Salesforce’s newest workplace is a 75-acre ranch with a redwood forest, nature walks and group cooking classes near Santa Cruz.
The tech giant has signed an agreement with 1440 Multiversity for a new employee gathering center starting in March in Scotts Valley that it is calling Trailblazer Ranch. Salesforce, San Francisco’s largest private employer, described it an interim location as it finalizes a long-term site.
“We know that flexible is the way forward. But we also know we need to align our company to our culture and safely get together, in person,” Salesforce President Brent Hyder wrote in a blog post. “We need to bring back the spontaneity and joy that comes from being together in person, now.”
Programs will include employee onboarding, training and socializing away from the computer — including yoga, art journaling and meditation sessions. Named for the number of minutes in a day, 1440 Multiversity sits on the former site of Bethany University. It includes 140 living suites, a communal dining hall, amphitheaters and firepits.
An amphitheater is embedded among the redwoods at 1440 University, which is becoming Trailblazer Ranch.
1440 Multiversity
The center won’t replace the company’s glass and steel high-rises in San Francisco’s Transbay district, but it comes after Salesforce has downsized its offices. The company subleased space at 350 Mission St. to Sephora and Yelp after canceling another lease at the unbuilt Parcel F tower. The company expects most of its employees to be hybrid workers beyond the pandemic, coming into the offices a few days a week or less.
The ranch will help Salesforce recruit and retain talent, giving employees another option to meet in person and new hires to meet their bosses face to face for the first time, Hyder said. The range of amenities and offerings are reminiscent of the campuses of giant tech companies like Google. In contrast, Salesforce resisted some of the common tech offerings like free food courts, encouraging employees to dine outside instead.
CEO Marc Benioff told the Wall Street Journal last year that he hopes to eventually build a ranch inspired by Disneyland and its saturation of company culture. Salesforce’s annual Dreamforce conference is also nature-themed and brings national park features to urban Moscone Center and Howard Street.
Roland Li is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: roland.li@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @rolandlisf