Wayfair CEO: Employees Need to Work Longer Hours
In an end-of-year message to Wayfair employees, CEO Niraj Shah has urged the workforce of the online furniture company to embrace longer work hours and integrate their professional and personal lives. Shah’s note, celebrating the company’s recent success, emphasizes the value of hard work and the fulfilment derived from tangible results.
“Winning requires hard work. I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfilment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results,” stated Shah in his message. He encouraged employees not to shy away from working long hours and blending work with life, asserting that success is historically not associated with laziness.
Shah also advised Wayfair employees to consider company spending as their own and engage in price negotiations. With approximately 15,000 employees as of December 2022, Wayfair faced challenges in 2022 as consumer spending shifted from physical goods to experiences.
Despite announcing a 5% workforce reduction in 2022, Shah revealed in his recent email that the company has returned to profitability. Expressing the need for collective effort, he urged employees to be aggressive, pragmatic, frugal, agile, customer-oriented, and smart to expedite the company’s success.
Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics, commented on Shah’s approach, suggesting that if Wayfair intends to implement an 80-hour workweek, significant salary increases would be necessary to justify such demands. Bloom emphasized the strong job market, stating that employees have alternative options.
As of the time of writing this, Wayfair has not responded to inquiries regarding employee compensation.
