Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah says employees need to work longer

Business

By Patrick Reilly

While many executives use this time of year to thank employees for their hard work and dedication, one told his they should not “shy away from” working longer hours — and “blending work and life” now that the company is profitable again.

“Winning requires hard work,” Wayfair founder Niraj Shah wrote to his employees in a note celebrating the e-commerce company’s recent success, first reported by Business Insider. “I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfillment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results.

“Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from,” he continued. “There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success.”

Shah encouraged the workers to be mindful of how they spend company money and negotiate for deals to bring down costs.

“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 said in an email to Wayfair employees earlier this month. 

Wayfair had around 15,000 employees as of December 2022, according to its most recent filing cited by CNN.

Shah’s missive drew backlash from economic professor Nicolas Bloom.

“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,” he told CNN Thursday.

Shah’s net worth is $1 billion as of 2022, according to Forbes.

The online company, which sells furniture and other home goods, took off during the pandemic as thousands of shut-in shoppers turned to online retailers. 

But profits faltered in 2022 as stores reopened nationwide, according to CNN. That year, Wayfair laid off 5% of its employees.

Shah’s email this month, however, said that the company is back in the green.

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