital headquarters. That means you can operate digitally, so location doesn’t matter. It’s a catchphrase they use almost as often as Customer 360, a term every executive seems to be contractually obligated to use multiple times in every client or press meeting.
When TechCrunch asked for clarification, Salesforce PR had this to say:
“We have a hybrid work environment that empowers leaders and teams to work together with purpose. They can decide when and where they come together to collaborate, innovate, and drive customer success.”
That seems at least in part to contradict Benioff’s questions in Slack last week and adds general disturbance we have seen from the company in the last few weeks. We have seen the company decline to provide forecasts for the next financial year and several key executives have left. including co-CEO Bret TaylorBetween stress report between him and Benioff.
We now have the remaining CEO and the face of the company, suggesting that a core model in its business approach could cause his own company to fail. It was the most confusing message.
It should be noted that this has been a rough year for SaaS companies, and Salesforce is no exception, with stock prices falling just under 50% on the year.
