SERVICENOW is restructuring its user training programme RiseUp amid low job placement rates and a corporate backlash to diversity-focused initiatives.
Over the last year, multiple workers have been let go and key leaders left, according to sources familiar with the matter. Some contractors who mentor students and create curriculum also were cut, said the sources, who asked not to be named discussing internal information.
RiseUp is meant to train workers to implement and manage ServiceNow’s technology at customer companies or consultant firms. Often, it’s targeted at people trying to break into the tech industry with limited experience. Similar programmes are offered by Salesforce, SAP and Alphabet’s Google.
A ServiceNow spokesperson said the company has worked this year to evolve “what was the previous RiseUp agenda into a holistic learning strategy and platform called ServiceNow University”. The headcount and budget have not changed year over year, the spokesperson said.
Across corporate America, companies including Walmart, Boeing and Zoom Communications have pulled back or rebranded their investment in diversity-oriented programmes in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court ruling banning affirmative action in college admissions. The decision raised questions about the legality of corporate diversity programmes and spurred a backlash against these efforts. ServiceNow in its annual report on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) calls the RiseUp training programme a step towards creating “equitable processes, policies and practices”.
Santa Clara, California-based ServiceNow makes applications that help companies organise and automate their personnel, information technology and customer service operations. It has grown rapidly in recent years and generates more than US$10 billion in annual revenue from customers including AT&T and the US Army. The company employs almost 24,500 workers, and chief executive officer Bill McDermott said the software maker has not done “layoffs” in recent years like many tech peers.
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RiseUp advertises jobs in the industry paying more than six figures for trainees who complete the programme. But for those who have gone through RiseUp, success is not guaranteed. Graduates have had difficulty finding positions that use ServiceNow’s products, the sources said.
Employability is a “new and high priority focus” of RiseUp, with a team hired in recent months to help support job placement for graduates, the spokesperson said. The company will begin tracking placement rates, the spokesperson said, adding that “any stats provided by other sources are inaccurate and cannot be verified”.
Perhaps tech’s best-known user education programme is Salesforce’s Trailhead. The software giant offers extensive training courses online and awards gold lame hoodies during high-production events to its users, which it calls trailblazers.
ServiceNow hired key alumni from Salesforce’s programme when building RiseUp, including Amy Regan Morehouse as a senior vice-president. She left ServiceNow earlier this year as RiseUp was reorganised under the company’s Equity and Inclusion division. Selina Suarez, another former leader of Salesforce training initiatives, joined to lead RiseUp in 2023 and left in November. Both declined to comment.
When RiseUp was announced in late 2022, ServiceNow targeted training one million people to work on its platform by the end of 2024. “The programme will fuel a new economy of in-demand, job-ready talent with an emphasis on faster, more equitable career paths in the high-growth ServiceNow ecosystem,” the company said.
ServiceNow has since publicly softened that goal, instead saying they are on track to train that many people without specifying a time frame. The company spokesperson said that commitment is now updated to “skilling” three million people by 2027.
ServiceNow has long touted RiseUp as part of its equality-focused initiatives due to its focus on non-traditional tech talent. Still, the spokesperson said the programme was “not built as a DEI initiative”.
In addition to online coursework, ServiceNow offers training through universities and other partners, the spokesperson said. Earlier this year, the company committed US$3 million to training workers in the New York City area. BLOOMBERG
