On Wed. June 26, employees at the Boston headquarters of Wayfair
left their
offices to protest the company’s sale of more than $200,000 of bedroom
furniture to a government contractor that operates a network of migrant
detention centers near the United States-Mexico border. More than 500 employees
sent a letter to Wayfair senior management, asking the company to no longer do
business with the nonprofit contractor, known as BCFS.
The Retail TouchPoints edit team discusses whether the
Wayfair employee walkout might impact the way retailers approach their brand
and policies when they intersect with social and political issues. What do
retailers risk if their values and actions don’t align with those of their
employees?
Adam Blair, Editor: Wayfair’s non-response response to the protests by a group of
its employees is classic corporate-speak: “As a retailer, it is standard
practice to fulfill orders for all customers and we believe it is our business
to sell to any customer who is acting within the laws of the countries within
which we operate.” As many people have pointed out in other contexts, some of
the worst things in human history (slavery, Jim Crow, anti-LGBTQ
discrimination) have been, or still are, “legal.” One of the ways awful things
become illegal is through protest that shines a spotlight on
them. Also, this employee group is asking not just for Wayfair to stop doing
business with companies supplying migrant detention camps, but also for a code
of ethics for B2B sales “that empowers Wayfair and its employees to act in
accordance with our core values.” In other words, they want the company to take
a stand. If Wayfair’s executives are all for migrant detention camps, they
should have the guts to say so out loud. But mealy-mouthed statements and
donations to the Red Cross are not good enough in today’s environment, and they
also are bad for the bottom line. The Forrester Employee Experience Index notes that among
companies that positively reinforce employees’ embrace of corporate
values, 81% offer a top tier customer experience, compared
to 65% of all companies.
Glenn Taylor, Senior Editor: Strikes have been a
bargaining chip for unions in any era, but the concept of employee activism
that mirrors a consumer boycott feels like something that has popped up more recently
— especially as overall workplace culture becomes more relaxed and informal. A
relatively young company like Wayfair was ripe for this kind of activism, in an
era where company values matter (or at least are required to be transparent) to
employees. As many as 71% of U.S. employees believe they can make a
positive difference in society by speaking out about controversial issues, with
62% feeling that they can make a bigger impact than business leaders,
according to a recent
study by PR firm Weber Shandwick. This will only happen more frequently
at retail companies as their employees see the options that they have on the
table, and it will look worse for retailers that feel the need to discipline
the workers in some way if they don’t agree with their decision. This really is
a golden opportunity for retailers to establish a clearer value statement — one
that goes beyond the simple business mission of their company — and focuses on
where they stand on social issues, which in today’s world are harder and harder
for businesses to ignore.
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Bryan Wassel, Associate Editor: If Wayfair isn’t
taking its worker’s demands seriously, the retailer is playing a dangerous
game: 85% of employees remain in their jobs longer at companies that display
high levels of social responsibility, according to SpotOn. The retailer’s
non-apology didn’t do much (if anything) to calm associates’ legitimate concerns,
and even if the move doesn’t directly hurt them with their customers the
effects could have repercussions further down the line. A study by Kronos found
that 31% of global retailers are understaffed during periods
of peak workload at least half the time, and an organization that
doesn’t heed its employees desires may be heading for trouble during the
holidays. Taking a stand here isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart
business decision as well.
