ARKANSAS, United States — Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is trimming the workforce at its headquarters again, part of the retailer's campaign to reduce expenses, according to a person familiar with the matter.

A few dozen employees are affected and were having discussions with human-resources officials on Thursday, said the person, who requested anonymity because the cuts haven’t been made public. Those affected can apply for jobs elsewhere in the company, the person said.

Wal-Mart has been looking to slim down its operations as it boosts wages for employees and ramps up e-commerce spending to compete with Amazon.com Inc. Hundreds of positions were eliminated earlier this year. At a March investor conference, chief financial officer Brett Biggs said the company had “work to do” to lower costs and that “we need to be a little tougher on ourselves around expenses.”

“We’re continuing to look at how the company is structured, which includes investing in and adding jobs in some areas and eliminating some in a few others,” a company spokesman said by e-mail. A few dozen employees were promoted Thursday to merchandising specialists, he said.

Wal-Mart, based in Bentonville, Arkansas, is the nation’s largest private employer, with about 1.5 million workers in the US.

By Matthew Boyle; editors: Caroline Salas Gage, Lisa Wolfson and Jonathan Roeder.