Salesforce CEO points finger at new, remote, and younger workers for company's falling...

Ok boomer. Anecdotes and generalisation of young people don't cut it.

Marc needs to figure out why modern ways of working are working for plenty of other organizations but not for his. Because one way or another he's going to find out that if him and his management team can't manage a remote workforce, they won't be capable of managing them on site either.
Yes, The old "the Bosses are *****s argument" It has never held water at home or on the road
 
This shouldn't surprise anyone who has been in the work force for any length of time. And this guy is one of many who are saying the exact same thing.

Common sense should make it obvious that people are going to be less productive from home overall. Some will be more productive but the fact remains that a number of them will absolutely take advantage.

When we worked form home during covid a guy I worked with told me he tied his mouse to a oscillating fan so that his computer would not show him as "away". I'm sure he was one of many people who did similar things.

What I find most humorous is the younger generation crying over his comments though. So incredibly entitled...wake up the world isn't here to appease you.

EDIT: I'm in no way against working from home. In fact I am considering looking for something similar but at the same time I can't stand when people act as if it's owed to them. No one wants to have to go out of their way to make money anymore. It just screams lack of perspective of the real world.

No one owes me anything, but I won't consider working for someone if they don't offer at least partial remote work. WFH is so common now that not offering it severely limits a company's ability to hire. That's how the labor market works.

What I find funny is CEOs chasings profits by implementing ever-tightening budgets on wages, training, and technology. Of course your employees aren't as productive as they used to be. You aren't giving them the resources they need to perform their job effectively. Then CEOs turn around and blame their employees for disappointing financial performance. Sorry, but those results fall squarely on executives.
 
Maybe the Salesforce sales team is different from others I've worked with, but the ones I know tell me their productive time is time with clients and prospective clients. Time at the office for internal meetings is not where sales happen.

That said I could see where sales reps with existing relationships, forged in person prior to the pandemic, would be a lot better situated to preserve and grow those relationships via online meetings, vs. a new sales rep trying to build them from scratch without ever having had the chance to meet in person, visit the client's office, take them out for entertainment, etc etc.
 
You seem to confuse "no one wants to admit they are a problem" with "no cares if some random old white dude believes they are the problem"...
Out of curiosity why does him being white matter? Why did you point that out at all?
I mean I wouldn't see a reason for saying some random old "black" guy. So why point out that he is white?
 
Out of curiosity why does him being white matter? Why did you point that out at all?
I mean I wouldn't see a reason for saying some random old "black" guy. So why point out that he is white?
It doesnt matter... neither does it matter that he is OLD or a GUY (so, why did YOU think "white" matters, while "old" or "guy" doesnt?!) - it is just what he is
If "he" had been a young black chick, I would have written "some random young black chick"...
Or do you expect me to write "some entity"? Sounds a little strange?...
 
Last edited:
Out of curiosity why does him being white matter? Why did you point that out at all?
I mean I wouldn't see a reason for saying some random old "black" guy. So why point out that he is white?
Probably because being a white dude in the United States means you had the lowest number of disadvantages growing up (even moreso if you grew up wealthy), and a lot of everyday people are tired of being blamed for the collapse of the economy by people like Marc who have had a much easier life.
 
It doesnt matter... neither does it matter that he is OLD or a GUY (so ask yourself why did you point out that I called him "white" - but not "old" or "guy"?!)

Basically, if "he" had been a young black chick, I would have written "some random young black chick"
Or do you expect me to write "some entity"? Sounds a little strange?...
Because with a certain group of people it's become cool to blame white people for everything and generally speaking those same people would be butthurt over some random ceo saying WFH isn't good. So I was curious if you might have been one of those self-loathing white people that like to claim they hate racism but then love to point out how bad "white people" are.

"Some entity" is likely offensive to someone for some reason so maybe "white guy" is fine.
 
I mean I'm not a "business expert" but as Marc seems to be, he should realize that productivity is of course going to take a hit with new hires.

With new hires comes training, learning the processes, no new hires is going to come in and start being 100% productive.

The problem is wall street and their need for constant growth and increased profits.

I like how they always like to fool the general public when it comes to revenue because it's always year over year so no, you didn't take a loss, you just didn't make as much as you did last year.


I always explain it to people like , if I give you 2 millions dollars this year, bit only give you 1 million the next, did you lose a million? No
The smartest commet I have read in months !!!
 
I was a sys admin for a smaller company when covid hit and wfh days started, it was eye opening how many employees just werent working or were doing the bare minimum, it was enough that our trouble tickets were so low they let myself and another admin go.

like you I'm not against working from home, honestly I'm for it because for people like myself who would rather be in office...the pay is higher because so many want to stay home. alot, probably most can work remote and get s**t done, but no one can sit with a straight face and tell me that applies to everyone.
Here's a hint: they're not less productive. It's just a lot more obvious when everything is tracked digitally and there is no blustering BS back and forth to make it look like they do things.
 
Here's a hint: they're not less productive. It's just a lot more obvious when everything is tracked digitally and there is no blustering BS back and forth to make it look like they do things.

Yep, plenty of people slack off in an office just ‘looking busy’ - changing their environment likely has little effect if they’re already that way inclined
 
Here's a hint: they're not less productive. It's just a lot more obvious when everything is tracked digitally and there is no blustering BS back and forth to make it look like they do things.
Why does this always happen? I dont need a hint, the people weren't doing their jobs, or doing the barest of minimums.

long story short, the company downsized, ALOT, pretty much to weed out those who weren't doing much. so much so that the lead manager later invited me to a lunch to apologize on how I was let go. I was trying to do my job but if I cant contact people because they've wandered off to wherever...what can I do?

folks weren't just sitting at home watching tv and moving a mouse every 10minutes, people were taking trips to the beach. out shopping, taking trips, just living their best lives, meanwhile we're back at the office like what have we setup wrong? trying to ask questions on what their setup is at home to help them figure out issues but they'd be quiet because the truth of "oh, were at the lake this week and there's no signal way the hell out here" would sound pretty f**ked up.

