What Happened to Salesforce Layoffs and Workforce Rebalancing?

Salesforce, a leading cloud-based software company, has navigated a period of significant workforce adjustments since late 2022, marked by several rounds of layoffs and a strategic rebalancing of its talent pool. The initial major cuts came in January 2023, when the company announced a layoff of approximately 10% of its workforce, impacting around 8,000 positions. CEO Marc Benioff attributed this to aggressive over-hiring during the COVID-19 pandemic, coupled with a global economic downturn. This period also saw the company reducing office space as part of a broader restructuring plan.

Following the 2023 reductions, Salesforce continued to make targeted cuts. In January 2024, approximately 700 global staff were laid off, with another 300 in July 2024. The year 2025 saw a significant shift, with around 4,000-5,000 employees affected, many of whom were redeployed. A notable development in September 2025 was Benioff's announcement that Salesforce had reduced its customer support workforce from 9,000 to approximately 5,000 employees, a nearly 45% cut, due to the deployment of AI-powered support agents like Agentforce. He stated that AI agents were handling about 50% of customer support interactions, leading to reported cost reductions.

The trend of AI-driven workforce adjustments continued into 2026. In February 2026, Salesforce initiated another round of layoffs, affecting fewer than 1,000 roles, primarily in marketing, product management, data analytics, and the Agentforce AI team itself. This was part of a larger executive leadership reshuffle aimed at reshaping the company around an 'AI-first' operating model. Simultaneously, Salesforce announced a commitment to hire 1,000 'AI-native' graduates, signaling a deliberate refresh of its talent base towards engineers and go-to-market staff proficient in agentic AI.

Furthermore, Salesforce implemented a hiring freeze for software engineers in 2025, which extended into 2026. CEO Marc Benioff explained that AI tools, particularly Agentforce and other coding-assist technologies, had increased engineering productivity by over 30%, negating the need for additional engineers. While not directly replacing existing engineers, this strategy focuses on leveraging AI to enhance the efficiency of the current workforce. The company is projected to spend around $300 million on Anthropic AI tokens in 2026, largely for coding-related work.

The most recent development occurred on June 9, 2026, with Salesforce laying off more employees. These cuts affected teams working on the Agentforce AI product, the Mulesoft IT integration tool, and Marketing Cloud software. A regulatory WARN notice in California listed 86 job cuts in roles such as sales, general administration, and technology and product. This ongoing restructuring reflects Salesforce's commitment to an AI-centric future, even as its stock has seen a decline of over 30% year-to-date in 2026 amidst concerns that AI models could replace traditional software offerings.