Walmart is reportedly considering introducing hundreds of new roles across the United States and India, and employees who were recently laid off can apply for these jobs. The retail giant in May laid off around 1,500 employees globally as part of its business strategy to streamline operations, reduce costs, and fast-track internal decision-making.
“We anticipate several hundred new roles as we reshape our teams... within each country, that is US and India. Employees who were affected by last week’s changes are eligible to apply for any of these roles,” Moneycontrol reported, citing a Walmart executive.
The development comes amid MAGA (Make America Great Again) supporters have accused Executive Vice President, Global CTO, and Chief Development Officer, Walmart, Suresh Kumar, of favouring H-1B visa holders over American workers.
Addressing the job cuts the American retail giant, in an internal communication, said “shaping our organisation enables us to drive faster how we deliver and keep pace with the evolving world around us”.
The layoff happened across multiple teams, including global technology operations, e-commerce fulfillment managers, and advertising. Earlier also the company had mentioned that it will add new roles.
There were speculations that the American retail giant’s move was to mitigate the US President Donald Trump’s tariff impact. The company, however, refuted that the move isn’t in the backdrop of tariffs.
The jobs cut “reflect a focus on business priorities and our growth strategy, and are not related to tariffs,” a Walmart spokeswoman said, according to Reuters.
The giant has taken measures to navigate tariff-driven tensions, including price hikes mainly of Chinese goods. The move received severe backlash from President Trump.
“We will do our best to keep our prices as low as possible. But given the magnitude of the tariffs, even at the reduced levels announced this week, we aren’t able to absorb all the pressure given the reality of narrow retail margins,” the Walmart CEO had said in an earnings call.
