The Art of Engagement: Driving Culture in the AI Era at Salesforce
At Salesforce, it’s not just about technology, it’s about connection. As Agentforce transforms how we work, our culture is evolving with it.
If you haven’t already heard, Salesforce is leading the way with innovative technology like Agentforce, our suite of customizable AI agents and tools that connects data and action capabilities. In fact, Agentforce on Help has handled over 1 million support requests since launching in October 2024!
As our technology continues to evolve to help us work smarter and more efficiently, it’s also reshaping the way we work and connect. To bring everyone along in this agentic revolution, a strong, inclusive culture is essential to a thriving digital workforce. And at Salesforce, we’re proud of the unique culture we’ve built — one that prioritizes trust, growth, and giving back.
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So how are we strengthening and growing our culture? We’re glad you asked! At the heart of Salesforce is our Employee Engagement team doing amazing work behind the scenes. Who better to speak to than our Global Employee Engagement leader, Claire Rowley, about the art of engagement from a global perspective?
We had the pleasure of speaking with Claire, based out of our Dublin, Ireland office, and getting the inside scoop on how she’s seen Salesforce’s culture evolve. She also shares how we’re fostering connection across every corner of the globe during this exciting transformation!
Claire’s journey: From code to connection
Claire’s journey to employee engagement started with unexpected roots: mechatronic engineering (yes, you read that right). But it was during this time as an engineer when Claire’s interest in employee engagement began: “As an engineer, I was always interested in how things worked. When I became a manager, I became more and more interested in how people worked. As my understanding and appreciation of team dynamics grew, I became intrigued by programs which drove Employee Engagement.
“I participated in a part time stretch project in an Inclusive Leader program while I was still an engineer. This gave me a taste of what was involved and gave me confidence to make the career change when a permanent Employee Engagement opportunity came up.”
Since Claire has transitioned fields, she finds a lot of parallel in her technical training and how it informs her approach to employee engagement strategies:
“Technical training has a strong emphasis on things like data, putting in good processes, strong organizational skills, leveraging a good team dynamic, and focused on finding solutions. These skills are very transferrable to Employee Engagement in a company like Salesforce.
“My team plans global initiatives — activating plans in 50 offices, managing multiple cultures and stakeholders, and ensuring our work is impactful. This requires a huge amount of planning, stakeholder management, and measurement.”
Activating plans in 50 offices located throughout 27 countries!? That sounds like quite the feat. But Claire explains that with trust, our #1 value, and embodying the Salesforce culture day-to-day, it’s more than doable:
“I lead with trust and innovation. My team is global and spread across several time zones, so we are never in a meeting altogether. It would be impossible to do what we do if we didn’t trust each other. I love team brainstorms for new ideas and learning about what works across our different employee base.”
The art of engagement: Nurturing Salesforce’s evolving culture
Over the last few years, Salesforce has grown in size and we’re proud to have over 76,000 global employees! With our expanding employee population, our culture has naturally evolved and, to a degree, always will. Claire and her team work hard to strike a balance of maintaining the essence of our Salesforce culture, while ensuring it can continuously adapt and grow with the company over time.
Claire mentions that one way to help this happen is by bringing our culture to life. One example is Salesforce’s Adventure Club (our version of Bring Your Child to Work Day).
This event is already making a global impact, with Claire anticipating nearly 15,000 attendees worldwide across various locations this year. As of this article’s publication, the program’s success is clear: 96% of attendees reported feeling more connected to Salesforce, and 94% believe that the Salesforce Adventure Club contributes to Salesforce being a Great Place to Work. The “Agentforce” theme added to the excitement of this year’s events, which transformed the office into a party with music, arts and crafts, tech games, and entertainers. To extend the fun globally, a special Adventure Club app was launched and included in these events where kids were able to play Agentforce-related games and learn about AI.
