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Wayfair Targeted Remote Workers for Layoffs
January 25, 2024
Wayfair executives informed staff on Tuesday that remote workers stand a higher chance of being laid off in the company’s latest round of job cuts.
This news was delivered by executives in an all-hands meeting, which discussed the latest job cuts that slimmed the workforce down by 13%. Workers questioned this news about layoffs and the financial outlook for the future of the company, reports The Wall Street Journal.
One of the questions employees asked was about the tone and timing of a memo from December that CEO Niraj Shah sent out to staff asking them to work harder. On Tuesday, he reiterated that message but added that they should do so if they wanted a good outcome for the company and themselves. Executives also explained that the layoffs aimed to speed up decision-making within teams.
Another question some workers asked was concerning the financial position of the company in the future. Steve Conine, co-founder of the company and co-chairman of the board, said a sale isn’t being looked at as an option. He said, “If bankruptcy is inevitable then shame on all of us for not working harder.”
A company spokesperson said that Conine was trying to highlight that the ball is in Wayfair’s court in terms of the future.
Wayfair announced last week that it would let go of 1,650 employees, which is the fourth-biggest cull of workers since 2020. There was a big spike in demand early on during the COVID-19 pandemic, which aided growth. However, sales and profits haven’t gone up in a smooth and promising way since then.
In a memo last week, Shah said, “We went overboard in hiring during a strong economic period and veered away from our core principles, and while we have come quite far back to them, we are not quite there.”
Wayfair’s stock shot up just after it revealed the latest job cuts but is down by over 80% from an all-time high of about $345 in early 2021. Over the past two years, the stock had dropped every quarter in comparison to the year before.
Some remote positions will still remain, but at the meeting on Tuesday, Shah mentioned that they’ve figured out which roles would make more sense to be physically present. Executives expressed that they believe most workers should be in the office working most of the days.
On Friday, Shah wrote, “I believe we need to stay focused as a company on what committed small teams can accomplish. In many ways, having too many great people is worse than having too few.”
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