Big Tech Wants to Crack Down on Remote Employees

It wasn’t long ago — February 2021, in fact — that Brent Hyder, president and chief people officer at Salesforce declared, “An immersive workspace is no longer limited to a desk in our Towers; the 9-to-5 workday is dead; and the employee experience is about more than ping-pong tables and snacks.”

Yeah, about that, co-CEO Marc Benioff said in an internal message to staff that the newest employees aren’t productive enough. “Are we not building tribal knowledge with new employees without an office culture?” he said in a message viewed by CNBC. Even with attempts at humor — Benioff reportedly phrased it as “asking for a friend” and added a smiley face with a halo — this type of message from a CEO typically, and generally with good reason, would be received by employees as disapproval of where things have gone.