San Francisco: Sweeping Salesforce changes are on the way
San Francisco-based technology company Salesforce is following a trend by requiring employees to return to the office in person, according to an update on the company's website.
An internal memo obtained by The Standard details how Salesforce plans to enforce the policy for its San Francisco employees. The company's CEO Mark Benioff has has flip-flopped several times over the idea of remote work, going as far as to say demanding in-office attendance was "never going to work".
Benioff has also said he enjoys the flexibility that being a remote worker offers him.
"Well, I'm a remote worker. I've always been a remote worker my whole life. I don't work well in an office," Benioff said. "It just doesn't work for my personality. I can't tell you why. I do love to go in to visit customers, though. I'm on the road constantly visiting customers," Benioff told MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle in 2023.
When Ruhle pressed Benioff on why he would set different remote-work requirements for himself and his employees, he said it's better for the company.
"For my people, my message [is] they need to mix in-person and remote together," Benioff said. "[It’s] great to be together and also get productivity at home. Our engineers are extremely productive at home. We have lots of people who are extremely productive at home. But there also [have] to be salespeople who are productive in the office. We need to make it all work."
How will Salesforce monitor attendance?
Some employees will be required to head into the office at least four or five days a week, including some teams in engineering, workplace services, sales workers and some under the chief information officer. The majority of employees will be offered office flex. Some office flex teams will be expected to work in office 36 days per quarter and some will be required in office 10 days per quarter, it will all depend on the team, Salesforce confirmed to KTVU.
Salesforce says badge scans for entry and exit at United States offices will be monitored. That data will be fed into an internal dashboard which examines attendance versus whether an employee is meeting their quarterly goals.
Not everyone agrees that closer monitoring of employee's time provides a full reflection of their efforts, especially when only considering the amount of time spent working rather than the quality of the work produced. According to experts with the International Association for Human Resource Information Management, monitoring employees in these ways can have negative impacts on employee experience.
"That’s where the risk lies – many of the very same tools that should foster engagement, also generate data that can be used to monitor employees. The incautious use of such employee monitoring tools can erode employee trust, increase workplace stress, and result in negative consequences for organizations," IHRIM says.
Salesforce provided the following statement to KTVU:
"Salesforce has always been a hybrid work company. Our guidelines focus on in-person connection, while also recognizing the value of working away from the office," a spokesperson wrote.
Earlier this week, Salesforce announced it would be cutting 300 of the more than 70,000 global positions. Here in San Francisco, the company employs over 10,000 people. Just last year, Salesforce announced layoffs for about 10% of their global workforce.
One issue consistently brought to the table when examining return-to-work policies is the high cost of real estate, which may not be as justifiable for a company with work-from-home flexibility. Salesforce currently occupies about half of its a 61-story headquarters in the heart of San Francisco—one of the most expensive real-estate markets in the country.