Wayfair's job cuts reportedly hit remote workers harder amid return-to-office battle

By Bill Peters

In a company meeting, executives said workers should do a majority of their work in an office and that the company wasn't exploring a sale, Wall Street Journal reports

In the ongoing fight over remote work between managers and employees, online furniture and home-goods retailer Wayfair Inc. appears to be on the side of the office.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Wayfair (W) executives on Tuesday told employees at a company-wide meeting that staff who worked remotely "were more likely to be laid off" in its most recent round of job cuts, which will affect around 1,650 employees, or 13% of the company's global workforce. Those layoffs were announced on Friday.

During Tuesday's meeting, executives also said workers should do the majority of their work in an office, the Journal reported, adding that executives said the company wasn't exploring a sale.

Wayfair, when reached for comment, said the purpose of the layoffs was to restructure the company around core principles.

"One of the outcomes of that work was that a number of workers, including some remote employees, ended up without roles," a company representative said in a statement. "While we fundamentally believe our best work is done in person, we will continue to have remote roles in areas where they make sense."

Shares were down 2.5% on Wednesday.

Wayfair's layoffs were the latest to be announced this year. Among other companies announcing job cuts are Macy's Inc. (M), Xerox Holdings Corp. (XRX), Riot Games and Sports Illustrated. As those cuts accumulate, they have raised some questions and complaints about the way companies dismiss employees.

Following the pandemic's remote-work boom for office employees, some executives - including Elon Musk, who has called remote work "morally wrong" - have complained that it hurts collaboration and productivity. Many employees, however, like the flexibility.

Weeks before the layoffs, Wayfair Chief Executive Niraj Shah sent a memo to staff encouraging them to put in more effort at their jobs, according to reports.

"Working long hours, being responsive, blending work and life, is not anything to shy away from," he wrote then, according to Business Insider. "There is not a lot of history of laziness being rewarded with success."

In the memo to staff on Friday announcing the layoffs, Shah described Wayfair's expansion from a company without much money two decades ago to one that grew through a tech boom in the prior decade and then the pandemic's boom in digital demand, which later fizzled.

"By mid-2022 it was clear we were in a bust period," he said. "It was also clear that we had gone overboard with corporate hiring during COVID."

Wayfair also laid off staff last year and in 2022. Shah said that while the decisions were difficult, "after each reduction we have gotten more of our goals done faster."

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-Bill Peters

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01-24-24 1147ET

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