Exclusive: Walmart – the nation’s largest private employer – is eliminating hundreds of roles and closing one of its North Carolina offices as it continues to pull workers back to its main hubs in California and Arkansas, according to an internal memo seen by FOX Business on Tuesday.
Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris said in the memo sent to employees that the company is cutting roles and asking office-based employees in Hoboken, NJ, and some of its smaller offices to relocate to the company’s newly opened headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., as well as its office in Sunnyvale, Calif.
“We are making these changes to put key capabilities together, encouraging speed and shared understanding,” Morris said in the memo. “Through this review process, we have eliminated some roles as we streamline how we work.”
Walmart didn’t specify how many people will be affected, as the employees who are being asked to relocate will have at least a month to inform the company if they plan to move to the main hubs.
The decision announced on Tuesday is part of a broader relocation strategy unveiled in May 2024, when Walmart initiated the first phase of relocating employees by asking staff from offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to move to Walmart’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, its Hoboken office or its California location. Any employees still working remotely at that time were also called back to the office.
Walmart began requiring workers to return to the office in February 2022, saying it boosts collaboration, innovation and faster work processes, while also strengthening company culture.
As the corporate world began to ditch remote work, Walmart constructed a new 350-acre campus in Bentonville, where it opened office buildings last month. The campus has 12 office buildings, along with amenity buildings, parking decks and surface lots.
The company is also opening new office spaces in Sunnyvale and Bellevue, Wash., while expanding its office in Hoboken and its fashion office in New York City.
“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.”
Morris said the company will help affected employees “navigate the path forward, including providing relocation support or severance.”
