The report said recent job cuts announced by Wayfair primarily affected those working from home, and staff were left feeling uncertain about the future of the interiors site during a tense all-hands meeting.
Executives at the Boston-based company sought to reassure worried staff Tuesday, insisting that a sale is not on the table. According to the Wall Street Journal.
Wayfair employees on Tuesday urged them to log more hours and work harder last month, weeks before the company announced it would cut 1,650 jobs, or 13% of its roughly 14,000 global workforce. He slammed CEO Niraj Shah over the memo.
It's unclear how many remote workers Wayfair employs.
Wayfair management requires employees to be in the office at least three days a week.
A small number of remote employees work Eastern Time Zone hours and are required to travel to the Boston headquarters once a quarter. According to the Boston Business Journal.
Shah doubled down on demands for hard work, saying it was necessary for the company to become profitable, according to the Journal.
“If bankruptcy is inevitable, shame on all of us for not trying harder,” Steve Conine, the company's co-founder and co-chair of the company's board, joked to employees.
Wayfair employees reportedly said Tuesday that the layoffs announced last week (the fourth round of cuts the company has announced since 2020) are aimed at speeding up the decision-making process within the team. He was told that the purpose was to
Company executives told employees that while some roles will continue to be remote, most employees expect to come into the office most days.
“The purpose of this reorganization was to align the team with core organizational design principles that establish a sound foundation for growth,” a Wayfair spokesperson told the Post.
“One of the consequences of that work is that many employees, including some remote employees, are no longer able to perform their roles.”
The spokesperson added: “While we believe that our work is generally best done in person, we will continue to work remotely in areas where it makes sense.”
Wayfair stock was down more than 3% as of midday Wednesday.
Since the beginning of 2021, the stock has fallen 80% from a record high of about $345 per share to about $55 per share.
Wayfair announced its latest round of job cuts on Friday.
Shah said the reorganization will reduce team size across the company and reduce seniority in certain roles, with the company planning to “revise and restructure” this year.
“The natural question to ask is 'why?'” he wrote in a Friday memo to employees.
“I think the reality is that we hired too much during the good times and strayed from our core principles. We're getting back to our core principles, but we're not there yet.”
Last January, Wayfair laid off about 1,750 employees, or 10% of its global workforce at the time.
The number of employees will be reduced by 870 in August 2022 and 550 in 2020.
Wayfair said Friday's job cuts are expected to result in annual cost savings of more than $280 million.
The company expects to incur approximately $70 million to $80 million in restructuring costs, primarily for employee severance and benefits, in the first quarter of 2024.
with post wire
