[HN Gopher] Sam's Club CTO to Exit Due to Walmart Relocation Policy
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Sam's Club CTO to Exit Due to Walmart Relocation Policy
Author : jihadjihad
Score : 88 points
Date : 2024-10-21 20:50 UTC (2 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.bloomberg.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.bloomberg.com)
| dduugg wrote:
| https://archive.is/fY0jZ
| yunohn wrote:
| I mean, being forced to move is bad enough, but Arkansas? That's
| a tough one for someone in tech I feel.
| detourdog wrote:
| Bentonville is being gentrified by the Walton Family
| philanthropy. I hear young people talking about how great
| Bentonville is.
| vineyardlabs wrote:
| Going 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 wrote:
| It's great until you find yourself looking for another tech
| job, particularly with another RTO company.
| chrisco255 wrote:
| Yeah 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 wrote:
| I 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.
| tshaddox wrote:
| She 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| That'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 wrote:
| As 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 wrote:
| Yeah especially because it's a "company town" feels like
| putting literally all your eggs in the Walmart basket.
| msisk6 wrote:
| Both 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.
| weezin wrote:
| Depends 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 wrote:
| You'd live like a king on $14.5 million/year, regardless of
| where you lived.
|
| https://www1.salary.com/Suresh-Kumar-Salary-Bonus-Stock-
| Opti...
| mkipper wrote:
| That 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 wrote:
| Having 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 wrote:
| AK is Alaska. Arkansas is AR.
| jraines wrote:
| Good 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.
| Tostino wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| they 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 wrote:
| It 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 wrote:
| They are promoting from within, presumably someone who is
| already going to be in Bentonville.
| tshaddox wrote:
| I wonder who the highest-ranking employee will be who actually
| _does_ move to Bentonville, Arkansas.
| baoha wrote:
| Nice, meanwhile the bigger CTO (Suresh Kumar) can stay in
| Sunnyvale
| wrs wrote:
| [delayed]
| midnitewarrior wrote:
| "There's not enough money to get me to move my life to Arkansas."
| passwordoops wrote:
| Can't speak for Bentonville, but Little Rock is awesome!
| Asparagirl wrote:
| Arkansas 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.
| roughly wrote:
| To 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 wrote:
| The 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 wrote:
| And 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.
| delichon wrote:
| Here's the first sentence of the law: (a)
| A person shall not purposely perform or attempt to
| perform an abortion except to save the life of a pregnant
| woman in a medical emergency.
|
| https://law.justia.com/codes/arkansas/title-5/subtitle-6/
| cha...
| sys_64738 wrote:
| No medical provider in one of these garbage states will
| offer any type of procedure for fear of being sued to
| oblivion. These states banning this are filled with
| garbage people.
| roarkeful wrote:
| Thanks, appreciate being called a garbage person. Have
| you considered having empathy for people with different
| views than you?
| roughly wrote:
| > Have you considered having empathy for people with
| different views than you?
|
| This is an interesting response in a thread defending an
| abortion ban.
| almostgotcaught wrote:
| > The longest drive from within Arkansas to an out of
| state abortion clinic is about five hours.
|
| Arkansas isn't so bad because I can drive 300 miles to a
| different state if I need medical care. Ok.
|
| > There is no place to live without compromises.
|
| Sure but calling an abortion ban a compromise is like
| calling a nuclear warhead a nonlethal weapon.
| protonbob wrote:
| Do you fail to see the irony in comparing abortion to a
| weapon and not meaning the actual killing of the fetus?
| (Abortions to save the life of the mother are a very
| small percentage of abortions)
| marcuskane2 wrote:
| You can get medical care there. You just can't end the
| life of a baby, unless the mother's life is in danger.
| Asparagirl wrote:
| Words mean things, and the four-week fetus of a raped
| eleven-year-old is not a "baby". Medical care to
| terminate that pregnancy and that fetus is literally
| medical care -- and is illegal in Arkansas.
| delichon wrote:
| I am much more pro choice than you are if you are
| anywhere near the Overton Window. Every single state has
| laws that shock my conscience as much as the Arkansas
| abortion ban shocks yours. If you don't have to make such
| compromises I envy you.
