Home Depot makes pressing workforce decision amid struggles

Home Depot, the apical retail concatenation Americans trust connected for location betterment products, has been struggling to flooded a large displacement successful user behaviour implicit the past fewer years, which has had a ripple effect connected its business, prompting the institution to displacement gears.

As the lodging marketplace continues to look uncertainty owed to affordability concerns, galore consumers person been curbing spending connected location betterment projects.

Amid this trend, Home Depot’s U.S. comparable income lone accrued by a insignificant 0.1% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth during the 3rd 4th of 2025, according to the company’s latest net report. Also, information from Placer.ai showed that ft postulation astatine Home Depot’s same-store locations decreased by 0.4% during the 4th compared to the aforesaid clip play successful 2024.

During an net telephone successful November, Home Depot CEO Ted Decker said that the institution continues “to spot softer engagement successful larger discretionary projects wherever customers typically usage financing to money renovation projects.”

“What's impacting america and location betterment is the ongoing unit successful housing, successful incremental user uncertainty,” said Decker. “So instrumentality housing. I mean, lodging has been brushed for immoderate time. We each cognize the higher involvement rates and affordability concerns. But what we're seeing present is adjacent little turnover; the lodging enactment is genuinely astatine 40-year lows arsenic a percent of lodging stock.”

Despite the mean 30-year owe complaint successful the U.S. sitting supra 6%, the lodging marketplace is dilatory recovering arsenic rates continued to alteration successful December, which is simply a glimmer of anticipation for Home Depot and different competitors.

• The mean 30-year fixed-rate mortgage successful December was 6.19%, down from 6.24% successful November.

• The median existing-home income terms reached $405,400, reflecting a 0.4% year-over-year increase.

• Existing-home sales roseate by 5.1% month implicit month, but are only up 1.4% year implicit year.

• Month-over-month U.S. location income spiked successful each regions; however, year-over-year income increased successful the South, remained flat successful the Midwest and West, and decreased successful the Northeast.
  Sources: National Association of Realtors, Freddie Mac

“December location sales, aft adjusting for seasonal factors, were the strongest successful astir 3 years,” said NAR main economist Lawrence Yun successful a property release. "Inventory levels stay tight. With less sellers feeling anxious to move, homeowners are taking their clip deciding erstwhile to database oregon delist their homes. Similar to past years, much inventory is expected to travel to marketplace opening successful February."

Amid the lodging market’s dilatory recovery, Home Depot has decided to shrink its workforce arsenic it battles anemic user demand.

The institution laid disconnected astir 800 employees successful its store enactment halfway successful Atlanta, Georgia, according to a WARN announcement filed connected Jan. 28.

In addition, Home Depot besides warned the remainder of its firm workforce that they volition beryllium expected to instrumentality to moving successful offices 5 days a week, starting April 6. Employees are presently allowed to enactment successful idiosyncratic Monday done Thursday, 4 days a week, according to a caller study from Business Insider.

"We're simplifying our firm operations to amended enactment our stores and our customers," said a Home Depot spokesperson successful a statement. "Our extremity is to thrust greater agility and presumption the institution to determination faster and enactment adjacent much intimately connected with our frontline associates."

The determination from Home Depot comes aft it precocious scaled backmost its proviso chain, starring to occupation cuts astatine its organisation facilities.

Related: Home Depot and Lowe's softly summation caller rival

Its subsidiary HD Supply unopen down its organisation installation successful La Vergne, Tennessee, earlier this month, resulting successful 108 layoffs.

In October, Home Depot besides closed a organisation installation successful Mexico, Missouri, resulting successful 61 employees losing their jobs.

Home Depot’s latest circular of layoffs comes during a clip erstwhile it is progressively investing successful artificial quality to marque its operations much seamless.

More Labor:

• Meta makes drastic workforce determination aft $73 cardinal successful losses

• T-Mobile softly makes acold determination arsenic loyal customers leave

• Dell issues steadfast informing aft employees interruption enactment policy

Earlier this month, the institution introduced AI-powered coaching tools from Rilla to enactment and bid its work and income employees connected connection and work delivery.

Home Depot besides precocious expanded its concern with Google Cloud to motorboat AI tools to assistance shoppers and associates connected task completion tasks.

Home Depot isn’t the lone institution to denote layoffs this year. Amazon announced 16,000 layoffs earlier this week to “strengthen” its organization. Two weeks ago, Meta besides laid disconnected implicit 1,000 employees successful its Reality Labs part amid debased profits from its Metaverse business.

Additionally, T-Mobile conducted respective occupation cuts successful caller weeks arsenic its caller CEO enforces a “digital transformation” astatine the company.

Layoffs aren’t going distant anytime soon. A caller survey from Resume.org recovered that 6 successful 10 companies program to chopped jobs this year.

• Approximately 55% of companies expect to conduct layoffs successful 2026.

• Specifically, 48% said their layoffs volition decidedly oregon astir apt hap during the first quarter of this year.

• Also, 44% of companies said artificial quality was the top crushed for layoffs, portion 42% said reorganization/restructuring and 39% said fund constraints.
  Source: Resume.org

“Most organizations are reducing roles that are higher-cost, slower to output ROI, oregon misaligned with caller operating models,” said Kara Dennison, caput of vocation advising astatine Resume.org, successful a statement. “That often includes layers of mediate management, duplicated functions aft reorganizations, and roles tied to bequest processes. At the aforesaid time, they’re investing successful roles that enactment growth, automation, data, lawsuit retention, and execution speed.”

Home Depot's determination to inquire employees to instrumentality to the bureau 4 days a week, successful conjunction with its layoff announcement, besides follows successful the footsteps of galore different companies successful firm America that precocious scaled backmost distant work, specified arsenic JPMorgan Chase, Amazon and Intel.

A survey from Resume Builder past twelvemonth recovered that 1 successful 8 companies program to summation the fig of days they necessitate employees to beryllium successful the bureau successful 2026, portion 3 successful 10 volition wholly region distant work.

Amid this in-office push, nationalist bureau visits accrued 5.6% twelvemonth implicit twelvemonth successful 2025, bringing attendance to 31.7% beneath pre-COVID-19 pandemic levels, the highest constituent since the pandemic, according to a achromatic insubstantial from Placer.ai, which was shared with TheStreet.

Related: Meta makes drastic workforce determination aft $73 cardinal successful losses

This communicative was primitively published by TheStreet connected Jan 31, 2026, wherever it archetypal appeared successful the Retail section. Add TheStreet arsenic a Preferred Source by clicking here.