While many executives use this time of 12 months to thank employees for his or her exertions and dedication, one told his they shouldn’t “shrink back from” working longer hours — and “mixing work and life” now that the corporate is profitable again.
“Winning requires exertions,” 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 think that the majority of us, being ambitious individuals, find success in the enjoyment of seeing our efforts materialize into tangible results.
“Working long hours, being responsive, mixing work and life, isn’t anything to shrink back from,” he continued. “There isn’t a whole lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success.”
Shah encouraged the employees 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 ever negotiated the value?” he said in an email to Wayfair employees earlier this month.
Wayfair founder Niraj Shah urged his employees to work longer hours in a company-wide email. Getty Images
Wayfair had around 15,000 employees as of December 2022, in line with its most up-to-date filing cited by CNN.
Shah’s missive drew backlash from economic professor Nicolas Bloom.
“If Wayfair desires to run a business where people work 80 hours per week, he’s going to need to put up their salaries by 50% to pay them for it,” he told CNN Thursday.
Shah co-founded Wayfair in 2002. Getty Images
Shah’s net price is $1 billion as of 2022, in line with Forbes.
The web company, which sells furniture and other home goods, took off through the pandemic as 1000’s of shut-in shoppers turned to online retailers.
But profits faltered in 2022 as stores reopened nationwide, in line with CNN. That 12 months, Wayfair laid off 5% of its employees.
Shah’s email this month, nonetheless, said that the corporate is back within the green.
“Together we are able to win much faster than we’re winning now if all of us row on this direction together,” he wrote. “Let’s be aggressive, pragmatic, frugal, agile, customer-oriented, and smart.”
