WMT Stock Up 1% as Walmart Announces Prolonging of Remote Work

UTC by Godfrey Benjamin · 3 min read
WMT Stock Up 1% as Walmart Announces Prolonging of Remote Work
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Walmart Inc announced through its global chief technological officer, Suresh Kumar that thousands of its employees will continue remote work as a post COVID-19 reality.

Much is yet to be seen as companies all over the world prepare their organization and staff for new post-COVID-19 realities. Most startups and multinationals were forced to implement a work from home directive as enacted by world governments in a proactive bid to slow down and ultimately stop the spread of the novel coronavirus disease that plunged the world into economic chaos since December 2019. Days ago, Google LLC (NASDAQ: GOOG) (NASDAQ: GOOGL) highlighted strategy for the gradual opening of offices and Walmart Inc (NYSE: WMT) has announced that thousands of its employees will continue remote work, a move that has stirred a slight gain in the company’s stock price.

Yesterday WMT stock gained 0.99% to hit $123.69. However, today in the pre-market, the stock is slightly down, at $123.15 (-0.44%).

Walmart Remote Work amid COVID-19 Lockdown

Walmart is arguably one of the world’s largest retail corporations running a chain of hypermarkets, discount department stores, and grocery stores. The company is headquartered in Bentonville Arkansas but has an extensive presence all over the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Mexico to mention a few. As an entity, the company is one of the largest employers of labor in the United States and its outlet provides essential groceries needed for sustenance during the COVID-19 induced lockdown. It was reported that Walmart experienced a 74% increase in online sales during the lockdown, and it shortened the length of its hiring process in order to recruit over 150,000 additional staff. The company played a pivotal role in the lives of millions of people in areas of its operation.

Permanent Work from Home

While it may be crucial to continuously analyze the economic damages brought about by COVID-19, it is important to point out that the outbreak has caused organizations to see how economical it is to have their workers operate in remote mode. This is particularly achievable owing to the digitization of businesses which makes operations more flexible. The push for permanent work from home by Walmart came from an internal memo by its Global Chief Technology Officer, Suresh Kumar who stated:

“We believe the way of working in the future, particularly in tech, will be fundamentally different than it was before. We believe it will be one in which working virtually will be the new normal, at least for most of the work we lead.”

As Walmart has announced, there may be a huge wave of other companies coming to declare similar or modified strategies in their work environments moving forward. The beauty of this is that we humans always find a way to adapt and bring the best out of our situations. This is a win for us all as we continue to ease the historic lockdown.

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