Salesforce Cuts 4,000 Support Jobs; Benioff Cites AI “Productivity”

Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff confirmed today that the cloud giant has cut approximately 4,000 jobs from its customer support division, explicitly linking the move to the company’s new AI tools. Speaking on a podcast, Benioff stated that AI agents now handle a massive volume of customer chats, allowing him to run the department with fewer people. Read the primary report here.

Key Facts

• The Cut: Approximately 4,000 roles eliminated (Support headcount dropped from 9,000 to 5,000).
• The Reason: New “Agentforce” AI tools can handle customer queries without human help.
• The Pivot: While cutting support, the company plans to hire roughly 2,000 new staff in sales roles to sell these same AI products.
  Source: Final Round AI, SalesforceBen

“I Need Less Heads”

The cuts stem from what Benioff calls a “rebalance.” He noted that the company’s AI agents are now managing about 50% of customer service tasks. In a blunt assessment of the situation, Benioff explained that with the software doing the heavy lifting, the company simply “needs less heads” to do the same amount of work.

This is one of the clearest examples yet of a major tech CEO admitting that automation is directly replacing human workers, rather than just helping them.

Swapping Support for Sales

The company is not shrinking overall, but it is changing its shape. Reports indicate that Salesforce is actively recruiting to fill thousands of new positions in its sales department. The goal is to build a team specifically trained to sell the “Agentforce” AI platform to other businesses.

For the 4,000 support workers losing their spots, this is cold comfort. The skills needed to troubleshoot technical issues do not always transfer easily to high-pressure sales roles.

The Severance Package

While the company has not released a public breakdown of the exit package for this specific round, Salesforce has a track record of offering roughly five months of severance pay during mass layoffs. Workers in the U.S. typically receive health benefits for that period as well, though terms can vary by country.