Multinational retail corporation Walmart is axing hundreds of corporate jobs, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has reported.

As part of a restructure, the retailer will also require most of its remote workers to relocate to office locations.  

Walmart is urging workers in small offices in Dallas, Atlanta and Toronto to migrate to central hubs including its corporate headquarters in Bentonville in Arkansas, Hoboken in New Jersey, and northern California. 

Walmart will still allow staff to work remotely part-time, provided they spend the majority of their time in the office.  

The retailer has not responded to a Reuters request for comment.

The report from WSJ comes as Walmart has taken steps to reduce its employee count in 2023 and 2024.

As of 31 January 2024, it employed 2.1 million associates. 

In April 2023, the retailer announced plans to automate 65% of its stores by the end of the fiscal year 2026.  

Walmart closed three of its US technology hubs in February 2023 and required hundreds of employees to relocate if they wished to retain their positions.  

In early 2024 Flipkart, a Walmart-owned online marketplace, initiated a move to reduce its team size by between 5% and 7%, the Economic Times (ET) has reported.

The layoff, tied to performance reviews, was to be completed by March and April of the same year.

In April 2024 Walmart partnered with Swisslog to implement an advanced automation solution at its Robinson facility in Texas, US.