Salesforce was named the #1 Best Workplace in France by Great Place to Work. This is our fourth year on this prestigious list and the third time that we were named #1. It’s a proud moment for all of us here at Salesforce France and encourages us to continue on our path. Creating a great workplace for all in this success from anywhere world requires intentionality, agility, and creativity.
While this past year was challenging in so many ways, our culture and our values — Trust, Innovation, Customer Success, and Equality — have been our guiding light and our people are at the centre of it all. They live our values, seek connection, and lead with compassion. I am truly proud of our resilience and grateful to be part of the Salesforce community.
Finding connection while keeping distance
When it became clear that COVID-19 would change the ways we work, socialise, relax, and stay connected, we had to make sure that our people were set up for success from anywhere, as we settled into this new normal.
During the initial crisis and lockdown period, we focused on health, safety, and connection. We increased our touchpoints while staying physically distanced. In addition to our global All Hands meetings where our executives would share company-wide updates, we introduced virtual meetings here in France to highlight local activities and celebrate successes together, at times inviting customers and external speakers.
In addition, we created more opportunities for informal catch-ups to happen virtually — and working from home brought us closer together as we invited each other into our homes, sharing our full selves with our colleagues.
Supporting each other
Many employees took it into their own hands to support each other and created new ways of staying connected. These initiatives came from individuals as well as from groups like our Equality Groups and our Culture Guides.
Equality Groups are employee-led organisations that reflect the diversity of our communities and are at the forefront of our commitment toward Equality. When our offices closed, our Equality Groups in France had to completely transform the way they engage with their colleagues and organise events. Instead of in-person events in our offices, they created virtual experiences and provided an open forum for our employees to talk and to cope with issues, for all things pandemic-related or otherwise.
Our Culture Guides, employees who volunteer to champion our culture, stepped up and reinvented many social events as virtual get-togethers. From virtual cooking classes and wine tastings to a photography contest, our Culture Guides continue to make sure that we stay close to each other and true to our culture. This is especially important for new hires today, who don’t onboard from our offices or meet their colleagues in real life. Our Culture Guides make sure that they feel welcome and get fully immersed in our culture.
Giving back to the communities
We believe that business is a powerful platform for change and giving back has been part of our DNA since the beginning. As our country shut down last year, supporting our most vulnerable communities became more important than ever. We had to create opportunities for our employees to continue to give back to their communities while staying safe and healthy.
Therefore, we created a playbook for remote VTO opportunities, providing lots of avenues for our employees to stay engaged during this time, like mentoring teenagers and refugees, helping to unload and distribute face masks, volunteering at a phone helpline, raising funds, and many, many more volunteering and pro bono opportunities.
Looking back at this year, I can hardly believe all that we have achieved together. I can’t tell what the future holds for us, but I am certain that we will be able to embrace the challenges as a team, as ONE Salesforce.
Interested in a career at Salesforce? Come join us!
