Soberforce Models Sobriety Support in the Workplace

The shame and stigma around alcohol use have kept many of those in recovery or working on sobriety, anonymous. Even people who’ve been in the rooms of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) for decades, who have a level of transparency about their alcohol use in AA or sober communities, do not have that openness in the workplace. Not that they wouldn’t, it’s just not a thing you would do… announce at a work meeting or gathering, for example, I’m Jane, I’m an alcoholic.

Marin Nelson, 16 years sober and Regional VP of Enterprise Service at Salesforce, has made that a thing you would do. And importantly, a thing you would do and not feel shame or fear of losing your job. She created Soberforce with three other sober sales leaders as a place for Salesforce employees to gather virtually to support each other in not drinking. In doing so, they’ve made it okay for people to share conversations about sobriety with co-workers. It was so needed that what started in November 2020 as an online community has grown to 406 members internationally.

Marin Nelson

Soberforce holds regular virtual meetings and leads conversation threads on Slack, which is made available to all of Salesforce’s 75,000 employees globally. The virtual meetings are not AA meetings per se, but it follows the general concept of allowing people to share their sober-related struggles and victories, and find resources, strength, and hope. The broad open culture of Soberforce attracts employees who are sober, sober curious, and sober allies. This model fills a gap that’s not currently or widely being offered in society. And what better place than the workplace to offer this?

Soberforce Works in the Workplace

Soberforce works on so many levels to get people to help sooner, and in many cases getting them the help they could go for decades without. Talking with Soberforce President and Co-founder Marin shed light on the gravity of this model. It prompted discussion around what it offers that uniquely and successfully moves people into openness and change around alcohol abuse.

The community works because it’s an avenue that allows people to be sober curious, without having to identify as an alcoholic or as someone who can’t drink responsibly. Employees can anonymously join virtual meetings to explore, learn, and find inspiration without having a make any sort of declaration. They can login and listen, or read the discussion on Slack -- lurk, as it were, in the best notion of the word. The shares in the groups are incredibly powerful in helping people become sober-ready.

The content and conversations strike a highly relatable core because these individuals are like-minded people who share a passion for their work. Marin says that when sales leaders in the company share their story surrounding alcohol abuse and their path, it means so much. It smokes out the person in active addition who says I can’t succeed in this job/career/industry without drinking. They begin to see that that story is just alcoholic behavior protecting itself. It begs a new story to be created. And now they have role models to emulate.

By showing up to the group, many eventually shed the anonymity and share their sober story. Often times they announce some amount of sober days when they officially join as a member. Additionally, those in Soberforce who have a spouse, family member, or a friend struggling with alcohol abuse, can build empathy and boundaries by learning firsthand what has worked for others. Marin says a huge component of their work is about driving allyship, which shows up in intentional and organic ways throughout Salesforce.

For example, because Salesforce is known for driving experiences, their team of leaders internally have invested in understanding sobriety so they can create a supported, seamless experience for anyone who needs help. They make it easy for employees to access benefits and get the right resources along the way, i.e. if an employee needs to go to treatment.

As employees do a mix of returning to the office and hybrid for workdays, Marin anticipates some will find their pandemic problematic drinking habits unsustainable. She also notes that many employees got sober during the pandemic. Now those individuals are going back to in-person meeting and events for business yet don’t know how to navigate not-drinking awkwardness. In both cases, Soberforce provides crowd-sourced support and tools that can help.

The Soberforce Model

 According to the CDC, excessive alcohol consumption costs the US economy $249B annually. In the workplace, The National Safety Council reports that about 16% of U.S. employees have a substance abuse disorder. It’s a priority problem to solve. Soberforce provides a model for workplace impact. It’s a powerful, replicable, and a relatively inexpensive implementation. It has proved to be a successful way for employees to get sober in a supported way – no rock bottom necessary.

Other corporations have been paying attention and rightfully so. By sheer size, large to mid-size companies can really make an impact with an environment that feels anonymous. Smaller companies can still create an alcohol-free culture without an employee-led sober resource group. Whatever companies embark on, it has to be leadership driven and supported and created authentically and organically as possible, not solely from an HR-mandated program.

An early 2022 article by Scott Clark on Reworked (link below) is a good read on how companies are tackling addiction. It features insights from Cheryl Brown Merriwether, vice president and executive director of ICARE, the International Center for Addiction and Recovery Education. An excerpt:

High performing organizations regularly encourage and support the creation and expansion of affinity and employee resource groups that help create a more inclusive workplace where employees feel safe to talk more openly about their challenges, Merriwether said. She pointed to San Francisco-based Salesforce's Soberforce as a case in point. "In 2016, Salesforce banned office drinking and a year later CEO Mark Benioff wrote in an internal memo that 'alcohol is a drug and it is unfair for nondrinkers to see alcohol at work,'" Merriwether said.

Marin has been interviewed in business publications from Reworked to Business Insider, and been on numerous podcasts to talk about Soberforce. She says they are working internally and externally to share the story of Soberforce and make sure all employees know it exists. More recently, Soberforce started bringing in leaders in the sober space on a quarterly basis. Laura McKowen, author of The Luckiest: The Surprising Magic of a Sober Life, is on tap next. Marin says, “It’s exciting to see it grow and impact the culture. By holding a safe space for these conversations, we’re gaining sober allies and creating readiness for anyone who wants to change.”

Soberforce is an employee-led resource group within Salesforce that provides a community and connection for sober employees, supports people with addiction issues, and aims to destigmatize addiction.

-- Author note: When I reflect on my own sober journey, workplace stress quickly accelerated my drinking. I knew I had a serious problem, yet the most terrifying thing I could have imagined was going to HR about it. I was fearful about what others would think if I had to be sent away for treatment. Any career I had hopes for would end upon the admission that I needed help. The year was 2012 and I didn’t know any leader in my industry or career professional who was successfully in recovery. Solving for alcohol seemed insurmountable. Now, with seven years of continuous sobriety, I can see how my story reflects significant and common barriers to getting help in most workplaces across the country.