Insights for employers
Hiring Managers
As any hiring manager working in the Salesforce space will know, getting the best Salesforce talent on your team isn’t as easy as just posting a job ad and sitting back. Stiff competition amongst a growing number of Salesforce users and significant skills gaps in the candidate market mean filling Salesforce roles is a long-term challenge that requires creative solutions.
The most successful hiring managers think not in terms of individual positions but in pipelines, working to create pools of talent ready to be tapped into when needed. That might mean creating innovative compensation packages, partnering with educational institutions to attract budding techies, or embracing alternative methods of talent creation.
In this section, we’ll take a look at what other Salesforce customers are doing to attract and keep talent so you can build data-driven acquisition and retention strategies that make you an employer of choice.
As any hiring manager working in the Salesforce space will know, getting the best Salesforce talent on your team isn’t as easy as posting a job ad. Stiff competition amongst a growing number of Salesforce users and significant skills gaps in the candidate market mean filling Salesforce roles is a long-term challenge that requires creative solutions.
What strategies are employers using to stay competitive in attracting talent?
Employee skills training
New ways of working—including remote, hybrid, or flexible working
Employee wellbeing initiatives
| Salary increases | 40% |
| Engaging employees around the mission, vision, and values of the organization | 40% |
| Increased benefits and perks | 34% |
| Equality, diversity and inclusive hiring practices | 34% |
| Investment in training programs | 29% |
| Introduction of a bonus (monthly/bi-annual/year-end bonus) | 24% |
| Increased leadership visibility | 23% |
| Company profit sharing | 19% |
| Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) policy | 17% |
| Developing a business case for more resources | 17% |
| None of the above | 10% |
| Other | 1% |
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Hiring Salesforce professionals
Hiring managers tell us that, on average, it takes four months to find a new Salesforce hire. And 42% of hiring managers told us they want to hire a Salesforce professional in the next 12 months. Of those planning to hire, two-fifths (41%) are confident they can find the right candidate at the first attempt, while 31% are not.
What are your top tech staffing challenges over the next 12 months?
| Increased competition for talent | 39% |
| We struggle to pay the market rate/what candidates demand | 29% |
| Lack of resource/capacity in-house | 29% |
| Lack of skills/experience in the market | 29% |
| Talent retention | 26% |
| Getting buy-in from senior leadership on the need to recruit | 21% |
| Lack of skills in-house | 20% |
| Talent attraction | 19% |
| Managing remote employees | 13% |
| Personnel change (e.g., redundancies, restructure, and role changes) | 12% |
| An increase in demand for contractor/freelancers | 9% |
| We struggle to identify the skills we need/lack | 8% |
| Disengaged employees | 7% |
| Virtual recruiting | 5% |
| Our current training program is not effective in upskilling inexperienced candidates | 4% |
| Not sure | 10% |
| Other | 2% |
Expert Insight
The Power of the Employer Brand: An Interview with Hyphen8
Recognized as the Best Salesforce Partner to Work For (Global) at the 2023 Digital Revolution Awards and proudly possessing an industry-leading retention rate of 96%, we caught up with Elaine Forth, CEO of Hyphen8, to find out more about how they create a powerful employer brand that attracts and retains top talent.
Our values are at the heart of what we do, and many of our staff join us looking for a workplace that aligns with their own values. Hyphen8 only works with nonprofits, so we share our good news stories to inspire our people and connect their work to the real-world lives that they are impacting. When our team can see they’re doing something valuable, they’re motivated to continue making a difference—and this is one of the reasons we’ve got such great retention figures.
With employee retention comes customer retention, as the consistency in our team gives reassurance to the nonprofits that we support—they feel safe in the knowledge that our team truly understands how they work. Our Hyphen8 veterans also help set the tone for our company culture, ensuring that we continue to support each other, share our knowledge, and have fun.
Keep reading about Hyphen8's employer brand!
Nurturing personal development has always been a core value, and we’ve recognized that we need to change our approach as we’ve grown. Recently, we introduced a new mentoring program and Communities of Practice— structured groups that develop our capabilities, support our teams, and deepen internal networks. We give everyone as much support as possible to continue developing their skills while recognizing that their careers may take them elsewhere. It’s still our responsibility to give them that room to grow and to help them maximize their chances of success.
Ensuring that we celebrate our achievements is another core value for us. We share our profits with the whole team and offer a comprehensive benefits package, and ensure that staff can look after their own wellbeing by offering things such as wellbeing allowances and flexible working.
We’re proud of our achievements in this space so far, but we also know we’ve got to keep pushing forward. The more that we improve our ED&I efforts, the more diverse skills, ideas, and opinions are brought into play—we need to ensure we don’t become a homogenous echo chamber.
As one of the first members invited to participate in the Salesforce Ecosystem Equality Exchange, we’re playing a part in making the ecosystem more equitable. This, along with our recent participation in events like the E2E Female 100, ensures that we’re heard. We’ve had women join us because they see women in our leadership team—they can see themselves joining an organization where they have room to grow, and where any role could be available to them.
For those who are struggling to find the right people, the work starts closer to home. Instilling our values in our team and demonstrating to the world how we actually live them, lets us show that this really is a great place to work. Don’t consider your values and your mission to be just for your leadership—think about how that message can resonate with your current team and potential future starters.
To hear more from Elaine at Hyphen8, then visit our blog.
Are Salesforce professionals experiencing burnout?
