Walmart is laying off hundreds of corporate employees and telling remote workers to relocate

Update: Read the Walmart memo ordering remote employees to relocate

Walmart is reducing its headcount just ahead of quarterly earnings. The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter, reports that the big-box retailer is cutting hundreds of corporate roles and requesting that a majority of its remote workers relocate to some of its central hubs. Walmart will give some employees permission to work remotely, but only on a part-time basis, The Journal reports.

As part of the in-office mandate, Walmart wants workers from smaller offices in cities like Atlanta, Dallas, and Toronto to move to central locations, including its Arkansas-based headquarters, as well as its New Jersey and Northern California hubs, The reports said.

Walmart is considered to be the country’s largest private employer, with roughly 2.1 million employees.

The company didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday morning.

News of the headcount reduction comes just ahead of Walmart’s quarterly earnings release, which is scheduled for Thursday before markets open. Walmart, also the nation’s biggest retailer, has already been looking to reduce costs. In late April, it said it would close all 51 of its health centers because they were “not a sustainable business model” and had not been profitable.

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