Walmart restructures, around 200 corporate jobs being cut

Walmart confirmed Wednesday (Aug. 3) that the company is restructuring several of its departments within the corporate structure which will result in the loss of about 200 jobs in Bentonville and other corporate offices.

“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 like eCommerce, technology, health & wellness, supply chain and advertising sales and creating new roles to support our growing number of services for our customers, suppliers and the business community,” Anne Hatfield, Walmart corporate spokeswoman, told Talk Business & Politics.

Hatfield said the exact number of jobs being eliminated has not been announced, but it is small compared to the number of jobs the retailer continues to add in other areas of the business. Walmart also declined to identify which areas of the business the cuts are taking place. Sources close to Walmart said the retailer’s real estate division, food and toy merchandising areas reported layoffs along with some data analytics positions, last-mile delivery and customer service jobs also being eliminated this week.

Walmart’s hiring site showed the retail giant has more than 700 corporate jobs open in Bentonville as of Aug. 3. Those jobs ranged from accounting and finance, merchandising, real estate and marketing, among other areas within the company.

The news of Walmart’s corporate layoffs comes as the company recently warned of lower income this year in part from inventory overhangs in apparel and general merchandise after consumer shopping behaviors shifted at the start of the year amid rising prices for food and fuel basics.

Other companies across several business sectors began announcing layoffs in the past couple of months. Dallas-based 7-Eleven announced 880 job cuts, and J.P Morgan announced in June around 1,000 job cuts in the bank’s mortgage division.

The number of job openings decreased to 10.7 million on the last business day of June, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on Aug. 2. Hires and total separations were little changed at 6.4 million and 5.9 million, respectively. Within separations, quits (4.2 million) and layoffs and discharges (1.3 million) were little changed.