Wal-Mart Stores trims up to 3% of its corporate technology jobs in Bentonville

Wal-Mart Stores is cutting jobs in its technology division known as Walmart ISD (Information Systems Division) located in Bentonville. The company did not provide a number, except to say the range is between 1% to 3% of the ISD organization – or up to 300 local jobs based on an estimate by Talk Business & Politics.

Sources have told Talk Business & Politics that more than 1,000 work in the Bentonville ISD office, with some working as independent contractors. The company’s website says that roughly 6,700 professionals work in technology from Bentonville to San Bruno, India and elsewhere in the world.

Bao Nguyen, corporate spokesman for Wal-Mart, did not break out how many employees work in the Bentonville ISD facility, but did clarify that all the job cuts were with employees and not independent contractors. He said the job cuts were part of a “routine process where we evaluate the positions skills and experience we need in our technology organization.”

The retailer provided this statement about the layoff: “We don’t take any decision involving our people lightly. We routinely evaluate the positions, skills and experience we need like any technology business. This includes eliminating some positions while recruiting and hiring new ones.”

Walmart ISD is seen as the nerve center for the retail giant as that is where technology is put to use in everything from store modular design to mobile app software for Scan and Go and Grocery Pickup. Nguyen said it operates all the separate systems that Walmart uses in its stores from point-of-sales cashier data to the back-end replenishment system and everything in between.

This is third round of layoffs at the corporate retail giant since first reported in July 2015. Rumors of Wal-Mart’s corporate downsizing swirled for much of last year until the retailer finally pulled the plug on at least 450 mid-level to higher level management jobs Oct. 2. Wal-Mart Stores CEO Doug McMillon said the cuts were needed to move faster in the dynamic retail environment. The retailer said the October job cuts did not include retirements and attrition.

The company also announced Jan. 15 it was cutting 400 operations jobs from the Sam’s Club division, with 150 of those being corporate jobs in Bentonville. The retailer at the same time announced more than 154 U.S. store closures which resulted in more than 10,000  job eliminations.