For the past few years, Walmart U.S. has been on a path to transform into an omnichannel organization, change how we work and put the customer at the center of everything we do. Recent months have reinforced the importance of this effort. We’re proud of how our team has quickly adapted to meet the needs of our customers – however they want to shop – and has kept productivity high while working remotely. Across the business, we’ve expedited innovation and moved with speed while focusing on the health and safety of our associates and customers.
We need to keep leaning into these new ways of working. We need to continue on the road of creating one merchandising team that takes a unified view of the customer, to have a product team that can get out ahead of what our customers are looking for and to operate more effectively with better data and technology throughout our organization.
Achieving this will require making choices, and we’re taking some important but difficult steps this week. We are streamlining some roles so we can be more effective and efficient. At the same time, we’re creating new roles, particularly in our supply chain, in our stores and in other facilities, which will open up new opportunities. No one takes decisions like these lightly, and we are committed to supporting our associates throughout this process.
Due to the economic uncertainty from this unprecedented pandemic, we are enhancing the support to affected associates. All those affected will be paid through the end of this fiscal year as they look for new roles, with dedicated support throughout that search process. Those who take new roles at Walmart will receive one year of salary protection and their bonus for this year. In the case of associates who do not assume a new role, they will receive their bonus for this year, transition benefits and severance, as eligible. As part of shifting roles to field operations, we will ensure each affected associate has the opportunity to work with an internal recruiting partner to actively pursue a new position with the company as the first option.
Members of our leadership team are sharing details about the changes in their respective areas. We encourage you to read their notes below for more on how these moves will strengthen our company for the long term.
Thank you for everything you do to serve our customers each day.
• Customer Org – Janey Whiteside, Executive Vice President and Chief Customer Officer – Walmart
• Health & Wellness – Sean Slovenski, Senior Vice President and President, Health & Wellness – Walmart U.S.
• Merchandising – Scott McCall, Executive Vice President and Chief Merchandising Officer – Walmart U.S.
• People – Julie Murphy, Executive Vice President of People – Walmart U.S.
• Realty – Dacona Smith, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer – Walmart U.S.
• Supply Chain – Greg Smith, Executive Vice President – Walmart U.S. Supply Chain