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Sam's Club CTO to Exit Due to Walmart Relocation Policy
- dduugg 2y agohttps://archive.is/fY0jZ https://archive.is/fY0jZ
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- yunohn 2y agoI mean, being forced to move is bad enough, but Arkansas? That’s a tough one for someone in tech I feel.
- detourdog 2y agoBentonville is being gentrified by the Walton Family philanthropy. I hear young people talking about how great Bentonville is.
- vineyardlabs 2y agoGoing to chime in. Young(ish) person in tech. Have heard nothing but great things about Bentonville. I'm into mountain biking and the city is like a spiderweb of awesome looking biking/walking trails built by the Waltons.
- korkybuchek 2y agoIt's great until you find yourself looking for another tech job, particularly with another RTO company.
- chrisco255 2y agoYeah but I imagine CTOs of fortune 50 companies are paid more than enough to relocate and probably have a golden parachute package that more than compensates for any relo costs and job search time.
- bradly 2y agoI haven't work with Cheryl for probably 15 years now, but at the time her family was very important to her and I don't imagine that has changed. There are more than just monetary costs for relocating.
- chrisco255 2y agoOk, I'm speaking to the parent comment about looking for another job. Of course there are always reasons not to move somewhere specifically, but the vast majority of executives in the world are required to work at their companies headquarters, wherever that may be. And all of the largest companies pay executives handsomely. More than enough to make up for cost of relocation or time lost to job searching.
- korkybuchek 2y agoRelocating isn't just about cost. There's schools, friends, other support systems, general familiarity with the area. It's not easy to just pick up an relocate, and not from a financial point of view.
- ouddv 2y ago[dead]
- tshaddox 2y agoShe has probably gotten accustomed to living somewhere where you can comfortably be outside more than 4 months out of the year. Or, you know, maybe she doesn't want to move her family across the country.
- add-sub-mul-div 2y agoI think the implication was that the majority of the demographic will find a deep red state governor a non-starter. Perks of a given city aside, for decades their tax dollars will get thrown away fighting causes like trans rights, same as with all the losing battles against civil rights, interracial marriage, gay marriage, heavy metal, video games, etc.
- pnw 2y agoThat's an interesting objection so I asked ChatGPT to clarify: California Attorney General's Office (2024-25 Budget): $1.28 billion total California per capita spending: Approximately $32.92 per person, based on a population of 39 million. Arkansas Attorney General's Office (2024 Budget): $36 million total. Arkansas per capita spending: Approximately $12 per person, based on a population of 3 million.
- reportingsjr 2y agoAs an avid mountain biker and having been to bentonville twice, the trails are just ok. Immaculately maintained and there are some neat features, but the hills there are seriously lacking elevation. The small downtown area of bentonville is neat, but the greater area is… meh.
- pram 2y agoYeah especially because it’s a “company town” feels like putting literally all your eggs in the Walmart basket.
- msisk6 2y agoBoth JB Hunt and Tyson Foods are nearby. Both very large Fortune 500 companies. Lots of smaller companies that work with Walmart have offices there, too. And as others have said, it's mountain bike heaven. Super low cost of living, too. Not my thing and I wouldn't move there, but for some folks it's very attractive.
- ozaark 2y agoThis still sounds like a "Walmart" company town
- red-iron-pine 2y agoTwo companies does not a lot of options make. If they're not looking for tech that week then you're out of luck. Plus neither has much of a reputation for running 'labs'. Smaller companies affiliated w/ WM may not have much to offer, esp. if you want to get away from that world or do something different.
- weezin 2y agoDepends on the person. Northwest arkansas is a beautiful place with tons of outdoor activities and the ability to live like a king on a major company CTO salary. I'd rather live there than Seattle or San Francisco.
- fragmede 2y agoYou'd live like a king on $14.5 million/year, regardless of where you lived. https://www1.salary.com/Suresh-Kumar-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Options-for-Walmart-Inc.html https://www1.salary.com/Suresh-Kumar-Salary-Bonus-Stock-Opti...
- mkipper 2y agoThat link is for the CTO of Walmart, but TFA is about the CTO of Sam's Club. It looks like they're one rung down the ladder so I'm sure they're doing just fine even in California, but they're probably making quite a bit less than $15M/year.
- sys_64738 2y agoHaving been to AK, all I can say is it's a toilet. I wouldn't ever want to suffer living there. Only MS is worse in my estimation.
- marcus0x62 2y agoAK is Alaska. Arkansas is AR.
- sys_64738 2y agoApologies to all Alaskans (expect Palin).
- 1986 2y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_God_for_Mississippi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thank_God_for_Mississippi
- shiroiushi 2y agoAt least Mississippi has some coastline. Also, it's close to some interesting places: the northern part of MS is close to Memphis, and (even better) the southern part of MS is close to New Orleans.
- latentcall 2y agoI’m in tech and have a daughter and the states policies when it comes to women’s healthcare would be a turn off. I’m not sure there is an amount of money one could pay me to live in Arkansas of all places. Especially if moving from California. California has its share of problems but those complaining may not realize how good they have it until they try living somewhere else with totally different values.
