Billionaire Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff often conjures the Hawaiian concept of “Ohana” with regards to company culture. It conveys the idea of a family bond that encourages people to take responsibility.
After an all-hands call at Salesforce on Thursday, Benioff reportedly dodged questions about his recently announced layoffs in a two-hour speech, calling the concept’s suitability into question.
A day earlier, the software giant said it would cut about 10% of its workforce, noting customers were “taking a more measured approach to purchasing decisions” in a “challenging” environment.
In an email to staff about the thousands of layoffs on Wednesday, Benioff again brought up “Ohana” and the idea of family bonding:
“Employees affected are not just colleagues,” he wrote. “He is a friend. They are family. Please reach out to them. Offer them the compassion and love they deserve and need and love by them and their families now more than ever. And most of all, please count on your leaders, including me, because we can get through this difficult time together.
‘Avoid the topic at hand’
But according to the reaction to the speech and the unanswered questions, the employees did not feel “Ohana”. In an internal Slack channel meant for questions during the meeting, according to Insider, one employee asked:
“Given how few of these calls complete the layoffs, the questions being asked on this channel, and the ‘families’ being fired, should we consider retiring the word ‘Ohana?'”
Other posts in the Slack channel reportedly included, “Is Marc making 47,600+ employees today by talking in circles and avoiding the topic at hand?” and “I’m sure most of the 10,000 people on this phone could do something instead of listening to an unstructured conversation about business when most people come in with specific questions they want addressed.”
Benioff seemed to make a brief reference to the termination in the speech, but in a similar way to the death, according to Insider:
“At kickoff every year, you know, we, um, have a moment where we always say goodbye to all the people who died during the year,” he said. “And, loss is hard, and losing someone, and especially losing a trusted colleague and manager or employee, is similar, uh, in many ways to me. We have to admit it and give ourselves time to cry and be able to move on.
A company blog post from 2017 titled “The Real Meaning Behind the ‘Salesforce Community'” states: “In Hawaiian culture, Ohana represents the idea that family – related by blood, adoption, or intentionality – is bound together, and that family members are responsible answer. to each other. when [Beniofff] creating Salesforce in 1999, he made sure that ‘Ohana’ was at the foundation of the company.
Salesforce did not immediately respond fortunerequest for comments.
Our new weekly Impact Report newsletter examines how ESG news and trends are shaping the roles and responsibilities of today’s executives. Subscribe here.