Walmart Plans Corporate Layoffs

The nation’s largest retailer has laid off hundreds of workers in departments including store planning, logistics, merchandising and real estate, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg in a report the company confirmed to CNBC—and those cuts don’t count reorganization within its roughly 4,750 U.S. stores to consolidate divisions and eliminate some regional manager roles, the Bloomberg sources said.

The Bloomberg report did not give specific numbers of cuts, but the company told CNBC it would share more details after notifying employees.

The coronavirus pandemic, and attendant stay-at-home orders have treated grocers more kindly than other retailers, and in late April Walmart said it had hired 200,000 associates to work in stores, Sam’s Club locations and distribution and fulfillment centers since March 19.

By far the nation’s largest private sector employer, with 1.5 million U.S. workers, Walmart also said it has agreed to pay out $1.1 billion in cash bonuses to workers since the spring, when the coronavirus began its initial spread through the country.

But, despite a long-running “Fight for $15” campaign, and peer pressure from rival Target, Walmart has rebuffed calls to boost its hourly starting wage to $15 an hour, from the current $11, though the company says the average, full-time hourly wage in the U.S. is $14.26.

Walmart already has spent part of this year reorganizing the back shop, with CNBC reporting that in late February, the company merged its buyer teams on the store and online side to decrease conflicts over the pricing of products in-store and online.