More on projected Walmart layoffs

This is our third post discussing Walmart layoffs. We are gratified that our first two posts have proven to be correct and consistent with our Business Intelligence and data gathering processes.

We still think the chances of involuntary separations in the period starting 3/9 through 4/8 is elevated from less than 10% up to 30%. Two factors drive this prediction, but the factor that impacts associates right away is the performance evaluation process. Associates are nervous and they know even if their work has been acceptable, Walmart can and will give out surprise poor performance evaluations as a way to move undesirable associates toward the door. Some will simply quit and that’s a cheap solution for Walmart. Management knows they can use the eval process to move associates out without a WARN notice, so eval time is a good period to start to thin the heard.

After 4/8, all the planning meetings, budget reviews, goals & objectives, reorg and prioritization events will be wrapping up and it will be time to execute on those decisions. Projects to put AI in place to benefit profitability and reduce personnel costs will start and staffing decisions will be firmed up, and unfortunately, started. May has typically been a favorite time for Walmart to do layoff activity and there’s no reason to believe this year will be any different, especially with a new CEO wanting to show a major uptick by the end of Q2.

Regarding the tech mess, Walmart continues to pay the price for bad decisions in the past, such as questionable H1B activity, reliance on contractors, bringing in tech managers and executives who have not delivered, and a host of associate morale and trust issues.

We suggest everyone review Doug’s comments on the future of AI. There’s several nuggets of truth in there and Walmart sees AI as a way to impact operational costs in a positive direction and improve productivity.

We know some form of the following question has been asked to all executives: “How fast can you implement AI solutions and how much headcount will you free up?”

Don’t agree with us? Tell us why.

#AI #InvoluntaryDeparture #Morale

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10 replies (most recent on top)

I like ham and cheese sandwiches.

Walmart does more layoffs from March to August than any other time of the year.

@v0 the hard part is, when do you sell your house not knowing when they'll put the axe down?!

@v0 some pay? Is it not the standard severance?

@vw
Here it is

https://youtu.be/1cp09eLVE20

@OP Alright, good tip. I found a vid of Doug’s interview on AI. I’m suggesting everyone who works at Walmart watch this video and then think hard about how that information impacts what you think your future at Walmart is.

@v0 it's not new, they've been doing this to some degree for over 16 years. The old lifeboat exercise, turned into the 9 box grid excercise to help identify targeted individuals.
The eval curves that should occur naturally in large samples were forced in small samples. This required a level of nitpicking to find the most obscure, miniscule issue to flag on an eval.
Back when evals were "number value" scores, imagine receiving a 2.9 eval when a 3.0 was meets expectations, and the justification for the .1 deficiency was someone said you raised your voice in a meeting. 1 meeting out of 1000+ meetings in a year. Once they achieved that below target, you would be flagged as an undesirable for purging. Did you meet every documented expectation for the position? Yes. Did you get meets or exceed in your mid-year? Yes. Did you receive a coaching that you weren't meeting expectations? No. Had the raised voice issue ever been mentioned before? No.
These performance purges would mix in with annual layoffs, but continued even when there were no large layoffs.

From a position of knowledge, I know this is a fact, Walmart is using the yearly evaluation process to start getting rid of as many undesirables as possible without calling it a layoff. It should come with some separation pay. So anyone involved….. start looking at your resume, put your house up for sale or review your lease/rent agreements, and do anything to start getting out of Bentonville and away from Walmart

@br confirming this very thing has happened to me as well. 17+years here and first opportunity rating. I, for one, cannot wait for the severance discussing. Will never look back... Hope it's this week!

@OP

I can confirm that Walmart is using the dishonorable practice of arbitrarily marking poor performances of associates in order to mask impending layoffs caused by the cost of AI. I am a 14+ associate who has year after year of satisfactory evaluation ratings (Walmart never gives anything higher than that). However, this year - after voicing my criticism of Walmart’s fanatical enthusiasm surrounding AI and confirming from my leadership that layoffs will come because of it - I received my low evaluation rating as well as disciplinary actions based on weak and borderline discriminatory reasons.

Despite what Walmart forces their associates to chant in their demeaning little cheer, the customer does not always come first. Rather, it’s a shareholder and maximizing profits.

I promise you that Global People has a strategy and plan in place. They are just waiting for the order from above.

Or maybe they’ve already begun. Walmart likes to officially term people at the end of their 2-week pay periods, which will technically occur on 3/22. Also, equity vesting and the incentive was paid this past week. So, maybe some of those involved in the process who have more heart than the rest of Walmart leadership delayed the terminations in order to maximize the final income of those to be terminated.

Nonetheless, Arkansas is one of the states that do not share publicly WARN act notifications (surprise, surprise). So, they have no need to be transparent to the public and all of this is reading tea leaves.

Take from that what you will.

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More on projected Walmart layoffs

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