Kroger plans to eliminate approximately 3,000 corporate roles across many functions over the next three years as it reorganizes under CEO Greg Foran.
The reductions were detailed in a staff memo Kroger shared with Business Insider. Foran said the company would begin communicating decisions about affected roles in the coming months, but the cuts would take place over multiple years.
Bloomberg reported that Kroger has about 8,200 corporate employees, which would make the planned reduction roughly 37% of that workforce. The outlet described it as one of the largest rounds of cuts in the company's 143-year history.
Why Kroger says it is cutting corporate roles
Foran told employees that Kroger has more layers, handoffs and overhead than it needs. The company wants faster decisions and fewer duplicated tasks while shifting resources closer to customers.
The memo also said technology is changing how work gets done and that Kroger needs to adopt new capabilities and reconsider where work is best performed. It did not identify a particular technology or say that artificial intelligence was responsible for the cuts.
What Kroger plans to prioritize
Kroger said the reductions would let it continue investing in frontline workers. Management also tied the restructuring to lower prices and a better customer experience in stores and online.
The memo did not identify which corporate teams or individual positions would be affected. Foran said Kroger would communicate directly with workers as decisions are made and would not ask them to wait longer than necessary for clarity about their roles.
