Marc Benioff Tells Salesforce Employees New Hires Are Less Productive

In aSlackmessage sent to employees on Friday, co-CEO ofSalesforceMarc Benioff declared the company's new hires weren't productive enough and asked what the cause might be.

Benioffasked, "Are we not building tribal knowledge with new employees without an office culture?" in a message firstreportedby CNBC. Benioff reportedly followed up by attempting to soften the question's intensity with a joking "asking for a friend" smiley angel emoji.

According to CNBC, Benioff emphasized that it was "an issue that he said was affecting employees who joined Salesforce this year and last." It was clear that the productivity problem might be partly related to the nature of widespread remote work, which has become much more common due to theCOVID-19pandemic.

In a statement to CNBC, a company spokesperson said that Salesforce has "a hybrid work environment that empowers leaders and teams to work together with purpose. They can decide when and where they come together to collaborate, innovate, and drive customer success."

Salesforce, like many companies, has been contending with a weakening economy, CNBC notes, as well as departures by C-Suite execs such as the imminent departure of Slack CEOStewart Butterfield.

Benioff's message reportedly prompted numerous responses, many positive. Still, he was unhappy it became public, saying in part that he hoped employees would "agree it is also disappointing that our private conversations here were almost immediately given to the public media."