Fake culture - it’s all branding - Anonymous employee Salesforce Employee Review

1.0
Mar 13, 2020
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Comp package is decent, benefits are good

Cons

I’ve only been with the company for a few months, and it was my dream company to work for. I fell for the hype, the branding, the “perks”, the “culture”, the philanthropy. Now, I can speak from experience that the culture is fake. Benioff might mean well and the company might provide perks so that from those on the outside looking in, this is a great place to work. I just know that during the months I’ve been here, I haven’t had any time to see the Salesforce park or have coffee in the Ohana floor. I’m on a small team and other than my manager, the others have not said 3 words to me, unless I’m talking to them in a group setting. No “how was your day?” Or “Do you want me to show you around?” How’s that for culture? I tried to walk to a meeting with a team member and she completely ignored me. I’ve never felt so lonely at a job. The Ohana seating makes it impossible to get to know anyone. I am so busy from the moment I get in but accomplish nothing. We have so many meetings... meetings 85% of my days to talk about nothing that can’t get accomplished through emails. Or the meeting is about the same things we just met about 2 hours ago. The culture is not about being productive or getting things done. It’s about looking/feeling like important topics are being discussed, sitting in conference rooms, and over complicating the strategy. We just spin and spin and then we go home, and do it again the next day. Every single thing I’ve worked on since I started have been scratched or changed because the process or overall strategy has changed. How does anyone work around here or get anything done in this type of setting and without concrete decisions being made? The on-boarding is very chaotic and management isn’t aligned with the actual on-boarding process. They don’t factor in how long the mandatory trailhead courses take or take the time to onboard you. Becoming Salesforce and Bootcamps are just thrown into the schedule and are disruptive to the day-to-day workflow. (I’ve had to reschedule because there are other meetings that conflict). I met someone, also new but on another team, who complained she doesn’t have time for bootcamp. Maybe it’s not necessary? Just show the new employees how to navigate the elevators in the tower... this took me weeks to figure out on my own.

Explore other reviews about Salesforce

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