Walmart, the well-known retail giant, loves to announce some positive news: “several hundred” new jobs are being added in the US and India, with laid-off workers invited to apply again.
Walmart Announces Hundreds of New Jobs in US and India
The announcement comes following a recent reorganization that cut about 1,500 jobs from its workforce worldwide, including from the Walmart Global Capability Centers in Chennai and Bengaluru. The company is providing impacted workers a genuine opportunity to come back to work with the reorganization focused on simplicity and creativity.
The intent of shifts at Walmart were made clear in an internal memo to impacted employees: “Shaping our organization to be faster enables [us] to invent as we move, and stay in touch with world around us.”
This positive news supports a larger trend across the industry as many retailers, Walmart included, are considering AI in their business. Roles are changing, not disappearing, even with recent layoffs at leading tech companies, like Google, Amazon and Microsoft (source).
Walmart has welcomed innovation in different ways. Walmart is improving their operations by utilizing AI-powered technologies for supply chain automation, demand forecasting, and their own internal assistant called “Wally.” Smart technologies were proven to be effective when fashion’s “trend-to-product” time was cut down by 18 weeks.
Walmart has maintained continued stability in workers, even when revenue exceeding $150 billion has been made over the past five years by extensive incubating in labor-saving technologies. The company remains optimistic that new tech-based jobs would be beneficial for their current and past workforce.
At its core, Walmart’s solution hits a decent balance between knowing what has happened before and creating new opportunities in a faster, more technological workplace.
While industry trends veer towards automation, the company distinguishes itself by honouring its employees and their futures by allowing those affected by the cuts, a one-time-only opportunity to return.
This is a generous, forward-thinking gesture that combines compassion and innovation, illustrating in one step that new career pathways are not only possible, but welcomed in today’s evolving economy.