Walmart is restructuring its business in the US, and hundreds of employees are being laid off, according to sources. Downsizing, according to sources familiar with the company, is part of Walmart’s ongoing efforts to streamline its business and move toward a retail model that includes many ways to reach consumers.
The company expanded its e-commerce division in recent years under Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart US eCommerce. But heavy losses in the segment and renewed effort to rationalize business have led to sharp job cuts with dozens of category specialists and analysts leaving this week.
The layoffs don’t end there. Talk Business & Politics has learned that dozens of employees in the fresh produce and meat supply chain, real estate, logistics and transportation, global people, human resources, and customer experience teams were also affected by the ongoing layoffs that started on Monday (July 27). Walmart has not provided a full job cut, but sources tell Talk Business & Politics that there are several hundred jobs in Northwest Arkansas and at West Coast offices.
L Brands recently announced 850 corporate job cuts and Macy’s laid off 3,900 in recent weeks. Fossil said in June that it would cut 10% of its corporate workforce. Unlike these retailers, Walmart does not give exact numbers with corporate restructuring efforts.
“We continue our journey to create an omnichannel organization within our Walmart business in the US And we are making some additional changes this week. Our customers want a seamless experience whether they are shopping in our stores, using our app, or shopping online at walmart.com. Our goal is to deliver that experience while increasing innovation, speed, and productivity. We will share additional information after we have completed our communication with associates, “Walmart spokeswoman Jami Lamontagne told Talk Business & Politics on Thursday.
Walmart has been silent about the layoffs for most of 2020, but the new administration at Walmart US did restructure earlier this year. In February, Walmart US CEO John Furner restructured core operations with the departure of Mark Ibbotson. Also in February, Furner announced the creation of a new product team to be led by Meng Chee. The department was to design technology products and customer and employee experiences with the end user in mind. The Product.org division also participated in the recent layoffs, according to sources familiar with the situation.
Walmart’s real estate division was hit with 250 layoffs that began on July 29. This occurs when the retail giant no longer builds as many stores. Between April 2019 and January 2020, Walmart added just three stores in the US Walmart now operates 4,756 stores in the United States.
There is also a restructuring in the marketing operations department. Several dozen workers in Walmart’s logistics transportation divisions were also laid off this week, according to sources.
Walmart confirmed that everyone who lost their jobs will remain on the payroll until January 31, and will still be eligible for bonus payments during that period.
Cameron Smith, founder of CSA Recruiters, told Talk Business & Politics that the local job market may absorb some of the lost jobs. On average, his office has 70 to 80 open jobs in Northwest Arkansas at providers and service providers outside of Walmart. There are now 54 vacant positions in the region, he said.
HOME OFFICE BACK TO WORK
Walmart also said the company continues to assess the status of COVID-19 for its plan and the time for employees to return to the home office.
Donna Morris, chief staff officer at Walmart, said offices in northwest Arkansas are being set up for a 6-foot social distancing so that up to 50% of employees can return when the time is right. She said that more than 7,000 home office employees used the scheduling application tool to pick up personal items from the home office while the workstations were being spaced.
Morris said last week that most employees should continue to work from home given the
COVID-19 prevalence.
“We know that ideally you would appreciate a specific date of return to the office, but at the moment we do not have an exact date for any of our offices. As we have said before, when we are ready to receive more associates in the offices, it will not all be We will provide you with ample notice and continue to be flexible with you during the transition, “Morris said in the internal memo.
Morris said he would provide another update in August.
