The job that caused incredible self doubt - Anonymous employee Salesforce Employee Review

1.0
Oct 6, 2017
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

-Great reputation -Best practices

Cons

My experience at Salesforce is something that still haunts me to this day. It’s been a couple years, so it’s a little easier to talk about, but I try to put it behind me as much as I can. I may have been too naive in that I thought people genuinely try to treat others with common decency, but it forever changed my trust towards others in the work place. To this day, I still can’t piece together why I was treated the way I was, but I am able to look back and see how I was blackmailed, bullied, and harassed. I will give some background and the events that occurred that ultimately resulted in my departure from Salesforce on my own will. I had been referred by a friend for a role that I was extremely interested in and everything worked out ,which lead to an offer. I continuously brought a positive attitude and made a genuine effort to ramp up quickly and do as much as I could. By midyear, I had a great review resulting in a high bonus percentage and even continued on to earn a spot bonus for my efforts in the following months...then things started changing. I started noticing that one of the directors (whom I’ll refer to as Director#1 from here on) became very short and blunt. I had originally concluded that this was due to a recent move that resulted in a longer commute, but I don’t think that was the case. Shortly after, I found out that the very person who referred me was suddenly now on the same team that I was; odd, but again, I didn’t think anything malicious by this new change. A couple months later, out of nowhere, Director#1 tells me that I am not a good fit and that I am to look for another team or another job as soon as possible. I was instructed that if I did not do this, I was to be put on a PIP (performance improvemt plan) which would ultimately result in me being fired and that “the Bay Area is small, so I wouldn’t burn any bridges”. I literally thought this was a joke, but after I was then told to go home for the day to think about it, I became incredibly confused. What did I do wrong? What did I not do? After this, the environment was so toxic that it made it hard for me to wake up every morning to come to work having experienced what I experienced having to see this person every day. Then, one morning, I am pulled into a meeting with my manager who informs me that I had misused company funds and I was highly advised to resign immediately. Luckily, I had saved an email with my managers approval, which basically negated the claim that I misused company funds. I could not believe this was pulled on me; I became visibly upset but also felt incredibly betrayed. By the grace of God, I was able to receive an offer shortly after from a job I had been interviewing for and left. Before my last day, however, I was able to speak with others around the office and was surprised to hear that this treatment wasn’t something new; it was apparently actions that weren’t out of the norm when talking about Director#1. What a terrible experience that I wish upon nobody.

avatar
Salesforce Response
8y
Thank you for your feedback. The behaviors you've described are inconsistent with our values and will not be tolerated. We would greatly appreciate you providing more details anonymously by contacting our third party provider Ethicspoint at http://www.salesforce.ethicspoint.com/ so we can work to directly address your concerns.

Explore other reviews about Salesforce

5.0
Jun 5, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Amazing workplace culture Great benefits Great career growth pathways Favorite job of my entire career Great leadership

Cons

None. You work hard but it’s so worth it.

4.0
Jul 9, 2014
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

I've spent over 8 years with Salesforce in various management and individual contributor roles, all customer or partner facing. Some of the pros: - vibrant, fast paced culture - smart, fun, aggressive colleagues - management is focused on latest tech trends and staying or becoming a leader for many of them - by and large, customers and partners are very positive about the technology - good benefits and perqs - hip urban culture at HQ - a chart-your-own-course mentality that rewards those who aggressively seek out the job they want and pursue it, or sometimes even create it

Cons

After my long tenure and many Dreamforce conferences, I'm nearly fried. To say the culture is fast paced and the focus is always changing is an understatement. The reason Salesforce always seems on top, and chasing the latest trend, and in the press, is because employees are expected to run harder, carry more, cheer loudly, and pivot constantly. It's the world's biggest startup in behavior. But at the same time, with the recent influx of top career sales leaders from Oracle and what appears to be a board-level mandate for doubling revenue, employees are being asked to do even more with even less, fill higher quotas with smaller territories, less help, and the big company bureaucracy is rearing it's ugly head. Worse still is the politics. When you hire a bunch of smart, aggressive people, and put them in an environment of outsized expectations, throw in a bunch of re-orgs and changing management, and sprinkle with uncertainty and constantly changing priorities, you inevitably get people back stabbing each other and throwing others under the bus to appear smarter and more worthy of promotion. The few at the top will get very, very rich. The rest will lose the sense of personal ownership and start to wonder why they've given up health and family

782
avatar
Salesforce Response
1y
It's not often that you get the opportunity to respond to a review 10 years in but your comprehensive and thoughtful review has managed to hold on as one of our most popular even a decade in :) It’s exciting to see that the things we love most about the Salesforce of today — super smart colleagues, being at the forefront of tech trends and establishing ourselves as leaders in the space, great benefits and perks to name a few — haven’t changed in the past 10 years. We acknowledge the challenges you faced, such as the pace, shifting priorities, and internal politics. Your advice on maintaining our foundational vision while avoiding big-company bureaucracy is helpful as we continue to grow as the #1 AI CRM. Salesforce is committed to balancing growth with employee well-being and staying true to our core values. We appreciate your insights and dedication over the years. Thanks again for your feedback!
See reviews by: Helpful|Rating|Date|All