Good people are leaving Target in droves. The culture is toxic. The way they are treating people is astonishing. Make sure you're looking out for yourself!
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To the person who says there isn't a lack of diversity; I beg to differ. It is still a sea of white faces at HQ, and it's heavily woman-centered. Granted, many women come from Merch or Fashion backgrounds (which makes sense at TGT), but it is still mostly White Straight Married Women who are the bulk of the company. The few men (or people of color) scattered around is our version of "DEI". And may I say SUPER QUALIFIED people from minority groups (including the disabled); so these are not "Didn't Earn It" people as some MAGA troll on here says; they are full capable, but because of the cliques, it's hard to make yourself be noticed.
A friend of mine just left Target. She had wanted to stay and transfer to Arizona. She was se-----y harassed by a colleague. She ensured that her lead and HR knew about it so they could view the videos. The lead did everything he could to ensure positive outcomes. The HR person did very little, enabled the harasser, then hid behind the lead when Central HR got involved. He (the stalker) had viewed her schedule in the front office and followed her home. A white car had been trailing her, speeding, then parking near her bus stop and home. She doesn't know his last name, and the HR person wouldn't tell her. If she needs to get a Restraining Order, the person's name will be mentioned, leading back to Targets. Turns out there were two other people he had done this to before she started working there. If she calls the police too often to her apartment, she will get evicted. She is worried about her former lead (good guy), is afraid to shop at Target now, and is trying to get on with her life. She is fearful, but moving on. The harasser and the HR person still have their jobs, by the way. Go figure.
I have to comment on the "lack of diversity" and not "being one of us" from a previous post. I've worked at HQ for 12 years and have more woman, all types of races and people throughout my entire area. Targets struggles have nothing to do with DEI. It's all about getting back to the basics. Quality products on the shelves, improving our food/produce area (terrible) and ensuring our prices are competitive (they are not).
DEI is not the problem. The problem is that we hire leaders of people who are bozos. DEI is held up as a scapegoat. We need to clean house in the exec ranks, do away with middle management to save some money, and properly staff and fund our teams.
As someone who has worked at Target for roughly a decade and lived in the area for most of my life, I can say that this toxicity existed well before the most recent issues.
Most of it comes down to the social and relational aspects of Target’s corporate culture. While cliques are an expected byproduct of working at a large corporation, Target’s popularity contest is on a different scale and wanders into the territory of latent discrimination.
Pre-pandemic, the hiring practice essentially amounted to “no outsiders.” We invested in DEI because so many of our TMs were (and still are) white, straight married folk from the Twin Cities bubble.
I know so many tenured TMs that loved to virtue signal and wax about their progressive ideologies, but when diversity arrived at their door, privately criticized the company for opening the gates to new people and ideas—“I’m sorry, but this is not how we do things at Target.”
The company has simply been in the closet with its prejudices. Now it’s out.
What enterprise system? The new planning system?
Everyone is heading for the exits with the horrifyingly bad recent enterprise system launch. No replacements to be hired.
What else to expect. Amazon is chomping up ecommerce end and Walmart chomping up the store end.
I don’t know anyone in finance or enterprise who believes anything other than “this place’s best quarters are behind it.” No morale. Bobblehead leaders they found at UMN business school golf outings or church business committees. I could say more but you all know the rest.
DEI destroyed this company. My last “leader” did have the ability to lead cub scouts.
That's Minnesota Nice for you. All fake smiles until the business starts to struggle, then the knives come out. There's really no reason to stay when all new headcount is going to TII.