Salesforce denies imposing hiring freeze

CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES — Cloud-based software firm Salesforce refuted reports of a company-wide hiring freeze, stating that recruitment continues across departments to meet business needs.
A Fortune report last week cited a leaked Slack memo indicating hiring pauses in technology and product divisions. The leaked memo suggested that hiring decisions could be reevaluated each financial quarter, and the freezes could last at least one quarter and disrupt near-term plans.
Salesforce promptly denied this memo, with a spokesperson telling the Business Insider that they are not freezing hiring in any departments.
The spokesperson also reaffirmed Salesforce’s commitment to “strategic hiring” in key areas like artificial intelligence (AI) to drive company growth.
This denial follows a tumultuous period of workforce reshuffling for the cloud software giant last year.
Salesforce laid off approximately 10% of staff in January 2023, with CEO Marc Benioff admitting overhiring led to the economic downturn.
The company has since pursued aggressive recruitment again, particularly in AI, engineering, and other strategic domains. Last September 2023, the firm also announced its plan to recruit over 3,000 new hires to boost capabilities in emerging technologies.