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In an email to employees, Wayfair CEO Niraj Shah wrote that the home goods retailer is “back to winning” amid a return to profitability but cautioned that “winning requires hard work,” that it involves putting in overtime in what some observers saw as a slam against pushes toward work-life balance.
"Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from," he wrote in the email, which was first acquired by Business Insider. "There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success."
He stressed that the notion he’s heard internally that employees should not work late was “laughably false.”
“Hard work is essential for success, and a key part of getting things done,” the platform’s co-founder and CEO since 2002 said. “Everyone deserves to have a great personal life — everyone manages that in their own way — ambitious people find ways to blend and balance the two.”
Employees were also encouraged to be “frugal” and treat “any company money you spend as your own” while seeking out ways to reduce bureaucratic inefficiencies. Shah concluded, “Together we can win much faster than we are winning now if we all row in this direction together.”
Work-life balance has become a bigger priority for employees across corporate America as the pandemic opened the door for remote work to become more widespread and workers enjoyed their newfound flexibility and zero commute time.
The pandemic also helped fuel the “quiet quitting” trend, popularized on TikTok, that calls for doing the bare minimum at your job, including avoiding overtime and tasks outside your job description as well as limiting engagement at work, such as logging off devices after work hours. The shifts come as burnout rates reach record highs.
A Reddit thread that included many former Wayfair workers ran overwhelmingly negative on the CEO’s comments.
“He’s basically saying if you don’t work late then you’re lazy,” one Reddit user responded. “Long hours don’t prove anything about productivity. It just means you worked long hours!”
“I love when these CEOs talk about ‘winning’ as if the employees get absolutely anything out of the company’s profitability,” another added. “I win by working less and/or making more money…These leaders need to wake up.”
However, the shift to quiet quitting and remote work has critics as well.
The Wall Street Journal noted that while some argue quiet quitting is saying no to extra work without extra pay and stress, “many detractors say the quiet quitting mind-set fosters laziness and hurts performance, even if baseline job expectations are being met.” Regardless of the interpretation, quiet quitting is a concern for many businesses because it conveys a separation between the employer and the employee when it comes to expectations.