Walmart’s RTO mandate backfires as Sam’s Club CTO leavs

Cheryl Ainoa, a senior executive who has worked at the company for five years now, is resigning after declining to move to Bentonville, Arkansas, sources tell Bloomberg. She cited “personal reasons” for her desire to not relocate.

This past spring, parent company Walmart laid down the law under no uncertain terms. Many employees (specifically remote workers and staff in smaller branches) were told they’d be required to relocate, most of which being ushered to the main branch in Arkansas, though a smaller group was setting towards New Jersey and California’s Bay area. Walmart declined Fortune‘s request for comment.

Staff were told they had until July 1st to tell the company if they’d leave and until October 31st to move, sources told Bloomberg. Perhaps that’s why we’re hearing of Ainoa leaving only now, as the countdown to move to Arkansas approaches.

The move was deemed “a bunch of bullsh-t” by a participant on the Zoom call where hundreds of employees received the news—reported Bloomberg. Some seemingly also dissatisfied, stewed longer. 

Ainoa is set to stay on until early February when she’ll be replaced by Sanjay Radhakrishnan, senior vice president of global technology at Walmart. 

The C-suite often makes its own rules

Return-to-office policies backfiring is not a new story. Most recently, Amazon’s latest policy stoked ire in many employees, as 73% said they would look for a new job due to the mandate, according to a survey from Blind. Amazon’s response was to tell unhappy people to just quit.

Even so, C-suite executives seem to play a different game. For instance, while Starbucks encourages in-person work without instituting a mandate, it has outlined remote work as an option for new CEO Brian Niccol. Sears CEO Eddie Lampert, who is based in Florida, usually works remotely and reportedly does not often visit the company headquarters in Illinois.

Privy to greater discussions about the future of the company and often carrying more power, these executives can stay away from the RTO mandates they edict. At times, executives will simply turn a blind eye to the policies they don’t accord with. 

Only 7% of CEOs go into the office five days a week, according to International Workplace Group’s survey of more than 500 U.K. chief executives. And 93% report they’ve adopted flexible work into their personal schedule.

So, a CTO leaving is a slightly rare story considering the leverage they tend to have. But it might be an increasingly common one.

Mandates scare away top talent, especially in tech

Many have taken to the newfound flexibility during the early pandemic, and aren’t necessarily looking to let go of it. When employees at the top are faced with an unyielding mandate, they’re able to act on their discontent. Women especially, who often carry the brunt of childcare responsibilities, are disproportionately pushed out by a strict policy. 

That’s all to say a C-suite exec might be able to weigh in on a mandate or even ignore it more than the regular employee. But if and when a company tries to strong-arm them, they’ll just as likely to walk out the door. In other words, don’t threaten Arkansas and expect little resistance.

Senior employees in tech seem to be especially willing to call it quits when a strict policy comes into town. After Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX set up mandates early on, departures by senior workers ensued, according to a case study from researchers at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan. They’re often likely to go to their direct competitors, too. Ainoa, a top employee operating within a tech role at Sam’s Club, might be part of this wave of top-tech talent that takes itself elsewhere when pigeonholed.

But maybe instead of backfiring, this is what tech wants. Meta’s so-called “year of efficiency” has stuck around, demonstrating a colder form of leadership that encourages productivity and lean management. Companies, generally, likely know that their policies might lead to quitting. In fact, some welcome it.  

More than a third (37%) of managers, directors, and executives reportedly believe their company issued layoffs in the past year because fewer employees quit from the RTO mandate than expected, according to a survey from BambooHR. A fourth of them admitted that they were searching for voluntary turnover when the RTO mandates were announced.

Walmart isn’t shaping up to be the only exception. Alongside announcing its relocation mandate, the company said layoffs would hit August 9th, mostly impacting those within corporate e-commerce. In other words, Walmart might have finally got what it was asking for.