Why don't people get that some folks actually work better in certain environments? some will just adapt to the freedom of working at home and focus and probably do more in less time, and others will just wander off to do whatever it is they want.
 
By boss told me that during covid he called one of the guys I work with and no one answered the teams call. When he finally returned the call he had the nerve to tell my boss that he was mowing his lawn. Why he would tell him that is unknown but needless to say it didn't help his level of trust with WFH.

Some may do better working from home but the slackers are now unseen and free to screw off more than ever.
 
Why does this always happen? I dont need a hint, the people weren't doing their jobs, or doing the barest of minimums.

long story short, the company downsized, ALOT, pretty much to weed out those who weren't doing much. so much so that the lead manager later invited me to a lunch to apologize on how I was let go. I was trying to do my job but if I cant contact people because they've wandered off to wherever...what can I do?

folks weren't just sitting at home watching tv and moving a mouse every 10minutes, people were taking trips to the beach. out shopping, taking trips, just living their best lives, meanwhile we're back at the office like what have we setup wrong? trying to ask questions on what their setup is at home to help them figure out issues but they'd be quiet because the truth of "oh, were at the lake this week and there's no signal way the hell out here" would sound pretty f**ked up.

Why don't people get that some folks actually work better in certain environments? some will just adapt to the freedom of working at home and focus and probably do more in less time, and others will just wander off to do whatever it is they want.

The crux of the situation you describe isn’t really anything to do with productivity through WFH though, you’re describing people simply ‘not working’ - which would surely be disciplinary/grounds for dismissal scenario?

It’s not that their productivity is any different based on the environment (as this CEO implies in the article), the employees are actually in breach of their contractual obligations entirely
 
In my industry (engineering) if everyone worked from home the newer people to the business would be left behind eventually. Without face to face interaction, conversation and problem solving you would eventually lack the experience that the in office people had. That is not an opinion it's a fact.

In my industry (software engineering) no one worked in the same office even before the pandemic. Our organisation has both domestic and global business, and most of the people that we worked with are located in different locations from the building down the road to literally the other side of the world. Interaction, conversation and problem solving had to be done remotely, and anyone who couldn't do that would lack the experience that people who learned new and varied ways of working had. That is not an opinion it's a fact.
 
In my industry (software engineering) no one worked in the same office even before the pandemic. Our organisation has both domestic and global business, and most of the people that we worked with are located in different locations from the building down the road to literally the other side of the world. Interaction, conversation and problem solving had to be done remotely, and anyone who couldn't do that would lack the experience that people who learned new and varied ways of working had. That is not an opinion it's a fact.
Sure. Not all industries are the same.
 
Maybe workers have decided that they are done working their asses off when they don't get any share of the gains?
 
The reality is, people working from home are lacking social skills constantly hiding in front of a screen making it easier in making questionable work decisions especially when relates in keeping a professional and pleasant relationship with clients and co-workers alike.

It's indisputable that having a person to person interaction in a work environment helps the mind in keeping you more aware on any potential work challenges.
Some people are sociable by nature. Some not.
 
Maybe workers have decided that they are done working their asses off when they don't get any share of the gains?
And that is fine but you have to agree to pay terms and whatnot when you start.
If you get fired because you refuse to work your *** off then you have no right complaining if you get let go.
This is what kills me about the younger generations....crying about having to work hard and then crying injustice when they won't work hard and get fired.
And what do you believe here anyway? The owner should make you a partner and give you half because you know....you work so hard?

And if you want more money you have every opportunity to start your own company. People don't work hard and do all the leg work just so you can do some turd job and make more money than you deserve.

Oh man the US is so screwed......
 
Last edited:
The reality is, people working from home are lacking social skills constantly hiding in front of a screen making it easier in making questionable work decisions especially when relates in keeping a professional and pleasant relationship with clients and co-workers alike.

It's indisputable that having a person to person interaction in a work environment helps the mind in keeping you more aware on any potential work challenges.

I have been working from home since the pandemic and I can tell you that this is just a pile of BS up from your butt.

I never been more productive than now because I can manage my time accordingly. No need to plan for meetings since we can have them with everyone that we want and on the go.

On the contrary, the office is the same as The Office, where people gather around the coffee machine to procrastinate over dumb garbage that nobody care about.

By the way, I manage an IT project of about 350M$... so no, you don't need the so call Legacy Feature of dumb social interaction.
 
In my industry (engineering) if everyone worked from home the newer people to the business would be left behind eventually. Without face to face interaction, conversation and problem solving you would eventually lack the experience that the in office people had. That is not an opinion it's a fact.
Engineer and Project Manager here... and you are... SOOOO WRONG.... a Project Management Plan doesn't require the team to be physically present in a room...
 
And that is fine but you have to agree to pay terms and whatnot when you start.
If you get fired because you refuse to work your *** off then you have no right complaining if you get let go.
This is what kills me about the younger generations....crying about having to work hard and then crying injustice when they won't work hard and get fired.
And what do you believe here anyway? The owner should make you a partner and give you half because you know....you work so hard?

And if you want more money you have every opportunity to start your own company. People don't work hard and do all the leg work just so you can do some turd job and make more money than you deserve.

Oh man the US is so screwed......
Well, they are kind of right when you see that the average home cost almost half a million $. People in their 20s right now, will have it hard, so we cannot judge them.
 
Back