Main image of article Salesforce Follows Other Tech Giants with Layoffs, Hiring Freeze

Salesforce has instituted layoffs and a hiring freeze.

According to Protocol, at least 90 employees were impacted by this round of layoffs, which represents a tiny fraction of the cloud giant’s 78,000 employees globally. “While limited hiring continues, most departments have reached their hiring goals for the fiscal year,” a company spokesperson told the publication. “As a result, we have ended contracts with some temporary recruiting contractors.”

The current layoffs won’t impact nearly as many employees as the last significant round in August 2020, when the company laid off 1,000 employees as part of a “repositioning” of the workforce. Salesforce’s hiring freeze will extend through January 2023.

Other tech giants have been cutting their staff lately. For example, Microsoft recently unleashed layoffs (which it termed “structural adjustments”); Axios reported those cuts totaled “under 1,000 workers.” Intel is also reportedly contemplating “thousands” of layoffs.

But even as they trim staff and institute hiring freezes, the tech giants continue to pay their technology professionals significant compensation. Much of this is driven by the need to retain their best and brightest workers, especially with other companies constantly on the hunt for unique talent. At Salesforce, salaries for mid-level specialists such as software developers and product managers can easily drift into the six-figure range.

For those technology professionals impacted by layoffs at big tech companies, keep in mind that smaller companies (including some startups) are seeing the current economic uncertainty as a great opportunity for finding and hiring talent. According to Reuters, some startups have boosted their hiring plans and pay packages to draw in talent that would otherwise head to bigger companies like Google or Meta.  

For tech professionals everywhere, any economic turbulence is a good reminder to keep your skills current. Updating your resume, online profiles, and other job-hunt materials on a regular basis will allow you to spring quickly at a new opportunity.