Lay-offs hit Salesforce before Tower shift

The world’s largest software company has been hit by the tech turmoil, and is reducing its global headcount by 1000.

Salesforce chief executive Pip Marlow at her company’s new tower in May last year. Picture: Britta Campion

Salesforce has flagged redundancies at its local operations after the software giant quietly said it would lay off 1000 employees across its global business this week.

Staff were notified of their redundancies by email, although the company declined to provide details about Australian employees impacted by the decision.

But in a statement Salesforce said: “Our sales performance process drives accountability”.

“Unfortunately, that can lead to some leaving the business, and we support them through their transition,” the company told The Australian on Thursday.

Prior to the lay offs Salesforce had around 73,000 employees. Locally, the company has increased its headcount 57 per cent since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, with the latest headcount recording 2776 from 1600 it had in 2020.

Salesforce co-chief executives Bret Taylor and Marc Benioff at the world’s largest tech conference Dreamforce in San Francisco in September. Picture: Salesforce / Jakub Mosur

In May 2021, Salesforce’s local chief executive, Pip Marlow, told The Australian that the hiring of staff was keeping her up at night.

“The things that keep me up at night are people, and capacity. It worries me greatly that I won’t have enough of the people with the skills to meet demand,” she said.

Salesforce is only the latest in a string of technology companies to start cutting staff numbers. Twitter last week locked out of their office in Sydney after Elon Musk took the company private and began retrenching employees. Dozens of local staff have been affected.

The Australian reported earlier this year that MrYum, a local start-up which attracted significant investor support and had been spruiking a valuation of $400m in late 2021, was making almost 20 per cent of its staff redundant.

And in September, Brisbane-based software start-up Skedulo cut around 8 per cent of its staff.

Meta Platforms – which operates Facebook – told staff on Wednesday that it would cut more than 11,000 workers, or 13 per cent of its staff, as it embarked on a broader restructure amid a slump in the online advertising market.

The lay-offs at Salesforce arrive as office developers hedging their bets on technology companies to occupy more space in key markets like Sydney and Melbourne. The sector is still seen as growing compared to traditional tenants.

Salesforce is preparing to move its local staff from a Darling Point office to its brand new Salesforce Tower, a 55-storey skyscraper at 180 George St in Circular Quay.

Salesforce Tower will be the tallest office tower in Sydney. Picture: Lendlease

Lendlease, the developer of the building under construction in Sydney Place, was in talks with TikTok to potentially lease 4400sq m of space. TikTok has a local headcount of more than 300.