- Tostino 2y agoI hope they have to offer some significant compensation to find a competent replacement willing to move to Arkansas. Companies need to be humbled a little with these policies they want to force.
- awill 2y agothey don't care. It's not like the person making this decision will then be held accountable for having the pay a replacement more.
- hparadiz 2y agoIt goes both ways. The comps being paid in the tech industry right now would pay off an average single family home in California in under 5 years. At this point these people are driving around in Porsches with second homes choosing to retire at 45.
- midnitewarrior 2y agoThey are promoting from within, presumably someone who is already going to be in Bentonville.
- jraines 2y agoGood for her. The exit tech alone should be proof enough that you don’t have to be physically close to tHe bUsINeSs to bring value to millions of customers.
- tshaddox 2y agoI wonder who the highest-ranking employee will be who actually does move to Bentonville, Arkansas.
- baoha 2y agoNice, meanwhile the bigger CTO (Suresh Kumar) can stay in Sunnyvale
- wrs 2y agoUnless he’s recently relocated, Suresh lives in the Seattle area. Also, bear in mind he’s an EVP so he gets to use the corporate jet.
- midnitewarrior 2y ago"There's not enough money to get me to move my life to Arkansas."
- passwordoops 2y agoCan't speak for Bentonville, but Little Rock is awesome!
- Asparagirl 2y agoArkansas currently has a 100% total abortion ban. They do not even allow abortion at any week if you’re raped, if you’re a child who has been raped, or if you’re a victim of incest. No woman in her right mind would ever move there, and this CTO is female.
- decremental 2y ago[dead]
- roughly 2y agoTo expand on this, just to push off the inevitable: it’s not just about abortions, it’s about women’s healthcare overall. It turns out there’s a whole shitload of grey areas, doctors aren’t willing to go to jail, and it puts women’s lives in danger to have this theocratic bullshit in place.
- delichon 2y agoThe longest drive from within Arkansas to an out of state abortion clinic is about five hours. There is no place to live without compromises. I'm in a state with free choice and the nearest to me is a three hour drive. My distance to access is greater than 90% of the population of Arkansas. I can understand not wanting to live there due to that policy on principle but not on practicality.
- zippothrowaway 2y agoAnd what if it's an emergency? Some compromises are not worth making when it could kill you. Note this law is actually working as designed - they want pro-choice people to leave their state so they can entrench their power there.
- almost_usual 2y agoAccording to LinkedIn they live in San Jose.
- jorts 2y agoWonder why they wouldn’t work out of the Sunnyvale office then?
- ian-g 2y agoGood. If you're going to require RTO, don't exempt higher ups from it. Looking at you, Starbucks
- fragmede 2y agoStarbucks' CEO famously commutes to Seattle from Newport Beach in California, which is like a thousand miles.
- sksxihve 2y agoWeekly in a private jet, while still having an at-home office for days he isn't in Seattle. All because he didn't want to relocate.
- olliej 2y agoAnd commuting in a private jet is either expensible or tax deductible, neither of which apply to actual commuters.
- sksxihve 2y agoIt's a corporate jet from Starbucks, he pays nothing for it, and actual can use it for personal travel up to $250,000 per year. > You will be eligible to use the Company aircraft for (i) business-related travel in accordance with the Company’s travel policy, (ii) travel between your city of residence and the Company’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington and (iii) your personal travel in accordance with the Company’s policies, up to a maximum amount of $250,000 per year, which amount will be based on the aggregate incremental cost to the Company. His offer letter [1] is available on edgar [1] https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/829224/000119312524200724/d848513dex101.htm https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/829224/0001193125242...
- datavirtue 2y agoI'm watching Starbucks, like a hawk. I find this episode of their history rather interesting and I don't have warm fuzzies about this new CEO, yet. All these Chipotle people are showing up now. I hope they can innovate and iterate quickly. I remember the 1990s when it was common to see the same baristas day after day for years. Everyone seemed to enjoy working there. It's a bleak, dystopian contrast as of late.
- archeantus 2y agoI spent 7 amazing years working for Walmart Labs (what they called it at the time) and it was a great place to work. I was being paid like I lived in the Bay Area, but I lived in a much lower cost of living area. I worked my tail off for them and got two promotions. On the second one they declined to increase my annual RSU target because I was making too much for my geo. I saw the writing on the wall regarding their plans for remote workers and left to a competitor that has been much more remote friendly. I know so many amazing people that were doing the work of their lives that quit or were laid off because of the RTO mandate. I can’t believe that they are doubling down on this, despite the human and financial costs associated with it. Ultimately it highlights an important fact about working at WM (and lots of other companies, I am sure): you aren’t as special or irreplaceable as you think you are. Look out for yourselves and do what makes sense for you, always!
- delichon 2y agoI picked an outfit where the CEO, CTO and everyone else is remote. There is no office to return to. I'm not a second class citizen as remote staff. Recommended.
