Walmart headquarters workers are headed back to the office as the company balances innovation and culture.
After time working at home, which began as accommodate to COVID-19 pandemic risks and not long after the retailer opened a newly configured headquarters campus, Walmart has circulated a memo from Donna Morris, the company’s chief people officer, stating that offices will reopen, although it was vague on just how much time employees would spend in the formal workplace and how much time they might still work from home.
The memo suggested that headquarters workers would spend substantial time in the office environment. However, it also suggested that Walmart has been in a process of determining just how it will reopen the corporate offices.
The memo read, in part:
We had a way of working before the pandemic, and we developed an effective way of working during the pandemic. Now, I’m excited about our new, more flexible way of working. We are a company whose success is attributed to our people. While technology has enabled us to succeed while working virtually throughout the pandemic, there is no substitution for being in the offices together — it helps shape our culture, collaborate, innovate, build relationships and move faster.
Given all campus associates will be fully vaccinated or have an approved accommodation in November, we will transition to working together in our campus offices on a more regular basis starting the week of November 8. Our Global Tech team will continue their primarily virtual way of working. You’ll hear more from your leaders in the near term with expectations for your area of the business.
The next few months will be an adjustment for all of us as we create our new ways of working together, decreasing our time in virtual meetings and increasing the time spent in person. I look forward to the halls and conference rooms buzzing with energy. It will be exciting to officially welcome new associates hired during the pandemic and congratulate associates in person who have been promoted to new roles or transitioned to new teams. It will be important we don’t lose some of what we gained the last several months – a focus on active communication, transparency and feedback – and adding remote connection options for meetings to ensure everyone feels included no matter the location.
Bottom line: We will focus our energy on serving our customers and members, and supporting our associates – not on where the work is getting done.
