Turning Fear Into Momentum

What Salesforce’s AI layoffs reveal about trust in transformation

Author

Andrea Schnepf
September 17, 2025

When Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff confirmed 4,000 layoffs tied directly to AI — “I need less heads” — it made global headlines. 

For executives, this sounded like efficiency. For employees everywhere, it sounded like a warning.

And while Salesforce grabbed the spotlight, the same dynamic is rippling across industries from healthcare to manufacturing — anywhere employees fear AI is less about enabling them and more about replacing them.

This is the trust challenge of AI adoption. Even if your company has no such layoffs planned, employees see stories like this in their feeds and quietly conclude: AI is a threat to me. Fear spreads faster than any technology. Left unaddressed, it erodes engagement, stalls adoption, and undermines investment.

Key Takeaways

  • Fear is contagious. AI-driven layoff stories — like Salesforce’s — ripple far beyond one company. They amplify employee anxiety in every industry.

  • Fear shows up as resistance. Quiet disengagement, missed meetings, and stalled pilots are often rooted in fear of being replaced, not poor technology.

  • Trust is the adoption multiplier. Clear vision, honest dialogue, and visible support from leaders turn skepticism into advocacy.

  • Mandates breed compliance, not commitment. Quotas and usage requirements drive compliance. Linking AI to meaningful work and career growth builds commitment.

Fear Is the Real Talent Risk

The greater danger isn’t just technology replacing jobs — it’s employees quietly stepping back when trust erodes. We’ve seen this pattern before with outsourcing: efficiency gains on paper often sparked resistance on the ground until leaders rebuilt trust and clarified roles.

AI accelerates that cycle. Change is faster, more visible, and harder to contain. Employees don’t need a corporate memo — they see the headlines. Unless leaders address fear directly, the risk isn’t just disruption; it’s missing the opportunity to channel energy into growth, innovation, and long-term resilience.

From Layoffs to Lasting Change

The Salesforce headline is a cautionary tale, but it doesn’t have to be the blueprint. The leaders who turn fear into momentum do four things differently:

  • Translate vision into ways of working. Avoid vague targets like “50% of tasks completed through AI.” Show how responsibilities evolve and which skills gain value.

  • Build psychological safety. Create space to test and learn without penalty. Normalize mistakes as part of progress.

  • Engage early. Involve employees and managers in shaping pilots. Ownership flips anxiety into advocacy.

  • Measure outcomes, not usage. Track problems solved and efficiencies gained, not hours spent in tools.

Beyond the Headlines

AI adoption succeeds when employees believe they have a place in the future you’re building. The companies that win won’t be the ones boasting about efficiency gains through layoffs — they’ll be the ones embedding AI into culture, reinforcing trust, and building resilience that lasts beyond the next wave of disruption.

Join us for our September 25 webinar: Turning AI Investment Into Results: A People-First Approach.

We’ll share how to move beyond fear, build trust, and translate AI adoption into measurable outcomes that stick.

Hope to see you there.
Andrea