Walmart Lays Off About 200 Corporate Employees

Retail giant Walmart Inc. is laying off about 200 corporate employees following its recent profit warning amid rising costs and weak demand, reports said citing an email.

Bloomberg reported that the cuts include staffers in last-mile delivery and merchandising. Meanwhile, Walmart continues to invest and add jobs in key areas such as e-commerce, health and wellness, advertising, and supply chain.

In the email, the company said, “We’re updating our structure and evolving select roles to provide clarity and better position the company for a strong future. At the same time, we’re further investing in key areas and creating new roles to support our growing number of services for our customers, suppliers and the business community.”

The latest news comes after the company last week cut its profit outlook for the second-quarter and fiscal year 2023, saying that high food and fuel prices are hurting customer’s ability to spend on general merchandise categories. The company also warned about more pressure on general merchandise in the second half of the year.

The company had slashed its annual profit forecast for the second time in less than three months.

As per a federal filing, Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart, the country’s largest private-sector employer, has more than 100,000 management and professional workers in the U.S. The company has a total U.S. workforce of almost 1.6 million people.

Walmart in 2020 also had eliminated hundreds of corporate jobs.

Amid the weakening economic activity and fears of rising inflation, many major companies have been slashing their employees and slowing down or freezing their recruitment in recent times.

Twitter Inc. reportedly laid off 30 percent of its recruiting team, that comes to around 100 employees, in early July, as the social media giant was preparing cost cuts amid its takeover deal with Elon Musk.

In mid-July, Alphabet Inc.’s Chief Executive Sundar Pichai said Google plans to go slow on hiring for the rest of the year and consolidate investments through 2023, but will focus on hiring on engineering, technical and other critical roles, aligned with long-term priorities.

Among others, Microsoft Corp. recently announced plans to cut a small percentage of its staff, reflecting regular adjustments at the start of its fiscal year.

In late June, luxury electric car maker Tesla laid off about 200 employees in its Autopilot unit as it closed its office in San Mateo, California as part of cost-cutting efforts. Musk also reportedly announced his plans to pause all hiring worldwide, as Tesla Inc. has become overstaffed in some areas.

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