Thread regarding Target Corp. layoffs

How this layoff announcement could’ve been handled better

Yesterday’s memo saying “effective Tuesday, 1,800 people will be laid off” hit me hard because of the timing and the lack of clarity.

Why announce something like that on a Thursday and then expect everyone to carry on as usual until Tuesday? The uncertainty is exhausting. It affects morale, focus, and the trust we have in leadership. And to do this right before the holidays feels especially disheartening. We work here. We contribute. We care. We deserve to be treated with respect and compassion.

I truly believe this could have been handled differently. Private conversations with impacted team members, or at least a clearer timeline, would have shown care and transparency. Providing support for those waiting and acknowledging what this means for real people and their families would have gone a long way.

To everyone still showing up and doing their best right now: you matter. Your work matters. This moment is difficult, but you are showing strength and professionalism that leadership should be proud of.

There is a lot of uncertainty about which departments will be impacted, and I honestly do not know what will happen. Many are wondering if the Service Delivery Enablement umbrella, including TES Operations, Resource and Ops Enablement, Workforce Management, Project Management, Global Business Integrations, and Quality, are safe. Much of this work is being shifted to TII, but there are already challenges with execution that are not being discussed openly. TII is being given a pass because they are more cost-effective on paper, yet the true cost is being felt by the people who built the systems, processes, and culture that keep this company running. It is painful to watch valuable knowledge and commitment being replaced by cost-saving metrics.

We deserve better communication, empathy, and honesty. And for now, all we can do is continue to support each other and take pride in how we show up in the middle of so much uncertainty.


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| 3431 views | | 8 replies (last October 26) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+1k8bqckgv

8 replies (most recent on top)

@a4 100%. Also the sneaky 8% which isn’t even a representation of the us based corporate TMs impacted. It’s more like 10-15% of us

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Post ID: @j5+1k8bqckgv

This is going to involve more than corporate - supply chain is very heavy, especially those that don’t actually move boxes. HR, much has been moved to India and offsite support teams. Security and Transportation, they’ve been known to save $ by contracting out in the past. Clerical, many other companies the workers print their own labels and research. ICQA, those are resurrected jobs that were deemed unnecessary back in 2015 or so, and extremely bloated headcount. And FC, why have these exact same roles in distribution which is a cost center when the stores can do the same thing for much less cost? The current distribution model is outdated and needs to be streamlined. So many of their merit roles are not necessary and actually end up costing Target twice as much is salary and benefits than realigning those tasks back to hourly built into their daily routine. How many managers just wander around with a clipboard, attending meetings, without adding any true value to the process?

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Post ID: @e7+1k8bqckgv

@a4 you said it so well. Plus let’s not forget there are big gaps in senior leadership on the comms team, with the Chief “retired” in the last weeks, and the heir apparent VP fired a year or so back with their inappropriate and egregious behavior finally catching up with them after a decade plus of failing upward.

There’s an agency partner running the show now, along with a few VPs with little to no media experience. It’s a hot mess, so I suppose the level of failure on a comms level shouldn’t surprise us but yet it still does…

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Post ID: @ah+1k8bqckgv

They wanted public communication for shareholder value

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Post ID: @a6+1k8bqckgv

The communications from this team have been absolutely horrendous for years…it’s almost inhumane how bad this is rolling out now. The media shouldn’t know more than the TMs. They never should have announced this with so much time in between. It’s cruel.

Here’s to imagining that they’ll continue to clean house in comms after booting the leader a few weeks back. Much of this crisis is due to their mishandling of the Pride and DEI situations, it’s only fair that they find folks who are more competent and able to perform their jobs in a way that doesn’t harm team members as they have again this time.

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Post ID: @a5+1k8bqckgv

@a2 This is corporate PR at its worst. It’s pretending to “communicate transparently” while leaving employees in the dark, then feeding the real information to the media because investor optics matter more than the people doing the work.

The internal email was written to control the narrative inside the company and keep people calm. The media briefing was written to control the narrative outside the company and keep shareholders calm. The two don’t match because employees were never the intended audience. Wall Street was.

It’s not just poor communication. It’s a breach of trust. You can’t tell employees they’re your greatest asset and then let them learn critical details from the press instead of HR. That’s not transparency. That’s betrayal disguised as messaging.

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Post ID: @a4+1k8bqckgv

They could have sent out the notice first thing on Monday. 24hrs notice would have been nice. 2.5 biz days with a weekend in between is protracted.

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Post ID: @a3+1k8bqckgv

What I want to know is why the media got more information than we did. Why does the media get to know that it’s 1000 people and 800 open roles, not 1800 people like I assumed from the email? Why is the media reporting that we get benefits until January 8?

Why am I, as an employee, finding out this important information from the MEDIA and not from internal communications?

And why the complete silence from Brian, the current CEO and person who made this mess?

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Post ID: @a2+1k8bqckgv

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