I’ve been following the evolution of Salesforce for many years—from rapid expansion during the explosion of SaaS to the more strategic shift it has undertaken today. When I heard of Salesforce layoffs 2025, where around 4,000 jobs were cut, I stopped in my tracks. All of a sudden, the conversation in industry circles and over water coolers took a sharp turn. Why did Salesforce announce layoffs? How many people are being laid off at Salesforce? Which departments took the biggest hit? Well, here’s what I found, combining the curiosity of an insider with some real data.
A friend of mine, who has been a veteran in the SaaS world, was on a call with a Salesforce account manager just last month. The account manager was describing a new “agentic” AI platform Salesforce had launched. He was really excited, talking about how the AI was responding to simple customer queries and allowing humans to pivot to more complex issues. We all thought that was a great thing. Fast forward to a few days ago, and that account manager was laid off. That hit hard, and it made me realize this isn’t just a corporate press release—instead, it is a human story of technology, change, and the future of work.
So, let’s discuss the details of the Salesforce layoffs 2025 and how it is going to shape the tech industry and beyond.
Stage for Layoffs: The Advent of the AI Era
In late 2024, I had noticed that Salesforce had halted hiring engineering and customer support roles in favor of sales hiring. I had been closely watching the activities of Salesforce, specifically around the initiatives it had launched related to AI features, such as Agentforce (which was introduced in late 2024 after its acquisition of Airkit.ai), which is designed to automate interaction with customers.
Then, in September, CEO Marc Benioff confirmed that it had cut its customer support workforce size from close to 9,000 employees to 5,000 employees—essentially a reduction of around 45%. He stated that this was entirely attributable to the use of AI on the consumer side, where AI supported around 50% of customer support cases. This means about 4,000 cuts to one group.
And let’s be clear, this isn’t the first time Salesforce has eliminated positions; remember, in 2023, they had just reduced around 8,000 roles, and then in early 2025, they had announced a reduction of about 1,000 staff. The biggest difference is that the first two cuts in 2023 and early 2025 were more about restructuring or performance issues, but now, they are AI-driven.
Salesforce Layoffs 2025: Customer Support Workforce” illustrates a 44% reduction from 9,000 to 5,000 employees after AI integration, depicting crowded vs. less crowded call centers.
What Departments at Salesforce Will See Layoffs?
The most pronounced impact of layoffs has been on customer support and service departments. Customer support is primarily process-driven, and many of the routine queries that customer support staff handle can be automated away. The AI that can address a simple query can also automate a report, submit a ticket, and update the base knowledge—a lot of the job of a human support agent could be automated away.
The ripple effects will not just be in one department. While customer support will see the most impact, the introduction of AI will start to change the nature of work in many other departments:
Sales
The company’s AI agents are working through a backlog of more than 100 million sales leads requesting human sales. While the human role will not disappear, it will fundamentally change. Sales staff will spend less time making cold calls and qualifying leads and more time onboarding with bespoke clients and doing more complex sales and deals. So if you also have the question, ‘Which departments at Salesforce are most affected by the layoffs?’ then the answer would be ‘Sales.’
Engineering and Product Development
There have not been any mass layoffs in these areas, but Salesforce announced in July that it would not hire additional software engineers in the same way it had previously. The priority now is for Salesforce to hire talent exclusively with skills in AI, data science, and machine learning. This change sends a strong signal that the company’s product road map is planning to build and integrate AI capabilities.
| Department | Impact of 2025 Layoffs | New Skills in Demand |
| Customer Support | 4,000 job cuts | AI supervision, critical thinking, complex problem-solving |
| Sales | Evolving as AI is handling the lead qualification | Strategic customer consulting, deal-making, and relationship management |
| Management | At risk in some areas | AI development, prompt engineering, data science, and machine learning |
| Engineering | Shifting. Fewer traditional hires than before | Change management, strategic leadership, oversight of human-AI teams |
Factors Driving the Layoffs: Why Did Salesforce Do Layoffs
1. AI Productivity Gains
Benioff said that the use of Agentforce is comparable to Tesla’s Autopilot, as it does all of the mundane tasks and hands off to humans when needed or applicable. Salesforce has claimed these AI-generated agents had a similar experience to human support.
