Dive Brief:
- Walmart has eliminated an undisclosed number of roles in a series of moves that will reshape the retailer’s national corporate office footprint. The company is asking some office-based employees in Hoboken, New Jersey, and in smaller offices to relocate closer to their teams in California or Arkansas, Chief People Officer Donna Morris said in a Tuesday memo to associates shared with Retail Dive.
- As part of the retailer’s location strategy, Walmart plans to close its Charlotte, North Carolina, office. The company notified all affected employees and will provide individuals relocation support or severance.
- Morris said the retailer plans to open new office spaces in Sunnyvale, California, and Bellevue, Washington. It also plans to expand and upgrade offices in Hoboken and New York City.
Dive Insight:
Five years on from the outbreak of the pandemic, which drove an unprecedented shift to remote work, Walmart is among a growing list of companies accelerating a push to bring employees back to regular, in-person work in the office.
“Our values and culture are strategic differentiators for us as a company, and they are fostered by being together,” Morris said in the memo. “We’ve already seen the benefits of having more teams working together in person, and today we are sharing another step that will help accelerate our momentum.”
The location-related changes are intended to increase collaboration, innovation and speed with a focus on teams working together in person.
Walmart didn’t immediately respond to follow up questions from Retail Dive, including how many people were affected by the recent elimination of the roles and if any additional office openings or closings are anticipated this year.
The company is reshaping its corporate office footprint as it invests heavily in its headquarters in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walmart opened the first two of 12 buildings on its campus last month and the next 10 buildings will open in phases throughout the year.
This week’s announcements come less than a year after Walmart asked most of its associates who worked remotely and in offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to relocate. Most people affected by that decision were asked to relocate to Bentonville, New York City or San Francisco. At the same time, the company confirmed it would lay off “several hundred” people.
