Since the beginning of 2022, the IT sector has witnessed more than 1,100 layoffs and more than 180,000 employees lost their jobs. Yet the wind of layoffs is still not over. American IT firm Salesforce is planning for another round of layoffs due to ongoing leadership changes, increased pressure to meet sales targets, and the influence of activist investors.
Reportedly, Salesforce employees are currently in fear that the layoffs will be announced anytime soon. “People are afraid it (layoffs) could come at any point”, cited an employee in a report by Business Insider. The company has been focusing on cost-cutting measures since the start of the year due to global economic uncertainty and is taking significant steps to cut-down budget spending.
Earlier in November, the San Francisco, California cloud-based software firm laid off hundreds of employees following the firing spree of tech giants including Meta, Amazon and Twitter. The layoffs at Salesforce were first reported by Protocol and the report suggested that the company could fire as many as 2500 employees. But in a media announcement, the company said that it is laying off “less than a thousand” of its employees.
Significantly, Salesforce had more than 73,000 employees prior to layoff in 2022. But due to ongoing economic conditions and in order to achieve profit targets by following cost-cutting measures, the company announced to take “significant steps.”
Notably, last month amid the layoffs, Salesforce Vice Chair and Co-CEO Bret Taylor also announced to step down from his position effective January 31, 2023.
Earlier this month, the company announced that Bret Taylor would step down as Vice Chair and Co-CEO, effective January 31, 2023. After his resignation, Marc Benioff, who co-founded the company in 1999, will head the cloud software company as the new Chair and CEO of the company.
“I am grateful for six fantastic years at Salesforce. After a lot of reflection, I`ve decided to return to my entrepreneurial roots,” Taylor said in a statement.
In the meantime, Amazon is also planning for another round of layoffs after firing thousands of employees across the globe last year. Company CEO Andy Jessy in his letter to employees confirmed that the company will extend layoffs in 2023 as a part of its annual planning process. “Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023”, said Andy Jassy. Amazon earlier laid off around 10,000 of its employees around departments, including in the retail division and human resources.