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| What a ridiculous take. 50+% of women in Alabama think
| abortion should be illegal in most cases. And Alabama was
| in the top 10 for percent inbound migration last year,
| meaning there are tens of thousands of women who made the
| choice to move to Alabama.
|
| And you're saying all of them must be "not in their right
| mind".
| themadturk wrote:
| How many are moving there because their husbands are
| moving there and don't want divorces?
|
| 50%+ of them being in favor of restricting abortion means
| the rest don't like restricting abortion, but may not
| have the means to leave.
| IncreasePosts wrote:
| Probably some, but no where near all.
|
| Maybe - instead of saying that a state of millions of
| people is filled with only helpless or mentally unwell
| women - maybe we can just say that different people can
| have different viewpoints on abortion while still being
| mentally normal.
| blackhawkC17 wrote:
| Some people are so stuck in their bubbles that they can't
| imagine anything else.
| shrubble wrote:
| CTO in the article appears to be beyond the age at which
| pregnancy is possible?
| lambdasquirrel wrote:
| I did not get that impression from seeing a recent
| photograph from her, and this might be missing the point.
| Imagine that the law on the matter would be hostile
| towards a younger aspiring-professional image of her. Is
| Bentonville only going to be okay for women who've "made
| it" and lived past their child-bearing years?
| kjs3 wrote:
| This will probably be a huge surprise for you, but some
| people care about other people.
| tssva wrote:
| Can't speak for Bentonville, but Little Rock is awful.
| maxerickson wrote:
| That isn't really an answer to the statement about moving
| their life.
|
| If they have been well compensated, they likely have other
| prospects and don't really care about money, so their friends
| and other relationships could be a priority.
| babyent wrote:
| I live in SF. I actually thought about moving out for a little
| bit and realized California has some of the best protections
| and social safety net for entrepreneurs compared to other
| states.
|
| I will never leave California.
|
| It's the best place for forward thinking individuals and the
| politics are what I imagine will lead to Star Trek and not a
| dystopian nightmare where we live under capital allocator
| warlords.
| ethanwillis wrote:
| I just have to say that from my perspective it's the Bay Area
| politics that has produced the capital allocator warlords.
|
| Gig work did not sprout from places like Arkansas.
| almost_usual wrote:
| According to LinkedIn they live in San Jose.
| jorts wrote:
| Wonder why they wouldn't work out of the Sunnyvale office then?
| ian-g wrote:
| Good. If you're going to require RTO, don't exempt higher ups
| from it. Looking at you, Starbucks
| fragmede wrote:
| Starbucks' CEO famously commutes to Seattle from Newport Beach
| in California, which is like a thousand miles.
| sksxihve wrote:
| Weekly 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.
| archeantus wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I 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 wrote:
| I 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 the most of the other
| offices and stopped WFH.
| Aurornis wrote:
| This comment is interesting to me because I know a lot of
| people who went to Walmart Labs with similar stories: Amazing
| at first, then sudden drop in compensation when they didn't
| refresh RSUs, then slow slide into being pushed out.
|
| The strange part is that all of the stories I've heard covered
| different time periods, often not overlapping. Off the top of
| my head I can think of 4 people I've run into at local meetups
| who went from thinking Walmart Labs was a great place to work,
| to having nothing good to say about the place at all.
|
| It's natural for new jobs to have a honeymoon period that wears
| off over time, but I've heard this same story arc so many times
| that, as an outsider, it feels like something must be wrong
| with how they approach long-term employees. Obviously the RTO
| mandate is a huge blow to one of their original selling points,
| too.
| awill wrote:
| I think it's straight forward. They made a decision to pay
| top dollar because they had ambitious plans, and wanted the
| silicon valley types. All went well.
|
| Then, as this part of the company grew, some bean counter
| decided it was a huge expense, and something had to be done.
|
| I suspect these walmart labs people were costing triple the
| standard walmart webdev, and so to the bean counters, the
| path forward was obvious.
|
| It's really unfortunate when non tech people make decisions
| like this. I've worked at a FAANG for 10 years, and before
| that was at HP and other mid-sized companies. HP's average
| principal engineer would be outperformed by our interns.
| whalesalad wrote:
| Were you writing Clojure there?
| game_the0ry wrote:
| > ...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 wrote:
| When 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 wrote:
| > 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-
| larges...
| mikeortman wrote:
| Artificially 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 wrote:
| Or at least recognized as constructive dismissal.
| yieldcrv wrote:
| Who 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 wrote:
| But on the salary they are willing to pay you can have like
| five bass boats.
| ErikAugust wrote:
| Aren't the people who make the bulk of what Walmart sells remote
| workers? It's not like they go into the office...
| Centigonal wrote:
| This 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.
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