- slyall 2y agoI worked at a company like that. This was 10 years ago when remote was less common but the company was in the work-from-home space so it was sort of in line with the product. We got a new CEO from Austin. They opened a new office there. Over the next few years they closed most of the other offices and stopped WFH.
- neduma 2y agoNice or Start you own.
- red-iron-pine 2y agoeasier said than done mon ami
- datavirtue 2y ago
- game_the0ry 2y ago> ...is leaving the company due to a policy requiring thousands of corporate employees to relocate to headquarters in Arkansas... > Walmart has asked many of its employees from smaller offices, as well as remote workers around the US, to move to the company’s larger corporate offices. Most employees are going to Arkansas. Wow. Just wow. Let me get this straight -- Walmart management actually wants people to up-root their lives, take their kids out of school, re-arrange their routines with childcare, move away from family that may be nearby...I could go on and on...and move to Arkansas? "Move or go fuck yourself." Clearly, Walmart management does not care about their employees. As a side note, while I acknowledge the benefits of RTTO, working remote is something that increased the quality of my life tremendously. But management-types just can't help make their employees miserable -- pathological.
- lenerdenator 2y agoWhen you examine most of the Walton family's shenanigans, it becomes fairly apparent that they're on the narcissistic people-user side of things. This isn't surprising.
- mschuster91 2y ago> Clearly, Walmart management does not care about their employees. Well duh. They've been on the top 5 companies with employees on food stamps for years [1] and, like Amazon, just love to set up shop in areas with lots of unemployment to have a captive audience of employees who can't afford to escape. [1] https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/walmart-mcdonalds-largest-employers-snap-medicaid-recipients https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/walmart-mcdonalds-larges...
- dialup_sounds 2y ago> employing an estimated 14,500 workers who received food stamps, according to the GAO report’s findings. 14,500 out of 1.6 million US employees (i.e. less than 1%). For comparison there are over 40 million people getting SNAP.
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- mikeortman 2y agoArtificially aiming to increase natural attrition through requiring employees to make like-altering decisions (or else) is evil. At the bare minimum, it should be seen as a layoff.
- throwaway48476 2y agoOr at least recognized as constructive dismissal.
- OkayPhysicist 2y agoIt probably already is constructive dismissal. But we could do better. Ballot measures here in CA only need 200,000 signatures.
- yieldcrv 2y agoWho can you get to move from California to Arkansas especially if they can already afford to live in California even the few wage workers subject to California’s taxes at higher brackets can become aware of all the other places with lower taxes
- jeffbee 2y agoBut on the salary they are willing to pay you can have like five bass boats.
- throwup238 2y agoAnd in Arkansas there’s no salt water, so upkeep on the boats will be a lot cheaper! That totally makes up for moving to Arkansas.
- jeffbee 2y agoArkansas is a beautiful state with several reasonable people living there, and you can visit important historical sites like the place where an armed Titan missile exploded.
- ErikAugust 2y agoAren’t the people who make the bulk of what Walmart sells remote workers? It’s not like they go into the office…
- Centigonal 2y agoThis isn't your typical RTO story. Walmart is asking their staff to move across the country to the home office in Bentonville, AR. Bentonville is a company town with not too much nearby. It's a nice enough place, with good schools, a few surrounding towns, and a fantastic art museum, but above all it's Walmart town. If you move there from another state and ever decide to work somewhere else, you're probably going to want to uproot your life again and move your family across the country. It's a great retention strategy for Walmart, and the lower CoL doesn't hurt either. If you prefer a more cosmopolitan lifestyle and the option to work elsewhere without moving, the Bentonville deal is a pretty unattractive one. At least they've put windows in some of the office buildings now, that's a plus.
- from-nibly 2y agoI thought that's what is making this typical. It's a layoff in disguise like most of the other RTOs we've been seeing.
- Centigonal 2y agoI think the "layoff in disguise" aspect is true for sure. I'm saying there's a big difference between Amazon asking people who WFH to hoof it 10-40 minutes each way to their nearest office, versus Walmart asking people who might already commute to a Walmart office to move to Bentonville.
- ahi 2y agoSome 20 years ago I was doing competitive intelligence on them. After finding the third or fourth affair/divorce/chicanery among executives in a week of digging I asked my veteran boss, like, wtf, why is this company so gross? "It's Bentonville. They recruit cosmopolitan MBAs and the only thing to do is each other."
- androiddrew 2y agoI am surprised this hasn’t gotten any comments. This sounds like some corporate espionage by a different name. How do I get in on this?
- 23B1 2y agoIts just RIFs camouflaged as RTO mandates. Management loves this sort of thing, a karmic freebie. Corpos don't want you to 'put down roots' unless they can keep you from leaving, gives them more leverage over you. Knock-on effect is atomized communities, made worse by internet-atomized culture. It's a version of providing meals/gyms/amenities: check out any time you want, never leave. Remote work is so obviously better for society, efficiency, and costs that responsible executives and shareholders should demand it. Talented employees should turn down offers and tell recruiters why: RTO mandates are a sign of weak and even impotent management (you can tell by the hand-wavy B.S. they use to justify it btw).