Bullying amongst female employees a HUGE problem - Director Salesforce Employee Review

2.0
2 Apr 2020
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Competitive salaries Ability to progress within company Volunteering opportunities

Cons

I had a wonderful experience working with Salesforce for the first 3 years of my employment there. However, for the 18 months that followed, my life was made hell. I am so disappointed to say that this was a result of constant bullying from female employees. I had been cursed at and shouted at by a senior female leader repeatedly and in front of other employees, and when reported this to my director was told that there was nothing he could do as she was a VP. This went on for a year. There was extreme and constant bullying, negativity and back-stabbing from females in the US Marketing department, so much so that when a colleague went to interview for that department, the Head of Marketing told her they were having lots of problems on the team with bullying and back-stabbing etc, and was it something she would be able to deal with (the answer to which was obviously no). This type of bullying just became the norm, and was totally accepted. My own first line manager, who was also female, was incapable of giving any type of constructive or positive feedback, particularly to female members of the team, would openly speak negatively about senior leaders in a team meeting setting and was regularly described as being extremely de-motivating by all team members. Again when reported to more senior leadership nothing at all was done about this. I would regularly end my day in tears, spending more time trying to ward off this bullying than being able to focus on my actual work. All of this was documented to my director, and to Employee Services however nothing was done about it. My director would speak with me maybe once every 3-4 months, so I was subjected to bullying by my manager and made to cope with this by myself. My mental health, sleep, appetite and general well-being suffered dramatically and when I mentioned this to my director he told me that I should just go to Employee Services, he also asked if maybe I was having personal issues. Again, my first few years with Salesforce were great, I had amazing team members, male and (amazing) female leaders in Ireland and Canada. However working with management and marketing dept in the US was an entirely different experience and in the end proved to be unbearable. I was stuck in a horrible situation for far too long, with no support or outlet, totally isolated and unable to seek guidance from management. I do hope something is done about the widespread and consistent bullying that is carried out by female employees in the US offices, particularly with regard to the infamously volatile and toxic Marketing Department.

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Salesforce Response
6y
Thank you for reaching out — what you've described is concerning. Bullying is simply not acceptable and not tolerated at Salesforce. I'd like to address this situation immediately. Would you please contact our anonymous third-party provider EthicsPoint at salesforce.ethicspoint.com to share additional details? We want to create a workplace where every employee feels valued and safe to speak up. We know this work is never done and feedback like yours helps us become a better workplace for all. Thank you!

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Cons

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4.0
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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

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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

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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!
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