The Amazonification of Walmart
This is for real, Walmart didn’t just hire a few ex-Amazon folks to bring in new ideas. They’ve basically handed the keys of the tech org to amazon’s second-string playbook writers and are acting like it’s innovation. No, it's not. Overnight we got flooded with vps, svps, and a brand new grp director title no one asked for, positioned (in a weird way) above the senior directors who actually built and ran things, who know things, who are engine behind it.
Nothing is functional. what we did get was more layers, more power-hoarding, more execs who treat walmart like an off-brand aws. all the people brought over from amazon somehow made it through these layoffs untouched. meanwhile, long-tenured folks who kept systems stable for years got dumped like legacy code.
all this f*cking streamlining will make things even slower. decisions now go through more decks, more meetings, more middle layers, and none of them actually know how walmart’s tech stack or culture works. they’re just replicating the amazon model in a company that doesn’t have the same DNA... and it’s burning everyone out.
this aint a transformation. it's a clear and pure hostile takeover wearing a Walmart badge...
On layoffs... if youre looking for clarity or pattern, youre not going to find one. I work in the Home Office, and I still don’t know who’s making the calls - directors got cut while entire teams stayed, and in other cases, directors stayed while the teams they led got wiped out. Whole orgs gutted, some people found out in back-to-back 3-minute Zooms with people they’d never met. There was no transparency, no consistency, and definitely no real communication. Some folks got wiped before they could even finish handing off their projects - accounts locked, laptops wiped, no goodbye, no HR outreach, just radio silence.
what’s worse is that the people who’ve been here the longest - the ones who stuck through the last reorg and the one before that - got hit hardest. A lot of these layoffs were targeted at those who predated the so-called “Amazonification” of Walmart Tech. They brought in new leadership from Amazon, created extra layers like Group Directors (what even is that?), and somehow none of them were touched. But the people who’ve actually been holding systems together for years? Gone.
The severance formula is a complete black box. People are comparing notes and seeing anywhere from 3 to 40 weeks - some got nothing at all. I’ve heard stories of folks who were forced to relocate to NWA to keep their jobs during the last RTO push... just to get cut this week. And if they were still within a certain window, they’re not even eligible for full severance. Meanwhile, the company is already posting jobs for the exact same roles - sometimes even using the same job IDs.
It’s not about performance. It’s not about cost. It’s not even really about strategy. It’s cleanup theater to make stockholders feel warm. And maybe it worked - the share price ticked up slightly after the announcement. But internally, morale is wrecked. You can feel the tension in every hallway, every meeting, every silence on a Zoom call where everyone is wondering who’s next.
If you’re still here, you’re either numb or next. And if you’re not, I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve this. Nobody did. We’ve all been saying it quietly for years - but now I’ll say it loud: this isn’t the company it used to be. NOPE!
I honestly can’t figure out what the pattern was with yesterday’s layoffs. Tenure? Plenty of strong folks with 10+ years were cut.
Remote status? Some key remote people were hit, but not all. Performance? Doesn’t seem to line up either.
Nothing adds up.
just basic Greed is there number one priority.
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Well said! If you respect what is good and right, stop wasting your time on Walmart. It represents greed by a wealthy family and their sycophant supporters and lousy management team.
Right now, but hopefully not for long, their low-life tactics seem to be working for them .