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Walmart is cutting hundreds of staff, telling remote workers to come back to the office, and asking some workers to relocate from smaller offices to bigger central hubs.
According to a Wall Street Journal report on Monday, which cited sources familiar with the matter, staff at Walmart offices in Dallas, Atlanta, and Toronto are being asked to relocate to its headquarters in Bentonville, or larger offices in Hoboken or Southern California.
The report added that remote workers are still permitted to follow a hybrid model, provided they spend the majority of their time working in the office.
It’s not the first time Walmart has made such a move. In February 2023, it closed smaller hubs in Austin, Carlsbad, and Portland, asking technology workers at each hub to relocate to work at least two days per week at facilities in Bentonville or San Bruno.
Now repeating the move for the second time in just over a year, it’s not clear from the Wall Street Journal report – and Walmart is yet to respond to requests for comment from numerous outlets – how long employees will be given to decide, to make the move, or specifically what support Walmart would provide.
Relocation packages are standard practice, but even with the support in place, it’s a major ask from any employer.
Is it right for HR to demand workers relocate?
With the backdrop of layoffs, many workers will seemingly be faced with the tough decision to face the perils of the labor market or to up their lives.
Those with families may need to ask their partners to find new work. Those with children would need to remove them from their schools. Those with close friendship groups might have to start from scratch in a new city without a support network.
Yes, having the option to move to a new city is a compelling, engaging opportunity for some. Others may simply appreciate the choice, even if they ultimately decide that relocation isn’t for them. And of course, any employer is (relatively) free to decide where and how it best believes it can create a productive and engaged workforce.
However, many have criticized return-to-office mandates as a form of quiet firing. Dell employees, for example, have hit back after being told they would only qualify for promotions if they were in office 39 days per quarter, but given their distance from one of Dell’s “approved” list of offices would have to relocate to do so.
Several Amazon workers asked to relocate by the company in 2023, for example, told CNBC they had chosen to leave the company rather than uproot their family or break a lease on their property. They described the requirement as “onerous” and “significantly disruptive to their personal lives.”
There is a world of difference between giving employees the freedom and flexibility to take part in relocation programs, which have been found to drive productivity and engagement, and telling employees their employment or career development will be over if they do not relocate.
HR teams at employers considering enforcing a similar relocation mandate to Walmart or Amazon should ask how this might impact the wellbeing of their workers.
For many, the choice between trying to find a job when widespread redundancies and layoffs continue to plague the US, or dealing with the emotional and logistical fallout of upheaving their lives will be stressful, anxiety-inducing, and ultimately a lose-lose.
