BENTONVILLE, Ark., Jan. 25 (UPI) -- U.S. retail giant Walmart said it would lay off about 2,300 employees in an effort to streamline management at its Sam's Club warehouse division.
The Wall Street Journal Saturday said half the positions that are ending would be salaried assistant managers. The remainder of the cuts would be hourly employees at stores that are under performing.
"Over the years, we've migrated to a top-heavy structure in our management. What this does is align the number of assistant managers to the sales of the club and to where our growth areas are," said Sam's Club Chief Executive Rosalind Brewer.
The current personnel structure, the Journal reported, means that Sam's Club stores have the same number of managers, regardless of how much revenue the store generates.
Under the set up, a Sam's Club outlet with revenue of $50 million per year has the same number of managers as a store with $100 million in revenue, the Journal reported.
Sam's Club currently has 116,000 employees. The cuts amount to about 2 percent of the company's payroll, a spokesman said.
The company said laid off workers will draw salary for two months while they apply for other positions at Sam's Club. For those who have not landed an alternate job by March the company plans on offering a severance package, the Journal said.
