Supporting Salesforce to sustain enterprise-wide peak performance and productivity through increased workforce resilience, well-being, and adaptability.
BetterUp helped Salesforce achieve a 7% increase in individual performance and 8% increase in productivity during a period of significant change by strengthening employees’ resilience and well-being.
When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted lives and markets globally in 2020, Salesforce knew their employees needed support to navigate new stressors and to manage heightened levels of uncertainty.
At the same time, the company had lofty business goals and needed to maintain its culture of high performance. The VP of Global Benefits, Well-being, and Mobility knew that higher employee wellbeing led to higher performance, and was seeking new ways to help employees overcome both workplace and personal challenges.
Salesforce offers BetterUp Care™ to all employees
In 2021, Salesforce launched a global pilot program with BetterUp and offered it to 10,000 employees to assess its impact. Employees received a 1:1 certified coach who has experience coaching for well-being at work. Employees also had access to an extended network of optional, specialty coaches who specialize in topics such as sleep, grief, nutrition, and working parents.
The experience extended beyond coaching. Employees completed a short onboarding assessment to measure baseline well-being and holistic mindsets and behaviors required to thrive at work like focus, emotional regulation, and cognitive agility. They also completed periodic pulse check assessments to measure growth and progress. Finally, employees had access to Care Guides to help them navigate resources available to them outside of BetterUp, including Employee Assistance Program benefits like therapy.
After seeing wide adoption and success of the initial well-being pilot, Salesforce offered BetterUp to all of its 73,000 employees in 2023. The purpose of expanding access was to support employee wellbeing, as Salesforce firmly believes that will ultimately drive sustainable business performance.
To further promote adoption, the Global Benefits team capitalized on key employee lifecycle moments that usually have higher uncertainty and stress, like performance evaluations, when employees likely had a higher need for coaching and were more receptive to coaching. The team created an invitation campaign to increase awareness and connect with employees when they most needed support.
Individual performance increases 7% and productivity increases 8% at Salesforce
After the initial, limited rollout of BetterUp in 2021, Salesforce saw 23% of low well-being employees shift out of that low well-being state. The initial rollout revealed that many employees, especially those not in a low well-being state, also benefited from coaching. Adaptability increased 26% overall.
After expanding access to BetterUp and offering it to all 73,000 employees, Salesforce saw 20% of employees activate BetterUp in the first year, with an additional 10% new activation year over year. Employees who used BetterUp:
- Increased resilience by 9%
- Increased productivity by 8%
- Increased individual performance by 7%
- Decreased employees in a low well-being state by 19%
One employee who took advantage of 1:1 resilience and agility coaching from BetterUp in 2021 reported: “My coach has been an integral part of my development and resilience over the last several months. I've experienced one of the most challenging chapters of my life and my coach has helped me navigate it with new tools that have kept me sane, focused, and optimistic. Without her support, I wouldn't have been able to balance the obstacles in my personal life in a way that would allow me to show up at work as my best self.”— Salesforce employee who used BetterUp
Another employee who used BetterUp in 2023 reported: “I'm entering a really exciting, but challenging period on the job. I'm fired up and ready to take it on, but it's a lot. My coach went beyond focusing on the positives and helped solidify my optimism and commitment to make my absolute best effort -- without burning the candle at both ends. Exactly the type of boost that I needed, with so much workload to juggle right now.”—Salesforce employee who used BetterUp
