- Walmart is cutting hundred of corporate jobs in its latest cost cutting move
- It is also asking remote workers to move get back to the office
- Last year it said that 65% of its stores would be automated
Walmart is cutting hundreds of corporate jobs and is asking most of its remote workers to get back to the office, after it slashed thousands of warehouse jobs across the country.
Though remote workers will be allowed to work from home part-time, the retail monolith is also asking workers in small offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to begin working from more central hubs, as part of a move to cut costs, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Walmart’s stock price wobbled slightly yesterday, peaking at 61.30 points, before falling to 60.29 points. But Walmart’s stock price is close to it’s all time high.
The news comes after the US’ largest employer announced it would be laying off 2,000 warehouse employees who pack online orders, and would be working to have 65% of its stores automated by 2026.
‘As the changes are implemented across the business, one of the outcomes is roles that require less physical labor but have a higher rate of pay,’ the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said in a filing last year.
Click here to resize this module
‘Over time, the company anticipates increased throughput per person, due to the automation while maintaining or even increasing its number of associates as new roles are created,’ it added.
About 55% of packages that it processes through its fulfillment centers will be moved through automated facilities by January 2026, improving unit cost averages by about 20 percent, the company said.
‘This increased efficiency will not only support better inventory management, but it will also support Walmart’s rapidly growing e-commerce business,’ Stephens Inc analyst Ben Bienvenu wrote in a note.
Walmart, which employed approximately 2.1 million associates as of January 2024, also closed three of its tech offices last year, and ask many of its staff to relocate to central corporate hubs.
The company has so far announced the closure of eight stores since the beginning of 2024, affecting more than 1,000 workers in California, Maryland, Ohio and Wisconsin.
The stores were not meeting financial expectations, Walmart said, adding that the affected workers would be offered the choice to transfer to other nearby stores and warehouses. Last year, the retail giant announced the closure of 22 stores across the country.
Click here to resize this module
Last month, it announced it would cut all 51 of the health clinics it has built in the last five years, as it attempted to build a bigger healthcare business.
It said last year that it was planning on having a total of 75 by the end of 2024, though said that increasing costs made ‘the care business unsustainable for us at this time.’
Also facing a tough time in the care business is pharmacy CVS, which last year cut 5,000 corporate jobs.
Customer-facing roles were not affected in the August layoffs, though the company did crack down on travel expenses and its use of consultants and vendor for its services.