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Wayfair CEO: ‘Winning Requires Hard Work’
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.
Discussion Questions
Do you see Niraj Shah’s comments about the benefits of “hard work” and overtime as motivation or out of touch? Do you agree that work-life balance is about “blending work and life” rather than separating your work and personal life?
Poll
Loading …BrainTrust
Brian Cluster
Director of Industry Strategy - CPG & Retail, Stibo Systems
Ken Morris
Managing Partner Cambridge Retail Advisors
CEO=Chief Error Officer (or did Tom mistype and this dimwit is really the CIO: Chief Idiot Officer)?? Of course there’s truth in what he said – success usually involves “hard work” .. however one might define that – but it also involves not making patronizing remarks in an e-mail (particularly during this time of year!) Hopefully he’ll get tact, or at least a clue, in his stocking.
And with that I’ll do what he didn’t: wish Happy Holidays to all my RW Co-commenters!
In the nine months of the fiscal year to-date, Wayfair has made a net loss of over half a billion dollars. Its business model remains fundamentally broken. Before preaching to employees about hard work, I suggests Wayfair management get their own house in order.
When the company I had been working on was acquired and a new CEO was parachuted in, he went on a store tour and said our objective was “to win.” In that moment I knew he not only did not have a plan, he didn’t even know what the game was. Forcing staff to work overtime when the executives screw up & don’t understand the market is the signal to get the heck out!
The list of things management doesn’t understand is long. Very long. And employees have other options. Good luck, boys!
What’s that famous quote? “Find a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Does this Wayfair CEO think that means that work should be painful, otherwise it’s just quiet quitting in disguise?
Just telling people “to win” won’t work. Having a vision of how to win (which is the biggest part of a CEO’s job) and communicating that in a compelling way—that’s what will lead to winning. Well, that and a lot of good decisions about getting, people, process, and technology to work together. Maybe he should listen to Aretha Franklin’s song, Respect, a few times—while he’s working, of course. No slacking off for this guy!
News flash! Success = hard work and long hours…!!! His memo contained the word “laziness”, but did it contain any mention of “thank you”…??? If only it were as simple as hard work. It has to be hard work on the right strategy with the right resources directed at the right customer. Which is not exactly new news.
Here’s the good news. This guy is all set for a long, cold winter. The many bushels of coal delivered to his stocking will last at least until the first blooms of spring.
This was not a motivating or smart message to end the year. Wayfair has an incredible success story over the past 20 years, and it was built on technology, continuous innovation and people. Market conditions change and some years are better than others, but the leadership teams and retail operating models need to adjust. A message of thankfulness to the Wayfair team and a vision for collective success for 2024 would have been better. Executives set the stage and conditions for the team to execute -so-workers alone working overtime, working harder can’t be the only answer.
Most people would agree that success requires hard work, but in the case of big retail companies it requires a clear strategy and great execution. “Winning,” however, is in the eye of the beholder. Many people in the workforce place a premium on work/life balance and they consider themselves (and their families) winners if they achieve it.
Wayfair may never recover from its pandemic-era heights but its shareholders might expect better performance from Mr. Shah and his leadership team, instead of watching him try to channel Elon Musk.
When I was young, long ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I volunteered for a job and something came up. My dad overheard me talking to my friends and saying something to the effect of, “I’m a volunteer; I can be a little late.” He later explained that pay or no pay, I had chosen and accepted a responsibility and had a duty to myself and to the organization, to give that “responsibility” my absolute best (which included being on time). Wayfair’s CEO is right about hard work but his timing, delivery and apparent “tone deafness” especially in today’s environment should scare the company’s board and its shareholders. But failing to do the job one chose and accepted to do and blaming the company or the boss is indefensible (assuming a “normal” work environment). Some companies, some bosses and, believe it or not, some employees (remote or otherwise), absolutely suck – welcome to the real world (as unfortunate as that is). Borrowing from Ken: what’s that famous quote? Be the change you want to see in the world.
Hmmm? Will Wayfair be paying for the overtime? Or is he just asking for free labor because they can’t afford to hire the needed team?
You know, Wayfair has a business model that is almost impossible to execute profitably. Instead of haranguing his workforce, the CEO should think about opening stores, which CAN BE profitable. You lose all the cash benefits of furniture retailing when you’re on-line only. Inventory management is tough, returns management, impossible.
It’s scarcely worth it to even go through this story, and I’m sure his shareholders don’t believe it, either. It’s a math problem, and the answer is “You lose.” Period.
Happy Holidays, everybody! All the love to all of you!!
Mr. Shah just told all the mothers at Wayfair that they’re not wanted. What a stunningly bad message.
I continue to be amazed at how little so many executives understand about the mysteries of “motivation.” The myth of “balance” also continues to bother me. Balance implies there is no movement…so why would someone have that as a life goal? “Work,” along with one’s health, relationships, etc. is an essential tool for realizing one’s potential or purpose or destiny or fulfillment. It becomes a negative when it fails to contribute to that ultimate goal. When that failure is evident then all of a sudden employers get concerned about “motivation” as a solution. A futile exercise at worst, and a bandaid at best.
Angst and anxiety, Abraham Maslow noted, comes when people are living far below their capacity. I wish he’d said, “…below their possibilities.”
Shah’s comments totally missed the boat. If he is interested in motivating workers, it is not about working harder in today’s world. It is all about working smarter.
We need to eliminate the term “work-life balance” and substitute it with a “family-friendly environment.”
This guy is the co-founder. Founders are typically “all in” on whatever the venture in question is. The associates at Wayfair probably do not share the same “zeal” for turning this around. This founder, like many others, is tone deaf and not equipped with the kind of tools to inspire their team.
I understand the spirit of the point the CEO is making. However, its not 20 years ago, its 2024. Millennials & soon Gen Z dominate the workforce today & that dominance will only continue to grow over time. In the world of hiring & employment, your employment brand is everything. This message hurts their employment brand & makes Wayfair sound more like a legacy retailer rather than a tech forward retail disruptor. In a city like Boston, with many employment alternatives – in particular for tech talent, this was a mistake – even if the spirit of the comment is directionally correct.