Home Depot lays off 800 workers, announces 5 day return to office

In a message to employees, CEO Ted Decker said the changes are intended to increase the company’s “speed and agility.”

“To extend our industry-leading position, we must position the company to move faster and stay even more closely connected to our customers and frontline associates,” he wrote in the memo.

A corporate spokesperson confirmed that the company is cutting 800 roles. About 150 of the employees were based at Home Depot’s headquarters in Atlanta and the rest were in remote jobs, with most in the technology organization of the company and some on other corporate teams, she said.

In the employee memo, Decker said the five-day in-office policy will begin the week of April 6. He said the changes are “essential to simplify our business and focus our energy on the priorities ahead.”

“In-person engagement enables more meaningful support for store and field associates, drives results and reinforces our people-centric culture and inverted pyramid,” he said.

Home Depot’s sales have been weaker than expected, as the retail giant waits for housing turnover and significant home improvement spending to pick up again after a boom in demand during the Covid pandemic. Company leaders have attributed slower demand to higher mortgage rates, economic uncertainty and consumers’ hesitance to spring for pricier projects.

The retailer missed Wall Street’s earnings expectations for the third straight quarter when it posted results in November. It said that it expects full-year fiscal 2025 sales to rise about 3% and comparable sales, which take out the impact of one-time factors like store openings and calendar differences, to be slightly positive.

Shares of Home Depot have fallen about 10% over the past year, trailing the S&P 500’s 15% gains over the same period. So far this year, Home Depot’s stock is up about 9%, however, ahead of the S&P 500’s nearly 2% gains.

Home Depot will report its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 24.