This year has been an unusual and testing one—the impact of the global pandemic has been felt far and wide, and the Salesforce ecosystem is no exception.
The unprecedented circumstances we’ve faced in 2020 have promoted a lot of change and thrown up many challenges, but, as always, the software giant has risen to meet them.
Take Dreamforce, for example. This year, for the first time in seventeen years, the event will be held virtually. It will also be completely free, enabling countless additional businesses and professionals to benefit from everything it offers.
Salesforce has also taken steps to ensure the safety of its workforce, giving employees the option to work from home until at least next summer, even as it moves to reopen offices across Europe and Asia.
And while the pandemic disrupted many companies, Salesforce has thrived, reporting what the vendor has described as “bittersweet” growth and strong Q2 performance. This success is most certainly born out of a commitment to empowering businesses in their digital transformation journey. Salesforce even launched a new product during the crisis to help business leaders adapt to our new, increasingly online world. September saw the release of Digital 360, a new platform that brings together Marketing Cloud, Commerce Cloud, and Experience Cloud solutions to help businesses create personalized customer experiences.
In light of all this upheaval, making the voices of the Salesforce ecosystem heard is more important than ever. That’s why now is an ideal time to take a look at some key findings from the latest annual Mason Frank Salary Survey, the largest independent Salesforce market report out there.
Formed from over 263,000 data points, including self-reported information from professionals around the world, the report provides an overview of the latest average salaries across a range of roles and regions. Offering a glimpse into the Salesforce community’s thoughts and opinions at this challenging time, the report also showcases its takes on certifications, diversity, and earning power.
This edition also features a special section on workplace wellbeing, the first of its kind in the Salesforce world; a pertinent subject given the shifts we’ve seen in workplace norms over the past year.
Here are a few key findings from the report.
Remote working becoming the norm
One discovery that will likely come as no surprise is that many more Salesforce professionals are working remotely this year. Though the tech space typically has higher instances of remote working than other industries, the report still found a massive leap in the number of people working from home.
Before the coronavirus pandemic, just over one-fifth of permanent professionals worked from home five days a week, while almost two-thirds reported working from home at least one day a week. Both of these percentages shot up after the coronavirus outbreak. As different lockdowns and restrictions were rolled out globally, 84% of Salesforce pros moved to home working full-time, with 97% working from home at least one day a week. 
Working remotely has become the norm, and the majority of respondents stated that they’d like to keep home working as an option long-term; an important sentiment to note for employers looking to attract and retain talent. Most participants reported that they’d like to work remotely part-time, with 2-3 days a week spent in the office suggested as the perfect balance.
60% of respondents have experienced burnout
The 2020/2021 edition of the survey comes amid a period of accelerated digital transformation, as more businesses look to move their operations online due to the global health crisis. Predictably, given this spike in the adoption of cloud platforms, the results of the publication reveal an increase in workloads for Salesforce professionals—but also a surge in hours worked.
Findings indicate that the hike in work, coupled with the rising prevalence of home working, is putting the Salesforce community under increased stress. A majority of those we spoke to stated that they had experienced a period of burnout, with 37% reporting that they’d faced it more than once. This can result from many work-place issues, from professionals being overworked and undervalued to poor leadership. Amongst other key findings in this year’s report, it showcases the pressures that many in the Salesforce community are under.
As more of our lives go “online” and the way we work continues to evolve, we must recognize the importance of supporting those in the tech space and putting their wellbeing front and center.
The digital transformation explosion is excellent news for the wider ecosystem. Still, if we’re to maintain the community’s reputation as a progressive and inclusive space, Salesforce end-users and partners alike must think about how they will support their employees through this eventful and demanding time.
With platform-specific skills in greater demand than ever, taking care of the professionals working in the industry and ensuring they don’t burn out is crucial.
Hands-on experience is key to boosting earning power
Although 77% of respondents stated that they held at least one Salesforce certification, 90% believe that practical experience with the technology is the most crucial element to increasing market value.
The survey asked what factors respondents considered most impactful on potential earning power in the Salesforce space. Hands-on experience with the platform was the far and away winner. Exposure to major projects and having Salesforce certifications were also rated as important factors. The jury was out on whether earning a college degree was necessary, with only half citing it as key to upping your salary.
Clearly, certifications can help increase market value as a professional, too, as 43% of certified respondents landed an increase in their salary after passing their examination. Salary increases varied depending on the role and the certification itself. Some of the more challenging, technical qualifications tend to yield greater gains that reflect how in-demand the skills verified by the accreditation are.
The Salesforce Certified Technical Architect certification came out top on the list of credentials that have the potential to increase your salary, followed by Salesforce Certified System Architect and Salesforce Certified Application Architect.
Salesforce Partners are preparing for a spike in workloads
Over half (60%) of Salesforce Partners surveys said they expected workloads to rise over the next year; positive news for the industry. This is likely due to the increase in organizations adopting cloud-based products to help them adapt to our progressively digital world, and increase resilience as the pandemic continues. 
The expected recovery for the ecosystem comes after workloads for Salesforce took a minor dip thanks to the economic impact of COVID-19, as many businesses slashed spending on IT and infrastructure to save money. Before the coronavirus, 36% of our Salesforce Partner respondents cited seeing increased demand for services, with this percentage dropping to 29% after the initial outbreak.
You can download the full report for free from the Mason Frank website.