2. Following Up on Unreplied Sales Leads
Salesforce has had over 100 million leads that hadn’t received a response for years, based on quality of service due to staffing shortages. AI now hooks into these unreplied leads that weren’t farmed out, stimulating the pipeline with basic-level correspondence that previously required staffing.
3. Transition from Support to Sales
Even though Salesforce was cutting roles in support, they were simultaneously hiring sales professionals to increase adoption of AI-enabled products, a sign that internally the company was redeploying its assets with a strategic purpose.
4. Evolving CEO Massaging
Earlier in 2025, Benioff had said that AI would supplement—not replace—staff. But with apparent urgency in September, the narrative was in stark contrast to this softer tone, demonstrating how quickly shifts in technology can alter narratives in the business world.
Layoff Trends in 2025: Data Snapshot
| Period | Estimated Layoffs | Context |
| Feb, 2025 | Around 1,000 | Early-year cuts amid AI restructuring |
| Mid-2025 | Hiring pausing | Engineers and various support roles are affected |
| Sep, 2025 | Around 4,000 | Massive support division reduction |
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Industry Implications & Wider Trends
This is not an isolated move. Across technology, AI-enabled displacement is increasing. Benioff indicated that AI now does 30-50% of work at Salesforce—support, marketing, engineering, analytics, and even strategy. He professed that humans played a pivotal role in their future.
Salesforce also reflected the trend for “internal mobility”: 51% of Q1 hiring was internal, illustrating that employees were not laid off but rather shifted—where possible—within the organization.
What Lies Ahead?
The Salesforce layoffs 2025 are not a one-off case. They are a canary in the coal mine for a trend across corporate America. We have observed similar, smaller nuances at other large tech firms, but Salesforce’s decision has a larger, public case, and it weighs on my mind. And we must now contemplate the following questions:
- Are we heading toward a future of widespread technological unemployment?
- How are we going to prepare the workforce against the AI takeover?
- What kind of ethical responsibilities will companies have as they automate human jobs?
This is a wake-up call! It speeds up the need to stop thinking of AI as a fantasy, futuristic post-Nebula era. AI has arrived, and dangerously, is already displacing jobs at this exact moment. This means that professionals in every field have to adapt and reskill from today onwards, not tomorrow.
In the coming years, the most valuable and unique capabilities will be the things that AI cannot easily replicate – creativity, emotional intelligence, and complex and strategic problem-solving skills. It is a sobering reminder that while technology will ultimately allow for a degree of efficiency, the most rapid advancements also come with the most rapid disruption.
Conclusion
Beyond statistics, this is a moment of transformation for the workforce. It is less about jobs gone and more about the future of work being reshaped by artificial intelligence. Even in displacement, this is not laid out as a headline despite its importance. Salesforce is attempting to frame this narrative toward opportunity, upskilling, or strategic repurposing, but the human stories behind this are undeniably real and still exist.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Why did Salesforce Announce Layoffs in 2025?
Ans: Salesforce announced layoffs to lower expenses and restructure its workforce in 2025. With AI continuing to change business functions overall, the layoffs are part of Salesforce’s strategy to improve efficiency with newly developed processes and prioritize areas for growth.
How Many Salesforce Layoffs Were Announced in 2025?
Ans: Salesforce announced approximately 4,000 layoffs in 2025 that affected employees on various continents.
Which Departments at Salesforce Were Most Affected by the Layoffs?
Ans: Salesforce layoffs primarily affected the sales, recruiting, and customer support teams, where automation and AI-based tools continue to become more pervasive. There were some reductions in overlapping roles within the administrative and middle management levels, generally.
Are Salesforce Layoffs Related to AI?
Ans: Yes, the company is implementing AI-driven products and automation tools, making some positions obsolete. The company is now shifting those resources into investing in AI-based solutions for its customers.
Will Salesforce Layoffs Continue to Take Place?
Ans: While Salesforce has refused to commit to future layoffs of employees, analysts expect that it may continue to reorganize as the company responds to changes in the marketplace and prioritizes investments into AI.
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