Walmart announces hundreds of layoffs

The retail giant also claimed that it would relocate other employees with the aim of "bringing more of us together more often."

Walmart headquarters. — Walmart / Wikimedia Commons.

Published by

Rosana Rábago Sainz

15 de mayo, 2024

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Walmart announced hundred of layoffs this Tuesday. The retail giant reported that these layoffs will affect corporate jobs where, it explained, other employees would also be relocated with the aim of eliminating remote work and progressively going back to in-person work.

NPR reported, although occasional remote work is allowed, the layoffs will mostly affect corporate office workers who were asked to return to the offices. Many of these employees will be relocated. Workers from offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto will be transferred to Walmart's headquarters located in Bentonville, Arkansas; Hoboken, New Jersey and the San Francisco Bay Area.

Walmart explained in a statement that it made this decision with the aim of "bringing more of us together more often." The retail giant claimed it "makes us better and helps us to collaborate, innovate and move even faster." Donna Morris, the company’s chief people officer, told CNN, "We also believe it helps strengthen our culture as well as grow and develop our associates.”

Walmart cuts its workforce and closes all its health care clinics

Morris also reported that, due to the cost reduction that the company has been working toward for a few months, they were also forced to cut their workforce. Although she did not state exactly how many people will be laid off, she did say that "hundreds" of jobs would be affected. Morris claimed this would be "small in percentage":

In addition, some parts of our business have made changes that will result in a reduction of several hundred campus roles. While the overall numbers are small in percentage, we are focused on supporting each of our associates affected by these changes.

The layoffs are announced weeks after Walmart said it was closing all of its health care clinics. The company claimed that this decision was made due to the "lack of profitability”:

This is a difficult decision, and like others, the challenging reimbursement environment and escalating operating costs create a lack of profitability that make the care business unsustainable for us at this time.