Salesforce CEO Raises Eyebrows Over Statements that Younger Remote Workers Might Not be as Productive
Per Business Insider
The CEO of Salesforce is now under a lot of heat for remarks made regarding the productivity of some of its workers. Marc Benioff, Salesforce CEO, pointed out that the younger remote employees, ones especially hired during the pandemic, might not be as productive.
The statements came during a meeting to discuss Salesforce's mass layoff plans, following suit of other companies, like the bank Goldman Sachs which is letting go of 3,200 positions. On the topic of layoffs, the CEO commented that employees who were young and did not go to the office were considered less productive.
Benioff: "We don't have the same level of performance and productivity that we had in 2020 before the pandemic. We do not... We don't have the same level of performance and productivity that we had in 2020 before the pandemic. We do not,"
The CEO highlighted that staff specifically hired in 2021 and 2022 were showing less productivity than most workers. Instead of taking things back when Benioff received pushback, he explained and provided examples supporting his statement.
Benioff noted that 96% of the annual contract value of the company was delivered by just 50% of Salesforce's sales account executives. The CEO then questioned why this was the case saying it had never happened in the past, saying half of the company wasn't productive, and most of them were new employees.
Benioff: "Are we not managing our remote employees well enough? Do we need new skills? Because that's never happened before in the history of the company."
The CEO also insisted that the problem was not purely because of how customers decided to spend less post-pandemic. He then pointed that there could be a different problem causing half their sales organization to suffer.
Employees did not take the statements lightly and noted that this could be because the CEO was from another generation, per one commenter.
Benioff: "Must be a few things going on either psychologically and technically.
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Other News:
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- Salesforce Plans to Cut 10% of Workforce and Reduce Real Estate Holding
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