Wayfair, you got just what no one needs

I don't actually need much of anything. 

But if I did actually need much, a lot of what I need house-wise (or at least want) would come from Wayfair. 

So in December, when I decided not to use paper napkins for my Christmas Eve gathering, I ordered some nice festive read and green cotton/linen napkins from Wayfair.

And on Christmas evening, as I was settling in after a couple of long (but merry and bright) days, I decided I was going to replace the silverware chest that holds my late mother's silver. My sister Trish and I share custody of this silver - my sister Kath has my grandmother's - but the ancient (c. late 1940's) mahogany chest has gotten pretty battered over the years. The velvet lining, in particular when it comes to the slots for knives, has seen better days. Even when my mother was alive and in possession, some of the slots were thumbtacked into place. The lid is scarred. And I just got sick of looking at it. (My niece Molly, who is artsy and crafts-y, is going to turn the original into something or other.)

Anyway, Wayfair. I'm not a capital-F Fangirl, but it has met my, ahem, needs over the years. 

But I know the company - which I really and truly want to like, and want to succeed, given that it's local - isn't perfect. They've had some how-not-to-do-layoffs issues over the years, and those issues haven't going away. They had multiple pink slip events last year, both major and minor weekly (minor unless you're one of those laid off). And right before Christmas, their CEO sent out the Grinch-Scrooge of a tone-deaf all-company email.

Before I take on the tone-deaf email thang, a quick comment on weekly lay-offs. As a high tech veteran, I've been through more lay-offs than I can count, but one of the worst was with a company that wanted to stay under the public-announcement radar, so they conducted irregular mini-layoffs that kept everyone on edge. I also did freelance writing for a company that did the same thing. It's far worse than anticipating a major lay-off and getting it over with. Wayfair had a couple of major lay-offs in 2023, including one that cut 10% of their workforce. But I'm sure it's the ad hoc mini-layoffs that get on everyone's nerves.

Anyway, in mid-December, what to the wondering eyes of the surviving employees did appear but a jolly-holiday all-hands email from co-founder and CEO Niraj Shah.

“Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from,” Shah wrote in the email obtained by the Globe. “There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success.” (Source: Boston Globe)

Admittedly, Wayfair has had a rocky boom-bust time of it, with sales fluctuating and stock price rollercoasting (and way off it's 2021 peak).

But did anyone in HR or Shah's communications team check this bah-humbug message larded with gems like "working long hours...blending work and life...history of laziness." Which, of course, the average employee will infer means 'the head guy doesn't think we work long enough hours even though with all the layoffs we've all taken on more tasks; he wants us to be on the clock 24/7; and he thinks we're lazy.'

Happy holidays to you, too, Mr. Shah.

Shah’s pre-holiday email, which went out at 2:07 a.m. on Dec. 13, also requested that employees be more frugal. “I would also encourage you to think of any company money you spend as your own,” he wrote. “Everything is negotiable and so if you haven’t then you should start there.”

Nothing wrong with encouraging employees to spend the company's money carefully. But couldn't this be reserved for a post-holiday email? Or something that you'd have managers with employees with spending authority convey directly, because - get this - at least in places I've worked, most people don't have any spending authority. 

Shah's email did include some more rah-rah sentiments - the kind that seem more appropriate to an end-of-a-tough-year message to the troops. Market share is up! Repeat customers are doing more repeating! (Hey, that's me!!!) We're profitable!

I've experienced grinchy holiday messages. 

The last (blessedly) Christmas I worked at Wang, the new CEO canceled the sweet tradition of having department holiday parties on Christmas Eve morning, for which employees were encouraged to bring their kids in. There was Santa, gifts for the kiddos, etc. And we all got the afternoon off.

But Rick "Scrooge" Miller decided this would no longer fly, and we all got this snippy email saying that anyone who took off a moment early on Christmas Eve better be putting in for vacation time. Bah to your humbug, Wangers. 

After Wayfair's grumpy email went public, the company released a statement touting their "culture of open communication" and "the values that have contributed to Wayfair's success."

Hard to believe that one of their core values is crapping on their employees by implying they're lazy...

Perhaps inevitably, late last week there was this from Wayfair:

Wayfair is cutting jobs for the third time in the past 18 months as the struggling online retailer strives for profitability.

The Boston company on Friday said it would cut 1,650 jobs, or 13 percent of its workforce. “We’re reducing team sizes across the organization, as well as reducing seniority in certain roles that we plan to rebuild with modified leveling over the course of this year,” chief executive Niraj Shah said in a statement. (Source: Boston Globe)

I trust that the announcement of this latest round of layoffs was ably, kindly, and gently communicated to Wayfair staff. /s