Trendspotting: Is Walmart cutting/relocating jobs a portent of things to come?

The allure of working from home seems to be wearing off for some employers, and specifically for the biggest.

According to several media outlets, retail giant Walmart, the country’s largest employer, with about 1.6 million U.S. workers, will be eliminating hundreds of corporate jobs throughout country while relocating most of the remaining remote office staff to its Bentonville, AR, headquarters, where a 350-acre campus is being designed to accommodate over 15,000 employees across 12 buildings. The news was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

CNN reported a memo sent by Walmart Chief People Officer Donna Morris saying the decision to relocate employees and ask other remote staff to come back into the office was made to facilitate better collaboration, innovation and to “move even faster. We also believe it helps strengthen our culture as well as grow and develop our associates.”

The memo also said, "We are asking the majority of associates working remotely, and the majority of associates within our offices in Dallas, Atlanta and our Toronto Global Tech office, to relocate. In addition, some parts of our business have made changes that will result in a reduction of several hundred campus roles. While the overall numbers are small in percentage, we are focused on supporting each of our associates affected by these changes.”

As the country’s largest employer, Walmart is often a trendsetter on how business is done, so this latest move will surely be viewed with raised eyebrows for employees and employers alike.