Almost two-fifths (38%) of permanent Salesforce professionals say they have experienced burnout in their current role, compared to 31% of freelancers.
According to our respondents, what were the consequences of experiencing burnout?
- Employees seeking other opportunities and leaving their employer
- Reduced efficiency, productivity and output
- Diminished quality of work, including making more errors
- Poor physical and mental health, resulting in sickness leave or taking a sabbatical
- Fatigue
- Low morale, motivation, and enthusiasm for work
- Low team spirit and a demotivated team
- Becoming short-tempered with colleagues
- Asking for reduced working hours
- Employees seeking other opportunities and leaving their employer
- Reduced efficiency, productivity and output
- Diminished quality of work, including making more errors
- Poor physical and mental health, resulting in sickness leave or taking a sabbatical
- Fatigue
- Low morale, motivation, and enthusiasm for work
- Low team spirit and a demotivated team
- Becoming short-tempered with colleagues
- Asking for reduced working hours
Burnout can impact the quality of work produced. As a Director from the United States explains, “my productivity was lower, and the quality of work my was poorer. I was also less creative in my input and output”. Burnout can also impact the success of projects, which an Administrator from the US told us, “my projects didn’t get completed on time, and I had no energy or desire to go above and beyond”.
Some professionals took time away from work, while others reduced the hours they worked, such as this Application Architect from the US:“I reduced my working hours, which decreased the entire organization’s ability to get work done, as I’m a key contributor that all work runs through. Ultimately this made me look for jobs elsewhere, as I had decreased job satisfaction, meaning the organization was forced to look for new staff.”
The future workplace
Are Salesforce professionals happy to work in the office five days a week?
- Yes, I'd be happy to work in the office full-time
8%
- No, I'd prefer to work fully remote
48%
- No, I'd prefer hybrid working (e.g., some of the time in the office and some at another remote location/home)
42%
- Not sure
3%
The preference of 48% of our respondents (which matches the percentage from our previous survey) would be to work entirely remotely.
Of those who currently work remotely, 78% would reconsider working for their employer if they weren’t offered flexibility around where they worked.
LinkedIn poll
Hybrid and remote employees were asked:
Would you trade a fully/partially remote position for a fully office-based role with a higher salary?*
Those who replied ‘it depends’ would trade remote/hybrid working for a higher salary dependent on certain conditions being met, prerequisites included working for a company with an excellent culture, benefits, and other working hours flexibility.
*Data taken from a poll conducted on Mason Frank’s LinkedIn in April 2023.
An advantage in hiring new staff
An advantage in retaining staff
The future of work
There’s been much discussion in recent years about the future of work, but the reality is that this future looks different in every industry. In the Salesforce ecosystem, however, there seems to be something of a consensus: working from an office full-time is out. Just 8% of respondents stated that they’d be happy to work from an office five days a week, with almost half favoring full-time remote work. That’s not to say that the office is a thing of the past though; a good 42% of Salesforce professionals said they’d prefer to work on a hybrid basis, with some time spent in an office and some at home or at another remote location.
Offering at least some flexibility in how, where, and when Salesforce professionals work is no longer a perk, but a standard. So much so that 78% of respondents would consider leaving their employer if remote or hybrid options weren’t on the table.
Despite resistance from some organizations that have pushed for a return to pre-pandemic working patterns, the benefits of giving employees flexibility and autonomy are undeniable. Just 3% of hiring managers told us that flexible working options provide no advantage in hiring and retaining staff.
Clearly not offering such models of working puts businesses at a significant disadvantage in the search for talent. It also shows that expectations have shifted and that candidates will be looking for roles that offer more than the basic remote/hybrid options to help them balance their working and personal lives. For those unwilling to accommodate this new norm, the future of work will be one in which they seriously struggle to hire the best Salesforce talent.
Insights from currently unemployed Salesforce professionals
Top factors that are important to unemployed professionals when seeking a role
Work-life balance
Career progression opportunities
Salary
| Overall benefits package | 60% |
| Remote working | 60% |
| Company's values and culture align with my own | 49% |
| Location | 49% |
| New challenges | 49% |
| Valuable work/feeling like your work will make a positive impact | 49% |
| Flexible/agile working | 47% |
How likely are unemployed professionals to accept a role that involves working in the office five days a week?
- Likely
47%
- Neither likely nor unlikely
29%
- Unlikely
24%
Takeaways for hiring managers
With hiring managers citing increased competition for talent as their top concern, developing an attractive employer brand and a compensation package that’s likely to catch the eye of potential candidates should be a top priority. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that more money is going to be a silver bullet.
Judging from our findings, flexibility and a healthy work-life balance are the most important factors to candidates when job hunting, with 90% of respondents on the lookout for fully remote or hybrid working arrangements.
Thankfully, employers appear to be catching on to this trend—salary increases came in at fourth place on the list of strategies organizations are using to attract talent, behind offering upskilling opportunities, flexible working, and employee wellbeing initiatives.
If you’re looking to hire Salesforce talent this year, it might be time to reassess your hiring plan and think about what you can offer potential employees that will make their lives easier, healthier, and less stressful.
Our key findings report contains highlights from this year’s Careers and Hiring Guide, plus our salary tables allow you to compare your salary or benchmark your teams’ salaries no matter their role in the Salesforce ecosystem.
Our key findings report contains highlights from this year’s Careers and Hiring Guide, plus our salary tables allow you to compare your salary or benchmark your teams’ salaries no matter their role in the Salesforce ecosystem.
