Wayfair CEO: Employees Need To Work Longer Hours, After Laying Off 5% Off The Company

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Wayfair’s CEO had a message for the company’s employees at the end of the year: Don’t be afraid of doing more work and balancing work and life.

“Winning necessitates hard work. “I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfillment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results,” CEO Niraj Shah said earlier this month in a statement to employees hailing the company’s recent success, which a company spokeswoman verified to CNN. “Working long hours, being responsive, and balancing work and life is not something to be ashamed of.” There isn’t much precedent for sloth being rewarded with achievement.”

Shah also encouraged Wayfair staff to treat corporate funds as their own and to bargain for lower costs. According to its most recent filing, Wayfair has over 15,000 workers as of December 2022.

Wayfair CEO: Employees Need To Work Longer Hours

“Would you spend money on that? Would you spend that much money for that thing? Does that price seem reasonable, and lastly — have you negotiated the price?” he asked Wayfair staff in an email earlier this month. Business Insider acquired the note first.

Early in the epidemic, Wayfair’s sales soared as homebound shoppers ordered furniture, desks, and house products online.

However, the company began to fail in 2022 as people returned to in-person shopping and redirected their buying from physical items to experiences.

Wayfair said in 2022 that it would be laying off 5% of its personnel.

However, Shah told staff that the company is now profitable in an email.

Wayfair CEO: Employees Need To Work Longer Hours

“Together, we can win much faster than we are winning now if we all row in this direction together,” he said. “Let’s be aggressive, pragmatic, frugal, agile, customer oriented, and smart.”

In an interview Thursday, Nicholas Bloom, a professor of economics, told CNN’s Richard Quest that “if Wayfair wants to run a business where people work 80 hours a week, he’s going to have to put up their salaries by 50% to pay them for it.”

“I don’t see this as being successful for the typical employee,” Bloom said, stressing that the job market is strong and that employees have options.

A corporate spokeswoman was not immediately available to answer CNN’s pay questions.

SOURCE – CNN