As Alexandra Siegel, our SVP and Chief Equality and Engagement Officer says, “Our values create value.” For Claire, that means: “we take the same approach for all of our initiatives making sure Trust, Customer Success, Innovation, Equality, and Sustainability are at the center of it all.”
With the constant state of innovation and growth resulting in transformation, the role of Employee Engagement becomes even more vital as it can help acclimatize ideas and drive excitement.
As Claire explains: “Change comes at various speeds and evokes different emotions in people. Since thelaunch of Agentforce, our team directly supports employee adoption of this amazing innovation. Employee Engagement has been involved with interactive Agentforce Learning Days and hosted Agentforce study parties.” These study parties are dedicated sessions for people working towards becoming an Agentblazer Champion, Innovator, or Legend. Employees gather to connect, fuel up on high-energy snacks, and ask our Trailhead pros their Agentforce questions. Claire adds: “We even developed an Agentforce Augmented Reality app which gives learning and selfie moments with the agents that employees, customers, and candidates can download.” (You can experience the app yourself for free by downloading it from the Apple Store or Google Play App Store)
One of the things that Claire feels is helpful to have in place during change is something constant — which in Salesforce’s case is our 1-1-1 model. This constant tenant of our culture has resulted in over 10 million volunteering hours (and counting!) and extends to our broader employee population as we give back to one another, support projects and teams, all while ensuring Salesforce’s success.
Global moments, global impact
From Salesforce Adventure Club to Agentforce Learning Days, these culture moments create a ripple effect of excitement, engagement, and impact throughout the company.
One of Claire’s favorite culture moments goes back to our 1% model: “It’s got to be the volunteering events for me. I have volunteered more in my 3 years at Salesforce than in my whole life.
One huge event this year was in Ireland where over 1000 employees took part in a one-day event and we raised over $100K for local charities. It was amazing to organize and be part of something so impactful. We each got sponsorship to bike, hike, run or cycle – and all ended up at the same location.”
Not only does the 1% model showcase how we truly prioritize our values as a company, it also solidifies that Salesforce is not just a company — but a platform for change.
Speaking of change, one of the new culture moments that Claire is most proud of is introducing our ‘Bring Your Parent/Partner/Pal to Work’ event. This inclusive event is a spin on the traditional ‘Bring Your Kids to Work Day,’ expanding what “family” means at Salesforce — employees are encouraged to invite family members, friends, and loved ones to take part in a day in the life at Salesforce. Attendees had a fun-filled day where they could take part in a volunteer activity, explore a barista and culinary sustainability demo, or attend an AI info demo session.
The event was a huge success and one employee shared: “I was especially delighted that my parents from India were able to visit during this time. They were truly touched by the warm welcome and special treatment they received.” Claire also mentioned how “it was amazing to see colleagues interact with family members and they were all amazed with the office. It brought a new sense of pride to employees and we can’t wait to run it again this year.”
Leading the engagement revolution
While we’re leading the way in the AI revolution, Claire and our Employee Engagement team are simultaneously leading an engagement revolution. Looking ahead, Claire is excited to further enhance community across Salesforce’s global footprint.
What’s her approach? Using our own agentic technology of course! “We currently have AI tools within our new internal Career Connect program. This links employees to potential jobs or gigs they may be interested in based on their profile.
“My team is working to create a similar Agentforce agent for employees. We’re looking to build an agent that can make proactive connections between employees with similar interests and hobbies. The agent will also tell employees what’s coming up in their hub which they may be interested in based on their interests or previous events they attended. I can’t wait to pilot this!”
As we ensure everyone is being brought along in the AI revolution, these culture moments contribute to the overall sense of belonging and community among our global employees.
Claire speaks to this by mentioning that, “when employees feel like they belong and are connected to their colleagues, that is when the true magic happens. What makes it extra special is we don’t do a ‘one size fits all approach’ — we plan for different activations for various employee demographics and cultures.
At Salesforce you can find your connection via multiple sources, volunteering, equality groups, networking, engagement events, and more. All you need to do is make an effort and it will easily happen.”
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