Salesforce.com, Inc. (NYSE:CRM) is set to pause hiring in its technology and product divisions, Fortune has reported, citing an internal memo.
This will stretch to Salesforce subsidiary messaging service Slack, which Ross Harmes, chief of staff to Slack's chief technical officer, laid out in the update.
“This isn’t our first rodeo with hiring pauses, but it’s definitely disruptive and will affect our plans in the first quarter and beyond,” Harmes wrote.
“Remember, we won’t ask you to do the same amount of work with fewer people, so adjust plans accordingly.”
Such freeze will last “at least a quarter”, with no end date being set and quarterly numbers set to decide, according to Harmes.
This follows a hiring freeze by Salesforce between October 2022 to January 2023 on the back of a skewed outlook for technology firms as pockets remain squeezed by growing costs.
Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN, ETR:AMZ)’s Twitch streaming service announced cuts to 500 jobs on Wednesday, for instance, which chief executive Dan Clancy said was to manage optimism.
Cuts will also stretch to Amazon's Prime Video and MGM Studios, reports said on Wednesday.
Salesforce’s freeze comes after the company had offered roles to OpenAI employees in November after chief executive Sam Altman was temporarily laid off.
“The good news is that we’ve made a ton of hires over the last six months,” Harmes added.
“The bad news is that managers with open roles will feel the pain for a while with understaffed teams.”
Salesforce disputed Fortune’s report, claiming hiring was not being frozen in any departments.
“We are continuing strategic hiring to meet the needs of our business,” a spokesperson said.