Shoppers inside a Home Depot store in California. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
January 28, 2026 4:45 PM, EST
Key Takeaways:
- Home Depot is cutting roles in its store support center and requiring corporate employees to return to the office full time.
- High interest rates and a frozen housing market have slowed the retailer’s sales and pressured its business.
- CEO Ted Decker says restructuring will improve agility and better support workers and customers.
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Home Depot Inc. is cutting jobs across several teams and requiring corporate staff to return to the office, as the world’s largest home-improvement retailer contends with a slowdown in business caused by the frozen housing market.
The company is eliminating roles associated with its store support center and mandating a five-day in-office schedule for corporate workers, a spokesman confirmed to Bloomberg News. The goal is to drive “greater agility” and help the retailer move faster, the company spokesman said.
Home Depot ranks No. 54 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest private carriers in North America.
Stubbornly high interest rates have prompted U.S. consumers to hit pause on big-ticket purchases and housing projects that require financing. That has weighed on the performance of Home Depot and similar companies focused on home improvement in recent years. Shares of Home Depot are down about 10% in the last 12 months, trailing a 15% gain in the S&P 500 Index.
Home Depot, which is undergoing its first period of slowing sales in over a decade, is facing a number of challenges. While consumers are spending on gardening, painting and other small projects, they are moving and buying homes at the slowest pace in years. Company executives said late last year that they expect these dynamics to persist in the near term.
The restructuring will better position Home Depot to deliver on priorities and support shoppers and employees, CEO Ted Decker said in a Wednesday memo to employees, which was viewed by Bloomberg News.
Corporate workers will return to office effective April 6 to better align with front-line workers, he said, adding that in-person engagement offers more support for workers and drives results.
“These changes are essential to simplify our business and focus our energy on the priorities ahead,” Decker said in the memo.
Affordability has emerged as another issue for Home Depot, as tariffs add to cost pressures and homeownership becomes out-of-reach for more Americans. The retailer has also faced disruptions as immigration enforcement escalates across the U.S., with federal agents conducting raids at some Home Depot parking lots.
The company has previously said it does not coordinate with Border Patrol or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and that it cannot legally interfere with federal enforcement agencies. Raids have not had a “material impact” to the overall business, the company has said.
Companies are downsizing their workforces in numerous industries, as exemplified by Amazon.com Inc.’s latest round of layoffs Jan. 28.
Home Depot is planning to report quarterly earnings in February.
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