In Salesforce, managing employee lifecycle data across related objects is critical for clean reporting and intelligent business decisions. One of the most valuable insights you can automate is tracking how many employees have left a particular Account—and making sure that metric stays accurate even when changes are reversed.
In this blog, we walk through a smart Apex trigger that automatically decreases the “Left Employee Count” field on an Account whenever an Employee record is undeleted. This trigger ensures that restored Employee records are reflected immediately in your metrics—without requiring any manual updates.
The trigger executes during the after undelete context and is a great example of how small automations can dramatically improve CRM data reliability and reduce admin workload.
🧠 Why This Trigger Is Important
In many businesses, Left Employee Count is a key performance or risk metric. Whether you’re tracking staff turnover, client stability, or churn patterns, keeping this field updated helps:
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Understand team changes across accounts
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Identify accounts with high attrition
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Spot trends in workforce movement
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Enable reporting that reflects true employee status
However, when Employee records are undeleted—for instance, if someone was re-hired or deleted in error—the count must be adjusted. Without automation:
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Data becomes outdated or misleading
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Reports and dashboards lose credibility
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Manual updates are often forgotten or inconsistent
This trigger eliminates that risk by:
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Decreasing the Left Employee Count on the related Account
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Making the change immediately after an undelete
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Supporting real-time, automated accuracy
This is a must-have logic component in any HR-integrated or client-servicing Salesforce setup.
🔍 What This Blog Covers
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How to use after undelete triggers to reflect data restoration
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Why decrementing metrics like Left Employee Count is necessary after record recovery
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How to manage and update summary fields in a scalable, bulk-safe way
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Why a handler class structure makes logic easier to maintain
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Where this trigger fits into broader employee lifecycle automation
The best part? The same logic can be adapted for a wide range of metrics like “Reactivated Users,” “Returned Employees,” or “Restored Projects.”
🎯 Real-World Use Cases for This Trigger
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Staffing firms reinstating consultants who return to projects
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HR teams who track turnover and need to reflect accurate exits
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Customer success managers monitoring team changes in client orgs
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Finance or planning teams basing cost models on headcount shifts
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Salesforce admins automating metric corrections after record recovery
Anywhere an Employee record connects to an Account—and that relationship affects metrics—this trigger helps you stay accurate and ahead of the curve.
👨💻 Developer & Admin Tips
Here’s a breakdown of how the logic works:
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It activates in the after undelete context
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It gathers all Account IDs associated with the undeleted Employee records
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It retrieves the current Left Employee Count for those Accounts
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It subtracts one from the count for each returned Employee
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It updates the relevant Account records in bulk
Using a trigger handler method keeps the logic:
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Clean and modular
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Easy to test
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Ready for future enhancements
You can extend the same pattern to:
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Avoid negative values (i.e., prevent count from dropping below zero)
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Trigger alerts when the count drops to zero
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Update other lifecycle metrics (like Rejoined Date or Reactivation Reason)
Make sure to test:
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Single and multiple record undeletes
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Edge cases where multiple Employees are linked to the same Account
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Undeletes performed through Recycle Bin, Data Loader, or API tools
Testing ensures consistency across all user actions and automation sources.
🎥 Step-by-Step Visual Demo – YouTube Playlist
If you’re a visual learner, the Salesforce Makes Sense YouTube playlist covers this entire use case in a hands-on walkthrough. In the video, you’ll see:
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How undelete triggers work in real time
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The setup and structure of the handler logic
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How to test and validate the Left Employee Count update
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Admin tips for expanding the logic to your org’s needs
The playlist is built for real-life use—not just theory—so you can implement with confidence.
Solution:
trigger EmployeeTrigger on Employee__c (After undelete) {
if(Trigger.isUnDelete){
if(Trigger.isAfter){
EmployeeTriggerHandler.updateLeftEmpCountUndeletedOnes(Trigger.New);
}
}
}
public class EmployeeTriggerHandler{
public static void updateLeftEmpCountUndeletedOnes(List
oldEmpList){
Set<Id> accIds=new Set<Id>();
List<Account> accToBeUpdated=new List<Account>();
Map<Id,Account> accIdToAccMap;
List<Employee_c> empList= new List<Employee_c>();
Map<Id,Decimal> accIdToTotalCount= new Map<Id,Decimal>();
for(Employee__c emp:oldEmpList){ if(emp.Account__c!=null){
accIds.add(emp.Account__c); empList.add(emp);
}
} if(!accIds.isEmpty()){
accIdToAccMap= new
Map<Id,Account>([SELECT
Id,Left_Employee_Count__c FROM Account WHERE Id IN:accIds]);
}
if(!empList.isEmpty()){ for(Employee__c emp:empList){
if(accIdToAccMap.containsKey(emp.Account__c)){
if(accIdToTotalCount.containsKey(emp.Account__c)){ Decimal
count=accIdToTotalCount.get(emp.Account__c)-1;
accIdToTotalCount.put(emp.Account__c,count);
}else{
accIdToTotalCount.put(emp.Account__c,accIdToAccMap.get(emp.Account__c).L
eft_Employee_Count__c-1);
}
}
}
}
for(Id accId:accIdToTotalCount.keySet()){
Account acc= new Account(); acc.Id=accId;
acc.Left_Employee_Count__c=accIdToTotalCount.get(accId);
accToBeUpdated.add(acc);
}
if(!accToBeUpdated.isEmpty()){ update
accToBeUpdated;
}
}
}