Building Community for Relocating Associates

Overview

As Walmart invests in its new Home Office campus in Bentonville, thousands of associates are relocating — often leaving behind friends, family, and established communities. To align with Walmart’s mission to attract, retain, and grow its workforce, I designed Walmart Connect — a community feature within the Me@Campus app — to help associates build meaningful connections, discover local activities, and feel a sense of belonging in their new hometown. This idea won 1st place at Walmart’s People, Product & Design hackathon, demonstrating its clear impact and resonance with leadership.

Problem Statement

Relocating for work can feel isolating — especially for associates new to Northwest Arkansas.

• Associates often leave behind established support systems and social circles

• Existing social tools were external, inconsistent, or required extra adoption

• No centralized, trusted community feature existed within Walmart’s safe, secure ecosystem

• A lack of connection makes it harder to attract and keep talent — especially younger associates and families

Approach and Process

UX and Interaction Design

• Developed early wireframes and flows showing how associates could join interest groups, post activities, and connect around common interests — from pickleball to family meet-ups

• Crafted clear, friendly microcopy to make the experience feel welcoming, inclusive, and easy for all ages

• Designed smart onboarding to surface relevant groups and local activities based on interests and life stage

• Focused on privacy and security — building trust by keeping interactions within Walmart’s trusted ecosystem

Solution

A roadmap-ready community feature within Me@Campus that:

• Welcomes newly relocated associates and their families into the Bentonville community

• Connects people around shared interests, hobbies, and local experiences — pickleball, tennis, hiking, happy hours, family playgroups, and more

• Fosters true belonging without extra apps, third parties, or privacy trade-offs

• Scales with Walmart’s evolving campus and employee needs

Concept Validation

The concept gained strong traction internally, ultimately becoming the winning idea at Walmart’s People, Product & Design hackathon. Its success demonstrated clear validation of the problem space, the need for a trusted community feature, and the strength of the initial direction. The idea reinforced the importance of supporting relocated associates holistically and highlighted how community-building can strengthen retention and belonging at the new Home Office.

Key Takeaways

• Meaningful community-building can be embedded directly within trusted internal tools — it doesn’t require external platforms.

• Associates relocating to Bentonville benefit from structured ways to meet people and build support systems.

• Small, thoughtful UX additions can play an outsized role in belonging, retention, and overall employee satisfaction.