Walmart Employees Push Back Against Return-to-Office Mandate

Walmart announced in May that it would require hundreds of remote workers to work in person at its Bentonville, Arkansas corporate headquarters, and other hubs in Hoboken, NJ and Northern California. A new Bloomberg report shows that employees pushed back on the return-to-office (RTO) mandate in a companywide Zoom call, and some chose to quit.

On the call, one participant said the RTO policy was “a bunch of bullsh-t” and others expressed concerns about life in Arkansas, childcare, increased work, and their partner’s jobs being affected by the move.

Related: Survey Says C-Suite Executives Secretly Hoped Employees Would Quit After Implementing Return-to-Office Mandates

One Walmart employee told Bloomberg that he decided to leave the company instead of relocating on short notice.

Walmart’s Chief People Officer, Donna Morris, told the publication that the majority of employees are choosing to return to the office. Employees had to tell Walmart by July 1 if they were planning to relocate and make the move by October 31.

Employees who can’t make the move will have to leave the company between August 2024 and January 2025, per Bloomberg.

^{Walmart CEO Doug McMillon. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images}

Walmart isn’t the only company to implement a strict RTO policy. Salesforce announced last month that employees across departments have to come into the office, weeks after laying off 300 employees. Bank of America threatened “disciplinary action” for employees who have not had an in-person presence in the office.

Related: Walmart to Lay Off Hundreds of Employees, Relocate Remote Workers Back to the Office

Dell asked employees back to the office and said that those who didn’t would not be promoted. In May, Dell began tracking employee badge swipes and said it would consider the metric when determining how employees were reviewed, rewarded, and compensated.

A July survey from Bamboo HR showed that C-suite executives secretly hoped that RTO mandates would prompt employees to quit and bring voluntary turnover. Bamboo HR called RTOs “layoffs in disguise.”

Related: Dell Is Labeling Hybrid Employees With ‘Red Flags’ Based on How Often They’re in the Office