BENTONVILLE, AR - Walmart is planning more job cuts before the end of January, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, where people familiar with the matter reveal that hundreds of jobs are on the chopping block. As reported by the paper, the job cuts will mainly affect headquarters and regional personnel that support stores. Walmart has yet to publicly claim the validity of the report.

“As we’ve previously shared, we are always looking for ways to operate more efficiently and effectively,” Randy Hargrove, Senior Director of Corporate Communications tells news source Consumerist. “While we continually look at our corporate structure, we have not made any announcements. Like any organization, we make decisions based upon what’s best for our business and the customers we serve.”

The source reports that Walmart’s human resources department is a primary target of the company’s cuts, citing senior executives’ claims that the department could be more efficient or have their duties handled by outside consultants. 

This announcement comes on the heels of last September's revelation that Walmart would cut around 7,000 office jobs in areas including accounting and invoicing in its U.S. stores. As we’ve previously reported, the job cuts followed the company's plans to invest in a $2.7 billion incentive plan to increase productivity and customer satisfaction, having awarded about $200 million in second-quarter bonuses to 932,000 hourly store employees. 

Are these cuts signaling a greater change in the retail giant’s overall plans for 2017? Time will tell, and with it, so will AndNowUKnow.

Walmart