Salesforce, Amazon announce job cuts amid global tech downturn as CEO Marc Benioff blames himself
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The company, once dubbed one of Australia’s best places to work, cuts thousands of jobs as the global tech recession hits the nation and the chief executive blames himself for growing too fast.
- Salesforce announces it will cut 7,000 jobs after cutting 1,000 in November
- The company’s Australian workforce is expected to be affected by the losses.
- Amazon will also ‘kill’ 18,000 jobs, though it’s unclear where they’ll be
An employer with a reputation for being one of Australia’s best workplaces has announced it will cut thousands of jobs as a global tech recession hits.
Salesforce, the runner-up to Cisco in Australia’s Best Workplaces 2022 report, announced on Thursday that 7,000 of its staff, about 10 per cent of all staff, would lose their jobs in its global workforce.
That comes after the cloud computing pioneer announced the loss of 1,000 jobs in November 2022.
Salesforce, an employer with a reputation for being one of Australia’s best workplaces, has announced it will cut thousands of jobs as a global tech recession hits.
Billionaire Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, 58, told staff in a letter Wednesday that he partly blamed himself for the job losses.
Amazon also announced the loss of 18,000 jobs, making it the latest in a string of tech giants to announce layoffs in recent months.
High fuel and energy costs for consumers and businesses are believed to be partly behind the tech recession.
Spending on online businesses skyrocketed during lockdown but has declined since.
Salesforce’s Australian workforce, believed to have around 2,770 employees before the first cuts were announced in November, is expected to be affected by the cuts. the aussie informed.
The company’s chief executive, Marc Benioff, told staff in a letter Wednesday that he partly blamed himself.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how we got to this moment. As our revenue accelerated during the pandemic, we hired too many people which led to this economic downturn we are now facing, and I take responsibility for that,” he wrote.
On the same day that the scale of Salesforce’s losses became apparent, a leak forced Amazon to announce that 18,000 jobs would be ‘eliminated’.
Amazon’s 18,000 job losses will be a fraction of its global workforce of 1.5 million people
Salesforce people who lose their jobs will do better than many workers when they are laid off.
They will receive nearly five months of salary, health insurance, career resources and other benefits, the company said.
Salesforce also said it would close some of its offices and reduce its floor space, but did not name the affected locations.
The company acquired naming rights to Sydney’s tallest office building in 2019, the 263-metre tower at Circular Quay, which was scheduled for completion in February.
The company had planned to occupy 24 levels of the building before the layoffs.
On the same day that the scale of Salesforce’s losses became apparent, a leak forced Amazon to announce that it would “cut” 18,000 jobs.
An Amazon employee released information about the massive job losses before redundant staff could be contacted, forcing CEO Andy Jassy to disclose the layoffs.
The company’s plan was originally to inform the unfortunate staff on January 18 after discussions with the unions.
“Between the reductions we made in November and the ones we share today, we plan to eliminate just over 18,000 roles,” Jassy said in a statement.
The job losses are a fraction of Amazon’s global workforce of 1.5 million people.