Walmart Tightens Its IT Department Reins and Wants In-Office Presence

Although it depends on large amounts of technology, you might not think of Walmart setting the pace for big technology companies. And yet, it has in a way that might affect how executives at the Virtual Powers That Be make decisions.

Even as the tech industry has been laying off a collective hundreds of thousands and trying to establish an expectation of regular appearance in the office, Walmart has tightened the reins on IT personnel, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

According to a memo the Journal reviewed, Walmart will close three of its US technology sites — in Austin, Texas; Carlsbad, California; and Portland, Oregon. Workers at them will have to choose to move to another Walmart main office, with expenses paid, or leave with severance. Some workers will be allowed to work remotely full-time. The others will have to come into the office at least two days a week.

“The shift is a sign that even for technology companies that earlier in the pandemic embraced remote work, in-person work and central offices will play a role going forward,” the Journal suggested.

The move also suggests two other things. One is that expectations of remote work being a viable path forward were perhaps too optimistic.

In May 2020, Suresh Kumar, Walmart’s global chief technology officer, posted on LinkedIn, saying in part, “We believe the way of working in the future, particularly in tech, will be fundamentally different than it was before. We believe it will be one in which working virtually will be the new normal, at least for most of the work we lead.”

He further wrote: “We believe the way of working in the future, particularly in tech, will be fundamentally different than it was before. We believe it will be one in which working virtually will be the new normal, at least for most of the work we lead.”

Or perhaps his views, and that of the company, changed over time.

The other suggestion is that the need to support many potential work hubs isn’t necessary and that technology employees can be told to comply with the types of restrictions other employees face, like having a limited choice on office space. That begins to undermine the fuller concept of hybrid work, where some would be home, some in a main office, and some in hubs or additional facilities, like in flex work spaces.

There are implications for CRE and the office market. One is further support that companies may have to keep the extent of space they have, as the common office working days seem to be Tuesday through Thursday. If everyone must appear, accounting for vacations, sickness, and business travel, then companies must keep up office space volume for these regular surges in use.

Another is the assumption that specific metro areas, especially if newly associated with a type of work or skill, might find that major employers might decide to move people to other cities.

One more is that the assumed upcoming prominence of flex workspace may not be as assured or significant as many have assumed. If people will be in the office anyway, and space maintained, there may be less demand for small temporary satellite locations on an ongoing basis.