Indian-American CEO of Wayfair urges employees to embrace longer work hours
Dec 22, 2023
Boston (Massachusetts) [United States], December 22 : Wayfair's CEO, Niraj Shah, has delivered an end-of-year message encouraging employees to embrace longer work hours and blend work with life for continued success, CNN reported.
Shah emphasises the correlation between hard work and achieving tangible results, asserting that ambition is fulfilled through dedicated efforts.
In his note celebrating the company's recent success, Shah addresses the importance of working long hours, being responsive, and integrating work with life. He challenges the notion that success is rewarded through laziness and encourages a proactive and diligent approach.
"Winning requires hard work. I believe that most of us, being ambitious individuals, find fulfilment in the joy of seeing our efforts materialise into tangible results," CEO Niraj Shah said in a note to employees earlier this month celebrating the company's recent success, and which a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
Shah further urges Wayfair employees to consider company spending as their own and negotiate prices. The CEO emphasised critical questions such as evaluating the worth of expenditures, assessing the reasonableness of prices, and actively engaging in price negotiations.
"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," his message also stated.
As of December 2022, Wayfair employed approximately 15,000 individuals. Despite challenges faced by the company in 2022, including a workforce reduction of 5 per cent, Shah reassures employees in the email that Wayfair has returned to profitability.
Shah's message concludes with a call for collective effort, expressing the belief that the company can achieve faster success if everyone aligns their efforts. He encourages an aggressive, pragmatic, frugal, agile, customer-oriented, and smart approach.
Economist Nicholas Bloom offers a critical perspective, stating that if Wayfair intends to implement an 80-hour workweek, a substantial salary increase of 50 per cent would be necessary to compensate employees adequately. Bloom emphasises the strength of the job market, indicating that employees have viable alternatives, CNN reported.
