Walmart is laying off hundreds of corporate workers across the country while moving many employees to its Arkansas headquarters.
The big-box retailer confirmed the layoffs and relocations in a memo sent to employees on Tuesday.
In the memo, Chief People Officer Donna Morris said the move is aimed at getting more employees back into the office after the Covid pandemic. The company brought corporate employees back to its Bentonville, Arkansas, headquarters in February 2022.
Now, he said, Walmart is taking it a step further: Most employees working remotely and in offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto have been asked to relocate. Most will move to the company's headquarters in Arkansas, but some will also move to offices in the San Francisco Bay Area or Hoboken, New Jersey, he said.
“In addition, some parts of our business have made changes that will result in a reduction of several hundred positions on campus,” he said in the memo. “While the overall numbers are small in percentage, we are focused on supporting each of our associates affected by these changes.”
Walmart did not say how many people were affected by the cuts.
The news comes days before Walmart's long-awaited earnings report on Thursday.
The layoffs are the latest cost cuts for the discount retailer. In late April, Walmart announced it would close 51 health clinics in Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Texas. The new clinics, which offered doctor and dentist appointments and therapy, were part of Walmart Health, a broad effort by the discount chain to bring lower prices to the health care industry. It had opened health clinics next to its department stores, but said in an announcement on its website that the business was not financially sustainable.
Walmart is the country's largest private employer with about 1.6 million employees, most of whom work in its stores nationwide.
Walmart has another reason to bring more employees to Bentonville: It's building a nearly 350-acre campus there. The major development, which is underway, includes 12 office buildings, plus parking lots, a hotel and other amenities. The first buildings on campus have already opened, including a gymnasium and a daycare center.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the layoffs and relocations.
Read Morris' full memo to Walmart employees:
It's been just over four years since we faced the global pandemic that transformed our lives in many ways, including the way we work. In February 2022, we made the decision to bring Home Office associates back to our campus offices. We believe that being together, in person, makes us better and helps us collaborate, innovate and move even faster. We also believe it helps strengthen our culture, as well as grow and develop our associates.
In order to meet more often, we are asking most associates working remotely and most associates in our offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and our Toronto Global Tech office to relocate. Most relocations will be to our headquarters in Bentonville, but some will be to our offices in the San Francisco Bay Area or Hoboken/New York.
Additionally, some parts of our business have made changes that will result in a reduction of several hundred positions on campus. While the overall numbers are small in percentage, we are focused on supporting each of our associates affected by these changes.
We have had conversations with associates who were directly affected by these decisions. We will work closely with them in the coming days and months to navigate the best path forward.
This is a developing story. Please check for updates.
