Walmart to cut hundreds of corporate jobs, bring remote workers back in

Walmart is cutting hundreds of corporate positions and asking some workers to relocate from smaller offices to larger locations, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.

In addition, the company is asking remote workers to begin spending most of their time in the office, the newspaper reported.

The article did not specify exactly how many positions were being eliminated and how many workers were being laid off.

A spokesperson for the retailer was not immediately available for comment.

Walmart employees in some smaller offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto, are being asked to move to other “central hubs,” such as the company’s corporate headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., as well as offices in Hoboken, N.J., and Northern California, the Journal reported, citing people familiar with the company’s plans.

The article also said that Walmart will continue to allow employees to work remotely part of the time, but they must spend most of their working hours in offices.

Walmart recently said it plans to shutter all 51 of its Walmart Health centers, most of which were in Florida and Georgia. It was not clear if the reported job cuts were related to that initiative.

Earlier this year the company said it was closing a technology lab called The Store No. 8 Innovation Unit, and last year Walmart said it was closing three other tech centers in Austin, Texas; Carlsbad, Calif.; and Portland, Ore. At that time, the company was reportedly to begin requiring most tech workers to work in the company’s offices at least two days per week.

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The company has also shuttered several stores and ecommerce delivery centers in the past few years as it has focused on cutting costs.

Meanwhile, Walmart in January had unveiled plans to open or convert 150 stores in the next five years. The company also said it planned to remodel 650 locations in the U.S. with its Store of the Future design.