The chief executive of Wayfair has used his end-of-year-message to tell employees they need to work harder and that ‘laziness’ is not often ‘rewarded with success’.
Niraj Shah, who is worth an estimated $1 billion, issued a note to staff earlier this month to celebrate the company’s recent success as it became profitable once again.
‘Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from. There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success,’ he wrote in an email to corporate employees, first obtained by the Business Insider.
Shah encouraged workers to think of the online furniture company’s money they spend as their own and to negotiate prices.
It comes after Wayfair, which has around 15,000 employees, quietly cut dozens dozens of jobs last month, despite two rounds of major layoffs in the past year.
The company struggled at the beginning of 2022 as people returned to in-person shopping, but the CEO announced it is back to being profitable.
Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah has used his end-of-year-message to tell employees they need to work harder and that ‘laziness’ is not often ‘rewarded with success’
Shah, who is worth an estimated $1 billion, issued a note to staff earlier this month to celebrate the company’s recent success as it became profitable once again
Wayfair, which has around 15,000 employees, struggled at the beginning of 2022 as people returned to in-person shopping, but the CEO announced it is back to being profitable
Shah used his end-of-year-message to warn employees that hard work is still required despite a successful year where repeat customers are back.
‘Winning feels good – and is a great reward for all of our efforts,’ he wrote.
‘Our market share is growing nicely, our repeat is increasing, our suppliers are leaning in, and we are profitable. This is something to be very proud of.
‘We still have some work to do to make sure that we get fully back. And this is what I want us all to push on in the weeks and months to come.
‘Winning requires hard work. I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfillment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results.’
He added: ‘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?
‘Together, we can win much faster than we are winning now if we all row in this direction together.
‘Let’s be aggressive, pragmatic, frugal, agile, customer oriented, and smart.’
The average warehouse associate at Wayfair earns around $18 per hour, and the majority of its employees are required to work on-site.
Shah used his message to warn employees that hard work is still required despite a successful year where repeat customers are back
He encouraged workers to think of the online furniture company’s money they spend as their own and to negotiate prices
The average warehouse associate at Wayfair earns around $18 per hour and the majority of its employees are required to work on-site
Shah also pointed to inaccurate phrases, which have been attributed to him.
‘The one I would reference here that I heard was “Niraj said that he does not think that we should work late.”‘
‘I would suggest that this is laughably false. Hard work is essential for success, and a key part of getting things done.’
Shah was slammed by Wayfair customers for his message to employees and they vowed to boycott the company.
‘Hey Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah. I will no longer purchase anything from Wayfair over how you treat your employees so long as you remain CEO,’ Mike Hannigan wrote on X. ‘Resign.’
Shah was slammed by Wayfair customers for his message to employees and they vowed to boycott the company
Another wrote: ‘Let @Wayfair know won’t buy their products until Niraj Shah recognizes their workers as human beings and not chits / widgets.’
A third added: ‘Bye Wayfair. There’s a chair I wanted but it’s out of stock. I won’t be buying anything from your company.’
Wayfair’s recent profitability comes after it underwent a series of cost-cutting measures including laying off parts of its workforce.
It made five percent of its workforce redundant and enforced large-scale layoffs in January and August with 1,750 jobs and 870 jobs cut.
The company secretly made further cuts in small groups of around 10, according to the Boston Globe.
They were reportedly offered severance packages but this was half the amount given to those laid off in January.
Wayfair reported a loss of $163 million in the third quarter of 2023 compared to $283million lost in the same quarter last year and the company’s stock is 74 percent up so far this year.
Shah co-founded Wayfair in August 2002, and he was worth an estimated $3.6billion in 2021, according to Forbes.
But this dropped to $1.6 billion in 2022 and has fallen even further this year.
A spokesman for Wayfair told DailyMail.com: ‘We are incredibly proud of our world-class team and culture of open communication.
‘In his note, which was sent to our salaried corporate employees, Niraj was reinforcing some of the values that have contributed to Wayfair’s success, including questioning the status quo, being cost-efficient and working hard together to drive results.’